How to get everyone involved in ministry

A recent Gallup survey indicated that on average, 10% of church members are involved in ministry. 50% say they wouldn’t get involved for any reason or for anybody. The astonishing discovery is that 40% say they would be happy to be involved. They simply have never been asked or don’t know how.3 We need to get them involved.

We need to ask them and we need to show them how.

One very practical way to recruit people into ministry is to give them the seven clear choices outlined in this book and have an election day once a quarter. Many classes follow a quarterly literature cycle, and this is a good reminder to hold an election day. An alternative schedule might be to hold an election day at the beginning of the Spring, Fall and Summer semesters. However, you can hold an election day when every you need. On this day you can elect—people may actually be volunteering—leaders for each of the positions mentioned in the last chapter: class president, inreach leader, outreach leader, fellowship leader, hospitality leader, and prayer leader.
Because of the depth of knowledge that is helpful to the task of teaching, I do not recommend that you elect a new teacher each time. Keeping the same teacher also serves to give some continuity to the group. You can vary the organization to meet your specific needs. I have seen groups with two class presidents and others that don’t see a need for a class president at all. This variety is O.K. It is part of owning the ministry.

The growth of a movement is directly related to the depth and breadth of the involvement of the people.
Instead of getting one person to each of the roles you may want to ask everyone to sign up for one of the roles. Several of these roles can easily have several people working on them, especially in larger classes. The class president may be in charge of asking everyone who is not there on election day, “Where would you like to serve? Would you like to help with inreach, outreach, hospitality or prayer? Perhaps you would like to help teach.” People can, of course, bow out, but it may be a healthy thing to expect them to bow in. This communicates the idea that every member is a minister. We say that often, but our expectation is really not there. By asking everyone to serve in a role that corresponds to their giftedness we put feet to the idea that we want all hands on deck. The growth of a movement is directly related to the depth and breadth of the involvement of the people.
Josh Hunt. (1995). You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less.