Why I Created the Lay Ministry Training and Thriving Church Programs

Numerous people have asked me why I created The Academy's Certified Lay Ministry training to prepare lay persons to serve the church and the Foundations for a Thriving Church for laypersons and churches.

The answer is very simple. I grew up in a small membership church that helped me discover God's love through their words and actions. I was not a star athlete, a straight "A" student, or part of the "in" crowd during my high school years. I was never selected to be on Student Council or chosen for leadership programs offered to high school students.

However, I was treated as an important member and given opportunities to lead. As in many small churches, everyone is important and needed. I began lighting candles, then went on to read scripture, lead worship, and preach my first sermon at 17 years old. I was active in the youth group and was president for one year. More importantly, l was surrounded by great pastors and laypersons who helped me see God's love and guided me on my faith journey, eventually leading me to my call to ministry.

God called and gifted me with the ministry to feed and care for people of all ages in small membership churches. As my call has grown over the years, I have realized that family-sized churches, 75 and fewer, can provide more opportunities for people of all ages to move from the pew to service, which they may not have in larger congregations.

While serving as a parish director in 1987, I saw small membership churches had difficulty finding a pastor because they were in rural areas or could not afford full-time pastors. I watched churches move their focus from sharing God's love to fundraising to keep the doors open and missed opportunities to share God's love and forgiveness with their community and world.

Because I believe that God has called me to ministry with small membership churches, and many churches are too important to fail, I developed a program which, over the past 24 years, has trained over 400 lay persons, who have helped many small membership churches thrive sharing God's love and hope.

Why did I develop a Lay Ministry Training program? Because churches of all sizes are essential to God as they share the hope and grace of Jesus Christ with their community and world.

In 2019, after training Certified Lay Ministers for 20 years, I realized sometimes churches and pastors need help building strong working relationships and developing goals to help the church thrive. Some churches struggle to survive and some are closing because they cannot focus on their vision. There are children of all ages who no longer have a place where they discover how much God loves them. My heart breaks when I hear of children who feel like they are not forgiven or senior adults who feel like they are not valuable. We live in a society where we have forgotten how vital churches can be to their community. Together with a group of laypersons and clergy, we have developed a program to help churches thrive. Yes, we believe churches can move from survival to thriving.

Why did I develop programs to help lay persons become lay ministers and to strengthen local churches? Because in my life and the lives of millions of others, a thriving church has made a difference, and we want the church to thrive everywhere.

If you feel called by God to lay ministry or if we can help your church thrive, please check out The Academy for Small Membership Church Ministries programs.