The 1.5 Rule of Ministry

I realized that in this series I'm currently doing on ministry that there's no good spot to bring up what I call the 1.5 rule of ministry. The thesis is that believers should aim for involvement in 1.5 ministries; less than that is not stretching enough, more makes it hard to have a balanced life.

Unlike most of my good ideas, this one is original with me, based on years of observation. But what do I mean by 1.5?

0.5 involvement is a following role in a ministry--for example, singing in a choir or praise team. Someone else leads, you follow.

1.0 is a lead role in a ministry--for example, you leading a Growth Group or the Missions Support Team or the Nursery or the Eldercare Ministry.

1.5 is leadership in a very demanding role, such as getting a new ministry like Celebrate Recovery off the ground.

So someone may sing on the praise team, serve on a committee and greet once a month. That's 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.5. You can do this, get and give the blessings and have a balanced life.

Or you can lead a growth group (1.0) and sing in the choir (0.5), and have the same balance (1.5).

You get the idea.

Hey, here's an idea: what's your ministry score? Are you over or under 1.5 rule? What adjustments should you make?

By the way, the Transforming Churches Conference is today and tomorrow. I'll be blogging on the conference the next couple of days.