Ministry as Mates

How the whole body of Christ can contribute to the church and have fun along the way.

Growing up in church, I often heard it said that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Usually, this was said to try and encourage the 80% who weren’t visibly contributing to church life to step up and join ministry teams. Occasionally, it was said to help the exhausted 20% feel pride in their contribution and push through their weariness to further service, cause otherwise the church’s ministries would fall over.

In this latest episode of The Shock Absorber podcast, Stu Crawshaw, Joel McMaster and I take a look at the practice of ministry teams and wonder if there’s a better way to help members engage in the collaborative life of the church.

Continuing from previous episodes on the theology and strategy of ministry teams, we work out the implications of doing church life together in a way that expresses the theological foundations of friendship that fuel a heart for ministry.

Along the way, we share more about how friendship undermines an emphasis on professionalism in ministry and how seeing the c…