When the Methodist movement began, people who were not pastors found new ways to grow in faith and help lead the church. We call these people lay people or laity. Dr. Daine Lobody, a retired church history professor, says John Wesley’s Methodism was like “a school for leadership development.” That means people were encouraged to find their gifts, grow their strengths, and use them to serve God. Wesley invited lay people to lead classes, care for one another, preach, start ministries, serve the community, and guide schools.
This part of our Wesleyan story is worth remembering today. Lay people still have a major part to play in helping The United Methodist Church grow, stay strong, and serve with love.
If you serve on the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development, your work matters. You help notice people, encourage them, and support them as they step into leadership. The leaders you help raise up can bless your church and your wider community.
- Just imagine what could happen if every person in your church had a chance to use their gifts well. How might people’s lives change?
- How might your community be changed by the love and service of faithful followers of Jesus using their greatest gifts and talents?
This is the kind of difference the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development can make. Sometimes churches stop too soon. We focus on nominations, or filling empty spots on a list. But this work is much bigger than that. It is about helping people grow, serve, and discover the joy of using their gifts for God.
- Helping more leaders share the good news of Jesus.
- Helping people find new and meaningful ways to serve.
- Helping people grow as followers of Jesus and find joy in serving, not just take a job.
A strong nominations and leadership development committee does more than fill roles. It helps find, train, place, support, and care for Christian leaders. When this happens, the church is better able to do ministry that changes lives and blesses the community. The committee also helps church leaders think well about and care for lay people who serve in leadership.
You can find the members and duties of this committee in Paragraph 258.1 of the 2020/2024 United Methodist Book of Discipline.
So what does this committee actually do? Five action words help explain the work: identify, develop, deploy, evaluate, and monitor.
- To identify means to notice the gifts and strengths of people in the church. Who has a heart for children? Who is good at caring for others? Who can teach, organize, welcome, lead, or encourage? If your committee is only trying to fill empty spots, this is a good time to pause and ask better questions. God has given people gifts, and church leaders can help people see, explore, and use those gifts in the church and in the community.
- To develop means to help people grow. A person may have a gift, but they still need support, training, practice, and encouragement. We often feel most alive when we use the gifts God has given us. The committee helps people grow into the leaders God is calling them to be.
- To deploy means to help people serve in the right places. When people serve in ways that match their gifts and passions, they can do their best work. This service may happen inside the church, out in the community, or far beyond it.
- To evaluate means to check in with care. How is the person doing? What is going well? What help do they need? It is about support, learning, and growth.
- To monitor means to keep paying attention. Leaders need care after they begin serving. They need prayer, thanks, encouragement, and sometimes new chances to grow. The committee helps make sure people are not forgotten after they say yes.
Every church is full of people with different gifts, dreams, needs, talents, strengths, and struggles. The nominations and leadership development committee helps connect those gifts with the needs and hopes of the church. This is holy and hopeful work. You help the church make disciples of Jesus Christ and send them out to change the world. What could be more important for the life of the church and the health of our communities?
Martha Stokes
Conference Lay Leader