Lay ministry training based on spiritual gifts in the Seventh-day Adventist churches of the Thailand Adventist Mission

Abstract

Thailand Adventist Mission is facing an enormous challenge in mobilizing and nurturing church members into active ministry in reaching the people of Thailand. Although Thailand Adventist Mission is baptizing hundreds of people every year, it has failed to maximize the involvement of church members in mission due to the absence of spiritual gift-based program. The purpose of this project is to develop a training program to help church members in engaging actively in the ministry and mission of the church according to their spiritual potentials. The project is biblically grounded as it employs the basic concept of the ministry in terms of the role of the laity and the church in fulfilling God’s mission on earth. It also considers the basic biblical concept and process of training for the purpose of equipping church members in discovering and employing their spiritual gifts for the ministry and mission of the church. This program is intended to revive the missionary spirit among members and to encourage them in performing the task of ministry in preparation for the soon coming of Jesus. The Spiritual-Gift Based Lay Training Program starts with vision identification by conference leaders, pastors, church board, and church members. After the vision/mission awareness, a spiritual revival is conducted along with the training seminar on spiritual gifts’ discovery and affirmation. The program is concluded with a training on how to develop their gifts in the different areas of church ministry. The program considers recruitment, teaching strategies, curriculum, and evaluation that need to be addressed in order for the program to be effective and relevant.