In Chinese churches, during recent decades, pastors preached on the altar while the congregants listened below. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches have adopted group-based and home-based models, and the patterns of micro-churches, home churches, and cell churches have entered China.
To better carry out small group ministry, Pastor Chen, who serves in a city church in South China, said that churches urgently need more personnel for ministry and preaching.
Pastor Xu, who serves in a church in a fourth-tier city in East China, ministers to around two hundred believers. In the past, with four full-time staff workers, they could manage even during church festivals. However, since the outbreak of the pandemic and the church's transition to group-based models, they have found that four full-time church workers are not enough.
Initially, everything seemed fine as the four workers rotated shifts to handle pastoral care and service. However, during communion service, since there were 20 groups, the two pastors had to go to each group separately to preside over the services, taking up ten days each month. The other two full-time staff had to follow suit.
Pastor Chen from South China believed that while large churches may find it easier to attract people, it was challenging to follow up with and care for newcomers. Additionally, after a church transitions from large to small, there is often a shortage of manpower for service and pastoral care. Therefore, it is urgent to nurture more staff workers and volunteers. If the number of church workers doesn’t increase, believers may leave due to inadequate pastoral care, hindering the church's growth.
Therefore, Pastor Chen believed that for almost all churches, the major and urgent task was to nurture more full-time staff workers and volunteers.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
中国教会在前些年牧养模式以大堂聚会为主，台上牧者讲道，台下众人听道。十多年的时间过去之后，很多教会开始纷纷开始小组化、家庭化；全球教会也在探索微型教会、家教会、小组教会。
在教会小组化的形势下，在南方一所城市教会全职服事的陈牧师说，现在小组化、家庭化的教会亟需更多服事的人员还有讲道的人员。
在华东某四线城市服事的徐牧师服事的教会有着大约两百名左右的信徒。在之前大堂聚会的时代，四名全职同工，即使是遇到教会节期的时候，基本上也能够忙活过来。但是到了疫情开始以后，教会开始了向小组化转型以更好牧养信徒，但发现四名全职同工还是不够用。
原来，日常还好，四名同工按照班次轮流转基本上能够做好牧养和服事。但是到了圣餐，20个小组是单独做的，两名牧师一个一个地去小组主持圣餐礼拜，这两名牧师需要十天时间。另外两名全职传道人一样要每天跟着跑。
华南的陈牧师说相对来说大教会更加容易吸引人，但是新人进来后，跟进和牧养却往往很难。而教会从大转小之后，常常服事和牧养的人手不够，因此需要培养更多数量的同工还有义工。因为一所教会从大变小，如果教会同工数量不变的话，信徒由于得不到很好牧养会离开，影响教会的各个方面的发展。
因此，陈牧师认为对现在几乎所有教会来说，重大而又紧急的任务那就是培养更多的全职同工和义工。
访谈|教会小组化转型后，亟需培养同工和义工
In Chinese churches, during recent decades, pastors preached on the altar while the congregants listened below. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches have adopted group-based and home-based models, and the patterns of micro-churches, home churches, and cell churches have entered China.
To better carry out small group ministry, Pastor Chen, who serves in a city church in South China, said that churches urgently need more personnel for ministry and preaching.
Pastor Xu, who serves in a church in a fourth-tier city in East China, ministers to around two hundred believers. In the past, with four full-time staff workers, they could manage even during church festivals. However, since the outbreak of the pandemic and the church's transition to group-based models, they have found that four full-time church workers are not enough.
Initially, everything seemed fine as the four workers rotated shifts to handle pastoral care and service. However, during communion service, since there were 20 groups, the two pastors had to go to each group separately to preside over the services, taking up ten days each month. The other two full-time staff had to follow suit.
Pastor Chen from South China believed that while large churches may find it easier to attract people, it was challenging to follow up with and care for newcomers. Additionally, after a church transitions from large to small, there is often a shortage of manpower for service and pastoral care. Therefore, it is urgent to nurture more staff workers and volunteers. If the number of church workers doesn’t increase, believers may leave due to inadequate pastoral care, hindering the church's growth.
Therefore, Pastor Chen believed that for almost all churches, the major and urgent task was to nurture more full-time staff workers and volunteers.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Churches Need to Train More Staff Workers to Conduct Small Group Ministry
