RECOGNITION: FINDING YOUR FIT WHEN SERVING
In the last couple of posts we've talked about how to recruit people to begin serving as part of the family of God and then we looked at some of the ways to help them take those first steps to begin serving. We talked about how it starts with what we call EXPLORATION. This is the initial stage that we all begin in. Sometimes it's a trial and error process where we see what fits and what doesn't. We also discussed how it is a good idea to start with someones's natural talents and abilities.
The next stage in the process of serving the King in his Kingdom is often RECOGNITION.
There are two kinds of recognition that are happening at this stage. The first is that the person serving is accumulating enough experiences to start to see a path that God has for using their talents and abilities. The second recognition is coming from the leader who is walking with them in their development. The leader is more aware of the places in the character of the person who is serving that needs to experience formation as well as seeing how to help them grow in sharpening their skills and interacting with those they are serving with. In other words, both the person serving and the person leading them are recognizing their F.I.T. from two different sides of the process. We're going to use the acronym F.I.T. to describe what this looks like for both people in the process.
THE PERSON SERVING RECOGNIZING THEIR F.I.T.
At a certain point, you will probably feel like something has just "clicked". You think to yourself, this is it, this feels good and right and I'm pretty good at it. Sometimes we get lucky and we find that spot right off the bat. Sometimes this happens after we have served a little while in multiple places and feel like we've finally landed in our "home" place of serving. F.I.T. stands for Fulfillment, Impact, and Transformation
- FULFILLMENT: There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from being able to serve in this particular way and area. It's exciting and enjoyable. Is it hard? Usually, but the sense of being involved in something that is important gives enough internal fulfillment to push through the discomfort. This is usually the beginnings of realizing what we're passionate about. Passion is a deep internal drive. Passion sustains us when circumstances drain us. For example, as someone is on a mission trip, they may be sweating, working, and dealing with language barriers, but there is a deep sense of joy regardless of those circumstances. There is a pleasure that comes from being in the middle of a situation where they can be part of God's work. This can sometimes lead to a passion for overseas missions, or for helping those in hard circumstances in the long term.
- IMPACT: As someone is serving, there will be come a realization that they are not only in partnership with God, but that they are making a significant impact. They will see that what they're doing is making a difference in the lives of the people they are serving. They'll think, hey, I'm actually kind of good at this. We tend to think in terms of being effective. There is an overlap of what someone is good at, what they have experience in, and the results that they are having as they serve. This is where we take a look at the results of our service and can tell that it's making an impact. I've seen this when someone in kids ministry experiences the shy or withdrawn kid, begin to open up and flourish and engage because they have felt personally connected, loved, and invested in by their teacher. I've seen this in worship ministry when someone begins to serve behind the scenes and notice that what they do has brought people into the church.
- TRANSFORMATION: There is a transformation that will start to take place in the life of the person serving. I think it's telling when Jesus says "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21) While this is talking about money, it also applies to when we invest our time and our abilities in serving in a place and with certain people, our heart will become tied to that place and those people as well. There will be a sense of commitment and ownership that develops. This is the transformation from being a consumer to being a contributor. It is the transformation in our hearts from being self-focused to being others focused.
RECOGNIZING THE F.I.T. OF SOMEONE WHO IS SERVINGJust like someone who is serving in this stage is recognizing their F.I.T., the person who is leading is also looking at their F.I.T. but from a different perspective. A leader is evaluating and giving feedback and instruction to the person serving in three major areas: formation, instruction, and temperament.
- FORMATION: It's awesome to see someone getting a deep sense of satisfaction from making an impact and from taking ownership of a ministry and contributing. However, our great enemy and his demons are constantly trying to take a good thing and twist it. They work with our flesh to try to sabotage our growth in becoming like Jesus. Serving exposes our pride like nothing else. We like things to be done our way. We also get discouraged when we're not feeling appreciated or valued. This is an opportunity to begin to teach them to live into the truths of Philippians 2:1-11 and Colossians 3:23-24. In Philippians we see the example of Jesus not worrying about getting his way, but focusing on doing the will of God and pleasing him and putting others first. This is what is called learning to deny ourselves and experiencing God exalting us in the process and making us like Jesus. In Colossians we're told that who we're really serving is Jesus and it's his praise we are longing to hear even if we don't hear it on earth.
- INSTRUCTION: While a person who is serving in the recognition phase may have had a decent amount of experience and knowledge about the area that they are serving in, there will be a need to hear evaluation and feedback on how they can continue to grow. This usually includes a number of different kinds of instruction. EXPERIENTIAL INSTRUCTION will simply from doing what they're doing for a longer period of time. Sometimes we forget that what we know, we learned from making our own mistakes. We need to let them fail from time to time and be there to help them unpack their disappointment and process how to grow in the future. We also need to help them celebrate their wins and understand why what they did was successful. Then there will also be SELF-GUIDED LEARNING where you give them a book, a website, or an article and ask them to dissect it, process it, and apply it. Sometimes it's important to create CLASSROOM LEARNING opportunities. This might mean pointing people to taking lessons somewhere, or sending them to a conference, or bringing in a speaker to help explain and teach a them a new set of concepts. Finally this is all one in an environment of MENTORING. We need to be there for people as they process what they've experienced, read, and heard. We see Jesus doing this as he sends out his disciples to heal and preach and then debriefs with them about what happened.
- TEMPERAMENT: A good leader is beginning to see the wiring of someone's personality and to assess the way that they interact with others. There are a number of ways to do this. When in the early stages of learning about someone it's important to stay a little more general. I like the categories that Erik Rees uses in his book SHAPE, finding and fulfilling your unique purpose in life. He talks about how we relate to people and how we respond to opportunity. For example, when it comes to relating to others, is this person outgoing or reserved, self-expressive or self-controlled, cooperative or competitive. When it comes to responding to opportunities are they high risk or low risk, people focused or project focused, followers or leaders, team players or soloists, do they prefer routine or variety. When it comes to conflict, are they a high grace low truth person, high truth low grace person, or low grace and low truth person? Each of these are things that need to be evaluated and then lovingly and carefully communicated to the person who is serving so they can continue to flourish. Here is a form that can both help a leader and someone serving to evaluate where they are and what their next steps may be.
LOGISTICS OF SERVING IN THE RECOGNITION PHASEWe mentioned in the last post that in the serving funnel graphic that each stage has a few phrases beside it. These phrases are the practical ways we go about experiencing this stage. In the exploration stage it looks like:
- Someone ahead does. I watch. We talk.
- Someone ahead does. I help. We talk.
As we move into the recognition phase it now looks like
- I do. Someone ahead helps me. We talk.
- I do. Someone ahead watches me. We talk.
We're moving into the place where someone is switching between observation and imitation and into being directed. This is where we begin to have a more hands off approach. They're going to fail and fall and that's okay. That's how they learn.
They're also going to start experimenting with what it looks like for them to do things their own unique way that may be different than ours. This is where we share why we do things, the way we do the, and the lessons we learned from our own failures and successes. However, at this point we need to begin to allow for some freedom for them to experiment with their own way of doing things.
In our next post we'll begin to discuss what happens in the PASSION phase of serving.