As long as I can remember, many local congregations have made a priority of the Ephesians 4 ministry of “equipping the saints.” Unfortunately, most of us artificially restricted what we equipped people for. Mostly, we just equipped folks for doing church activities that can be done in a church building on Sunday morning.
The Strategically Small Church suggests that a strength of the smaller church is the ability to equip people for ministry. But Brandon J O’Brien turns the definition of “equipping” around. Noticing that people are in church for only 3 hours a week; but at work for 40-50. What if that dictated what we equipped people for?
What if we equipped people not only for what they do in the 3 hours of church time, but also equipped them to live effective Christian lives for the 50 hours they were at work?