Characteristics of Lay Pastors Ministry

1. The Name of the Ministry

The name of this ministry is Lay Pastors Ministry. It means a lay pastoral care ministry. In other words, it is not primarily a ministry of evangelism or discipleship, as emphasized in Matthew 28, but a ministry of caring for people.

There are already many materials and resources available for evangelism and discipleship, but there are not enough resources for pastoral care. Dr. Melvin Steinbron emphasized this need.

Someone once said, “Evangelism is a men’s ministry; caring is a women’s ministry.” I understand this statement to mean that evangelism is often seen as a stronger and more aggressive ministry, while caring is often viewed as a gentler and more relational ministry. Evangelism tends to be extroverted, while caring tends to be more introverted. In this sense, evangelism often reaches beyond the church walls, while caring often begins within the church community.

I believe the purpose of the church has two important aspects: the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19–20, which emphasizes evangelism and discipleship, and the Great Charter of Caring in John 21:15–17, in which Jesus commands Peter to care for His people. These two aspects must be kept in balance.

2. The Ministry Tasks: P.A.C.E.

The basic ministry tasks of Lay Pastors Ministry are summarized in P.A.C.E.:

  • P — Prayer
  • A — Availability
  • C — Contact
  • E — Example

Pastors who have implemented this ministry in their churches have often observed four significant phenomena:

  1. Church infrastructure
  2. Lifestyle
  3. Church culture
  4. Ministry engine

These four areas demonstrate that Lay Pastors Ministry is not simply another activity added to the church. It can gradually influence the structure, lifestyle, culture, and overall ministry of the church.

3. What Should We Call Them?

There have been many opinions about what to call the people who serve in this ministry. However, the official name presented by LPM USA and LPM Korea is Lay Pastor.

The terminology used by influential churches can have a significant effect on other churches. For example, when a large church in the United States called its caregivers Lay Ministers, many other churches adopted the same terminology.

There are, of course, various names used in churches in Korea and the United States, including PACE Ministers, Lay Pastors, Lay Ministers, and others. Churches may choose different names according to their particular situation, tradition, or theology. The name itself is less important than understanding the role and function of these ministers.

4. The Length of Training

The length of training varies according to the circumstances. It may be offered as twelve hours over two evenings, three sessions, or twelve weekly sessions.

When churches have invited our Institute to provide the training, I have found that two consecutive evenings, totaling twelve hours, have been the most effective format. Twelve hours has proved to be enough to motivate people and help them begin this ministry.

We may call this Basic Training, much like basic training at an army training base. The purpose is not to make people experts in pastoral care. Rather, it is to help them experience a paradigm shift from being passive church members to becoming active lay ministers.

Once this paradigm shift has taken place, they are almost ready to begin. We have used this twelve-hour training system successfully for many years.

5. Who Is Responsible for the Ministry?

The senior pastor or assistant pastors should not be primarily responsible for carrying out this ministry. Rather, trained laypeople should take responsibility for the ministry.

Usually, four to five PACE Ministers in a small church or seven to ten in a larger church form a Ministry Leadership Group (MLG). The MLG is responsible for the progress, development, and overall success or failure of the ministry.

Of course, the cooperation, encouragement, and supervision of the senior pastor and assistant pastors are essential. However, if pastors themselves remain responsible for carrying out the ministry, it becomes essentially the same format as the traditional pastoral model. The burden remains with the clergy, and the ministry can become inefficient.

When laypeople take responsibility for the ministry, however, they experience and demonstrate team ministry. They are no longer merely helpers of the pastor; they become ministers themselves.

6. Biblical Basis

There are four major biblical foundations for Lay Pastors Ministry:

  1. Ephesians 4:11–12 — The theological basis
  2. John 21:15–17 — The ministry basis
  3. 1 Peter 5:1–4 — The practical and pastoral basis
  4. Exodus 18 — The basis for sharing responsibility

These Scriptures provide the biblical foundation and core framework for this ministry.

7. It Is Not a Program

Lay Pastors Ministry is not simply a program; it is pastoral ministry itself. This was particularly emphasized by its founder, Dr. Melvin Steinbron.

Many church programs involve people only indirectly. Lay Pastors Ministry, however, requires personal involvement from beginning to end. At the same time, it is intentionally organized and developed as a system.

Therefore, we describe Lay Pastors Ministry as a “system of congregational care by laypeople.”

It is both personal and systemic.

8. A Change in the Roles of Clergy and Laity

The roles of clergy and laity need to change.

Traditionally, we have often thought that the pastor is the person who does the ministry while laypeople passively receive the ministry. Through Lay Pastors Ministry, this relationship changes.

The pastor becomes the equipper, while the laypeople become the ministers.

This change does not happen overnight. Through the ministry, however, the roles and functions of both clergy and laity gradually begin to change.

9. Equipping

The phrase “to equip the saints” in Ephesians 4:11–12 should be strongly emphasized.

I understand education, training, and equipping as three different levels.

Education mainly provides theories, concepts, and knowledge in the classroom.

Training takes those principles and policies and helps people practice them in the field.

Equipping, however, goes one step further. It provides people with the practical tools they can actually use in the real field of ministry.

The goal of Lay Pastors Ministry is therefore not merely to educate or train people, but to equip them for ministry.

10. The Two Textbooks

The two primary books behind this ministry make important contributions to the church.

The first book makes a unique and significant contribution by challenging churches to consider entrusting the pastoral care of their members to laypeople. It also has value for seminaries, where professors can use it to teach future pastors how to equip their members for pastoral care.

The second book is also a helpful resource. It encourages pastors and churches to equip and partner with laypeople in the important ministry of pastoral care.

Together, these books provide a strong foundation for understanding and practicing Lay Pastors Ministry.

11. Individual Maturity and Church Growth

Lay Pastors Ministry emphasizes individual maturity before organizational growth.

Many church programs focus primarily on growth. When growth becomes the main goal, however, the content of ministry can become weak, and people may remain spiritually immature.

Sometimes we emphasize results so strongly that people become tired very quickly. When the desired goal is not achieved, they may also become frustrated.

I believe it is better to focus on the process of maturity. As people grow through the process, the church will also grow naturally.

Therefore, Lay Pastors Ministry focuses first on people and their maturity, and then on church growth.

12. Lay Leadership

Karl George, former Director of the Fuller Institute of Church Growth, emphasized that one of the keys to the contemporary church is the development of lay leadership. He also connected the development of lay leadership directly with church growth.

Through my experience over many years, I have found that Lay Pastors Ministry is an excellent tool for developing lay leadership.

Here, we are not primarily talking about the position or office of laypeople, but about their role and function.

Many ministries aim to develop lay leaders, but they often make the ministry itself the ultimate goal rather than the development of people. As a result, the outcome may be the development of programmers or managers rather than genuine leaders.

Lay Pastors Ministry seeks to develop people who can take responsibility for ministry.

13. Contents of the Training

The basic training consists of twelve major areas:

  1. Concept and Theology
  2. Who Needs It?
  3. Commitments
  4. The Call
  5. Building a Relationship
  6. About Listening
  7. “Being” Precedes “Doing”
  8. Keeping Spirituality Fit
  9. Anatomy of a Visit
  10. Being Professional
  11. Confidentiality
  12. Difficulties into Possibilities

These contents are taken from the first book and have been selected as the essential areas needed to produce effective PACE Ministers.

During the past fifteen years, I have personally found that this training has addressed approximately 85 percent of what we have needed to prepare laypeople for this ministry.

Of course, additional subjects may be added according to the needs of a particular church or situation. For example, the work of the Holy Spirit and supervision may be included as additional topics.

14. One-to-One Ministry

Lay Pastors Ministry is fundamentally a one-to-one caring ministry.

Most ministries emphasize one-to-many ministry, while Lay Pastors Ministry focuses specifically on one-to-one care.

Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

One-to-many ministry is strong in group leadership, group dynamics, and reaching many people at once, but personal care can sometimes be weak.

One-to-one ministry is strong in personal attention and caring relationships, but it can be weaker in group leadership and group dynamics.

Therefore, I believe the best strategy is to complement one another. We should not choose one and reject the other. Both have their strengths.

However, when we are considering personal growth and pastoral care, we must recognize the unique value of one-to-one ministry.

Conclusion

In the end, Lay Pastors Ministry is a ministry entrusted to laypeople so that they themselves lead and carry out the ministry.

Until now, senior pastors and assistant pastors have often led most church ministries, while laypeople have simply helped them. In Lay Pastors Ministry, the pastor remains responsible for training and preparation—what we call equipping—while the laypeople become responsible for carrying out the ministry.

This is the fundamental paradigm shift.

The pastor does not give up pastoral responsibility. Rather, the pastor changes from being the person who does everything to being the person who equips others to do the ministry.

The laypeople, in turn, move from being passive recipients to becoming active ministers.

Many church leaders and ministry experts recognize this kind of structure as a biblical model of ministry. The pastor equips; the laypeople minister. This is at the heart of Lay Pastors Ministry.