I recently had a conversation with one of our ministry leaders that had someone that wanted to serve on our volunteer team called the Dream Team. Unfortunately, this person has a sin issue that is in direct conflict with the leadership honor code that every volunteer must sign. It is easy to turn this person away and wash our hands of the issue. It’s harder to confront them and provide help for their issue.

We all have issues in our life that need to be dealt with. When some accept Christ they are immediately freed from an addiction and never crave that thing again. It is awesome when God performs this miracle. However, most of us don’t have this experience. Paul gives specific instructions to the Colossians on this very point

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. – Colossians 3:5-10 

How do we do this? How do we put to death our earthly nature and put on the new self? How is our soul being renewed in the image of Christ? We can find the answer in the life of Jesus. He spent three years with twelve men teaching them about God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and how to live life.

Jesus taught the disciples before he trained them in ministry. It is our responsibility as leaders to do the same. We can find this training in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

In Matthew 5:1-48, Jesus taught the disciples how to conduct themselves; he taught them servanthood and worked on their attitudes. We all need to be models of how to live, and admit when we have shortcomings. It helps us to be relevant and counteracts the “holier than thou” attitudes.

I n chapter 6 verses 1 through 4, Jesus dealt with the disciples motives and oriented them to whom they’re working for. Whenever a new person wants to work on the team, we need to make sure they are doing it for the right reasons. It is our job to align them to the vision of your church.  Most importantly, we need to make sure they want to help to serve Jesus!

In Matthew 6:5-18, Jesus taught the disciples about prayer and the power of prayer. Prayer is vital to a Christians life and everything we do, especially ministry related needs to be bathed in prayer. This is why we do our days of prayer twice a year and hold our pre-service meetings. We want the Holy Spirit to be working throughout our lives. We have to make sure that new people know how to pray and they do it regularly.

In Matthew 6:19-7:15, He taught the disciples about priorities and what true riches were. He taught them who goes first in their lives and that our true reward for work is not earthly things, but what we get in heaven. Some new recruits may want to serve simply for the title and recognition. Others will sacrifice everything at the altar of ministry. We must guide these new members to proper balance and guard our own hearts as well.

Finally in Matthew 7:16-20, Jesus expected them to bear fruit and be successful. A new volunteer members needs to know what is expected of them and whether or not they are doing it correctly. After that, they need to do the job well, and if they can’t, then we need to find a new place for them.

How do we teach them these things? How do we make sure that a new believer is taking the appropriate steps? How do we provide help for the person we talked about at the beginning? The answer is Lifegroups.

Where do we consistently teach servanthood and proper attitudes? Lifegroups
Where do we identify motives and orient people to serving God first? Lifegroups
Where do we teach about prayer and model prayer lives to others? Lifegroups
Where do we teach about proper priorities and where to find true riches in life? Lifegroups

Lifegroups are what we use to teach our people how to die to the old self and put on the new self. It is in these small communities that real change and issues can be dealt with and healing can take place. Lifegroups are where we learn how to be like Christ with others on the same journey.
If you haven’t joined a lifegroup at your church, then I encourage you to do so. If you know someone that would be great on your volunteer team, but they have some issues, join a lifegroup with them.

Jesus was in the business of life change. So are we.