What would you do if 5,000 people knocked at the door of your church asking to become members right now?  How would you respond?  I’m sure you would be very excited and probably be in a panic at the same time.  You might place a call to your conference president or ministerial director for urgent help.  

 

Unfortunately, there would probably not be enough pastors or seminarians trained to be deployed as pastors for this huge influx.  The reality is that we’re not preparing for this future scenario even though we know it will become a reality soon.  

 

However, we can take steps to make sure we are able to deal with a similar scenario.  If we take the time to disciple and train members to be lay ministers, eventually every member will have an opportunity to be trained and may eventually serve as such.  

 

When the masses of people come to join your church seeking for more Bible truth, the church will have more than enough lay pastors to support the large influx by dividing them into smaller groups.  Think about it…..wouldn’t you want this scenario at your church?