03/06/2026
Spiritual Gifts and Lay Pastoring in a Lay Driven Church
One of the great truths, Dr. Mel Steinbron presses into the church is this: God never intended His gifts to sit unused, and He never intended His pastors to carry the ministry alone. In The Lay Driven Church, Steinbron reminds us that every believer has been entrusted with spiritual gifts, real, God given capacities for ministry and it is our responsibility to use them, not wait for someone else to prompt us.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that the Spirit gives gifts “to each one, just as He determines.” That means your gifts are not accidental. They are intentional. They are assignments. And Paul goes further in verse 21: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’” In other words, the church can not function as God designed if any member withholds their gift. When we bury our gifts, the whole body suffers.
Steinbron is blunt: unused gifts are wasted gifts, and wasted gifts weaken the church. God has endowed every believer with something essential, encouragement, mercy, teaching, hospitality, discernment, prayer, leadership, helps, and He expects us to steward those gifts faithfully. Not someday. Not when someone asks. But now.
But here is the challenge: people often don’t know about their gifts, or they don’t believe their gifts matter. That is why pastors must make a deliberate choice to let laypeople use their gifts. Pastors must shift from doing all the ministry to equipping the saints for ministry. They must encourage, release, and trust God’s people to serve. They must help people identify their gifts, name them, and step into them.
Yet it’s not only pastors who must choose. The congregation must also choose to be pastored by laypeople. Steinbron says a lay driven church requires a culture where people welcome care from one another, not only from the clergy. It means accepting that the body ministers to the body. It means believing that the Spirit works through ordinary.
