Called to Serve = Called to Prepare

Have you noticed the trend…persons serving on church staffs with little training?  How often have you seen churches placing persons in paid leadership positions that do not have any experience or formal training? Are they being set up for failure?

Okay, I am digging a deep hole here and I want to be careful that I don’t dig so deep that I can’t get out.

I do believe that God can raise up persons from a local congregation to serve in that place.  
I do believe that it doesn’t necessarily take a seminary degree to qualify to serve in a church setting.
I do believe that everyone who serves or leads is trained for the position they are placed.  
I do believe that it is the responsibility of the leadership of any organization to get the right people on ‘the bus’ and then make sure they are prepared for the task assigned.

Today I heard a phrase that caught my attention:  if we are called to serve then we are also called to prepare.

What the preparation looks like can and will vary from person to person and position to position, however, there should be no service until preparation.