5. A bias for action
We have plenty of thinkers in the church and not nearly enough doers.
Entrepreneurs bring a bias for action that is often astonishing. Spiritual entrepreneurs accomplish things nobody else accomplishes because they do things nobody else is willing to do.
If you think about the (much criticized) innovations in today’s church (video venues, multisite churches, online campuses, etc.) you realize that you open yourself to a world of criticism when you start bold new things. So what?
Not the Only Thing, but a Missing Thing
I’m not saying the gift of apostleship is the only thing, but it is a missing thing.
Conventional seminaries are mostly addicted to producing shepherds. If all we have is shepherds stepping into leadership, then what you get is people who will (mostly) care for small groups of people.
Organizationally, it makes some sense to hire leaders and have shepherd volunteers. That’s what we’ve done at Connexus. You can care for hundreds, or thousands, of people through volunteer shepherds (we call them small group leaders) and let the leaders lead.
Do we need the gift of shepherding? Absolutely.
But we’re desperately missing the gift of spiritual entrepreneurship in the church today.
Don’t Just Leave a Comment, Tap Someone on the Shoulder
Feel free to leave a comment, but please don’t stop there.
The church has plenty of opinions but not nearly enough capable leaders.
So here’s my challenge … why don’t you tap an entrepreneur you know on the shoulder today and ask him or her, “Have you ever considered ministry?”
Think about it.
Who do you know who might be in business today who could be in ministry tomorrow? My guess is that there are people who are running businesses and leading in organizations who have the gifts for ministry but have never thought about ministry.
And maybe they’ve never thought about ministry because they’ve never seen anyone with their gift set use it for ministry. (You know that’s one way calls often happen, right? God uses human conversations to stir massive redirections of people’s lives.)
So while I am very interested in what you think (please comment), seriously, don’t just leave a comment, tap someone on the shoulder.
