Life, ministry of a pastor – Part 3

Getting individuals and organisations to be interested and excited about the Church and the Diocese is a duty and a call to commitment and dedication.

The fact of this discuss is that, it takes keen efforts to get people onboard and excited about the work and vision of any organisation.

Mobilisation:
• Means to assemble or marshal into readiness for active service.
• It also means to organise or adapt for service to the government in time of war.
• To marshal and bring together, prepare for action, especially of a vigorous nature.
• The preparation of resource for usage.

There are two phases that build each other in mobilisation circle.
• Instilling vision and passion
• Raising awareness, and educating

Bridge Building:
• A bridge is a structure usually wood, concrete or iron erected to make a passageway from one side of a river to the other or one part of a gully to another.
• It could also be a platform or stage over which something passes or is conveyed.

In the context of our discussion, you as a bridge-builder must see yourself as the one through whom another person can:
• Reach the Diocese
• Hear about the Diocese
• Support the Diocese
• The ‘gap-man’ of the Diocese

You are the special Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Diocese; the contact person that stands in the gap for the Diocese and the Church

Mobilisation And Bridge Building
The act of mobilisation is like the art of building bridges. Mission mobiliser is, therefore, a mission bridge builder. He is one who does not only want to get involved in church building, but gets other people involved as well.

This can be done via:
• Communicating,
• Encouragement,
• Exhortation.

A mission mobiliser can prod (push), lure, hand-hold, cajole, and pray people into greater commitment to the vision and mission of the Church and Diocese in achieving God’s global purpose of soul winning.

Elements Of A Good Bridge Builder
• Walks With God: our walk with God helps our work for God. When People do God’s work without walking with God it draws more self-strength with little or no result.

To achieve great result in our work, our walk must be with passion and dedication. The work of God is a spiritual one; to be able to get involved and make others get involved in God’s salvation plan, the presence of the Holy Spirit is essential. He is the Chief Launcher of the process, (Acts1:8).

• Making God’s Work And Will A Priority: Man ordinarily is an ego-centric being. But to be a good mission builder you must make God’s work and defense a priority. See (Matt 6:33). Let God come first in everything you do.

• Take Ownership Of The Church’s Mission And Vision: Until the work of God in Churches is taken personal it may not yield the desired result. See God’s work as your work, as well as the programmes and projects as yours. Never be mistaken about this; it is not in the sense of personal ego or pride, but of commitment, defense, protection, and caregiving.

To think that others will do the job when there is a job to be done limits commitment. When you have the feeling that: “If I don’t do this nobody else may,” inspires and ignites faithfulness and passion. The sense of personal responsibility helps to develop goals, and aims in getting the work done.

• Develop A Greater Knowledge Of The Needs Of The Church: “Knowledge is power.” People perform below average for lack of in-depth knowledge in the organisational needs and ethos. Getting people involved in giving is essential, but understanding the area of need and concern lightens the church’s burden.

To be able to do this;

• Have a good sense of stewardship

• Avoid waste of resources. Waste comes when people go into gigantic projects for the church or Diocese with a sense of attracting ‘selfish’ personal applause and achievements without consultation with, and due regard with the relevant church authority to ascertain the grey areas of need in preference.

• Network With Others: Man was created a relational being. He must relate in one area or another. The Bible says: “Woe to him that is alone,” (Ecc. 4:10). On our own we can achieve little, but together we can achieve more.

What Is Networking? (Ecclesiastics 4:9-10)
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, one will lift his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.
At man’s creation and existence, God expressed the power of networking when He said in Genesis 2:18: “It is not good that man should be alone,” this shows the importance of building bridges with others in building the church of God.

How To Build Bridges
• Tell others about the Church and her activities
• Attract your friends to the Church
• Make the Church relevant in the eyes of the government if you can
• Share the problems of the Church with others and get them committed to the Church
• Connect the Church and the leaders of the Church to opportunities
• Build enterprises that can help the Church become self-sustaining
• Avoid things that will make outsiders become weary of the Church
• Attend and maintain good public relations for the sake of the Church
• Don’t expose the ‘wrong side’ of the Church to the world.
• Be the ambassador of God and His church
• Value the properties of the Church
• Use every personnel celebration and activity as a forum to sell the church positively with colleagues, friends and acquaintances

Conclusion: It is time to leave our comfort zones and make Christ known to others in deeds and acts.
• Venerable Stephen Wolemonwu is the Rector, Ibru Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State.