A big capacity person is someone who has a lot of experiential wisdom, developed gifting and expertise, and many runs on the board of success and achievement. Of course this doesn’t mean they are more valuable or important than anyone else in the Church, or that God can only use them and not the rest of the priesthood of all believers. No, it simple means that they have developed their capacity to a highly successful level and are able to help others develop their capacity too. Think about your favourite sports star or musician, comedian, entertainer, preacher or even Bible character. They stand out from others because of their capacity. Imagine if some of them were to come to your church. Would you know what to do with them?
If you don’t know what to do with a big capacity person in your church eventually they will feel like a Marlon in a fishbowl!
Sadly, you won’t keep them for long. It’s sad because they have some incredible gifts and expertise that could add great value to your church.
If you do want to keep them, you simply need to understand how they think and what they’re looking for.
Attracting big capacity people.
If you want to attract big capacity people, you need the things they are attracted to.
Big capacity people are attracted to 8 main things:
- Vision. Big thinking. Big faith. Real strategies.
- Quality. They would rather quality over quantity, but prefer to have both.
- Excellence. The difference between professionals and amateurs.
- Growth. They are productivity and success minded.
- Organisation. Good systems and management in place.
- Recognition. Will they be recognised and honoured for who they are and what they do?
- Connection. They want to be connected to top level leadership in the church.
- Opportunity. Is there opportunity for them to have a say and add their value?
Now you might not have all these things perfect in your church, but if you have a value for them and are making a real effort to move towards them, that’s good enough for big capacity people.
If you think that these eight things are silly then let me ask you, “How many big capacity people are you attracting and keeping?”
Keeping big capacity people.
These are the things you have to do if you want to keep big capacity people:
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Connect with them immediately.
- Try to connect with them the first time they visit your church because there might not be a second.
- Arrange for a coffee during the week to meet.
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Discern their hearts quickly.
- Get to know them.
- Are they good or bad people? (Discern that in your spirit).
- What church/churches did they come from? How do they speak about them?
- Are they hurt, bitter, complicated, proud, chip on their shoulder, or are they humble, respectful and honouring of authority and leadership?
- What’s their personal life like? (Marriage, kids, business, finances, friends.)
- Does their church ideology clash with yours?
- Do they have an agenda?
- Could you trust them with people?
- Will they be a blessing to the church or most likely cause damage?
If you discern their hearts are good, take a risk on them and follow this meeting up. If you discern their hearts are bad, don’t take a risk on them and don’t give them much of your time.
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Find out what they’re good at.
- Identify their gifts and capacities. What are their areas of expertise?
- Are they good in ministry, are they good in the workplace, or both?
- What are their strengths: preaching, inspiring people, leadership, management, ministering in the Holy Spirit, pastoring, counselling, administration, business, management, systems, finances, media, technology, social media, music, leading worship, youth ministry, kids ministry, entrepreneurial.
- Discern if they’re interested in having an opportunity to do something.
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Don’t make them have to prove themselves.
- They’ve already proved themselves if they are big capacity.
- They don’t have to be fully committed and loyal to the vision, leadership and DNA of the church before you give them an opportunity!
- Trust me, if you require them to prove their loyalty at this point, they will probably just leave.
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Understand what they want and don’t want.
What they want:
Big capacity people only want to add their value at this stage.
They want to do that by:
- Giving advice.
- Helping to solve problems.
- Helping to improve things.
- Giving ideas for growth.
I guarantee you this, if big capacity people have been in your church for a little while, they have already spotted most of your weaknesses and what could be done to improve them, and they are willing to help (for free!). All you have to do is ask for their help. The more you let them help you, the more they will feel connected to the church and want to be part of it.
But, if you expect them to just sit around week after week enduring all the obvious weaknesses that no one is addressing, knowing that they could help solve them but are not able to because they haven’t been asked, they will become increasingly frustrated and I guarantee, they will eventually leave.
Also, don’t assume because they are attending and giving that they have joined. Big capacity people take a long time to commit to a church, because they are looking for certain things.
What they don’t want:
They don’t want to take on big commitments and responsibilities for now. They just want to add their value. Don’t try to commit them to something in the church in order to try and keep them.
Give them opportunity not responsibility! (THIS IS KEY).
Give them influence not authority.
If that all goes well, they may feel more connected to the church and then want to invest themselves more and more.
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Invite them to add their value.
Two ways you can get them to add their value:
- Give them an opportunity.
- Ask for their advice.
In the various areas they may be good at:
- Preaching – if this is their strength then give them a chance in the pulpit.
- Ministering in the Holy Spirit – perhaps they’re not that good at preaching but are great at ministering in the Spirit. Give them a chance to minister in various ministry times or after service ministry. Also ask for their advice and ideas regarding ministry teams and training.
- Worship – give them an opportunity in whatever area they are strong in. Ask for their advice, get them to inspire your worship team.
- Pastoring and counselling – give them an opportunity to help someone. Ask for their advice, and to inspire teams and leaders.
- Multimedia – ask for their advice and help to implement improvements including training/inspiring teams and team leaders.
- Technical and technology – ask for their advice and ideas and help to implement.
- Social media – ask for their advice and ideas and help to implement.
- Administration/management – ask for their advice and help to implement any ideas including training teams and team leaders.
- Leadership – ask for their advice and give opportunities to talk to leaders.
- Finances – ask for advice and ideas.
- Youth work – ask for advice and ideas.
- Kids ministry – ask for advice and ideas.
- Entrepreneur – do they have any ideas to generate finances, start ministries, solve major problems, promote growth?
- Evangelism – ask for their advice, to do a training, preach at an evangelistic meeting.
If you keep giving them opportunities, asking for their advice and getting to know them they will feel increasingly connected to the church and eventually may decide to join officially. When they do they will then be willing to take on more responsibilities, commitment, leadership and authority.
Hey I would also love to hear from you. Feel free to leave questions, comments or any feedback on this article in the comment section below, or contact me via my Facebook page or email info@newnatureministries.org
God bless you, and may His peace fill you in every way.
– Ryan Rufus.
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