Your Role in Recruiting Future Church Workers

by James Kellerman and Mike Kuhn

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few” – Matt 9:37b 

Have you heard the one about the preacher who needed to raise money to re-shingle the roof of the church? He stood before his congregation and said, “I have bad news, good news, and then more bad news. The bad news is that the church roof needs new shingles. The good news is that we already have all the money we need for the project, but the bad news is that the money is in your pockets!” 

Lutheran Church–Canada does not need to re-shingle their headquarters, but there is a growing need in our church for labourers to work the harvest fields, or pastors and deacons to engage in and support the ministry of the Gospel in our churches and the communities they serve. Is it possible that, as in the joke, these workers are already in our midst but have not yet been brought forward to the church? 

Earlier this year, a survey was sent to all pastors and to a lay leader from each congregation. When asked how many people in their congregation would be suitable for full-time church work, 107 pastors did not respond, presumably because they did not think they had any potential church workers. However, 88 said that they knew of at least one such person. In fact, some knew at least five such individuals in their churches. Altogether, the 88 pastors knew 161 people who would be good candidates to become either a pastor or deacon. A higher percentage of lay leaders (53 out of 100) responded, and these 53 people could think of 74 individuals in their churches who had the potential to become future church workers. 

So, how are we going to make sure that a significant number of those potential pastors or deacons become church workers? Here are some steps: 

Pray: As Christ urged His disciples, we can all pray that God provides more workers for His kingdom work, trusting that He will answer and provide. 

Identify: Look within your own church for people that you think have the potential to be trained as church workers, whether they are youth, young adult, or mid-career. 

Encourage: Approach these potential workers to affirm them in the gifts and character that you see in them and suggest that they talk to your pastor about potential service. 

Refer: Whether a potential candidate is convinced of their desire to serve or simply wanting to have a conversation to learn more, you or your pastor can help them to connect with one of our two seminaries. 

For more information, you can contact the recruitment directors at LCC’s two seminaries: Rev. Mike Kuhn (Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, AB) at mkuhn@concordiasem.ab.ca; and Dr. James Kellerman (Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines, ON) at jkellerman@concordia-seminary.ca. 

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