There’s nothing like your teacher falling off a cliff to focus the mind. Ironically he was the designated ‘safety officer’ for our bushwalk. As the only adult in the party of 30 he led us in all kinds of ways - making decisions about what route we should take and so on. After he fell it was over to us.

Thankfully he survived. Full of adrenalin we made decisions about getting first aid to him without having someone else fall. Then we had to decide if he could be moved to a safer spot.  We pitched tents on the side of the mountain, knowing our failure to reach a designated checkpoint would trigger a search and rescue response.

I’ve often thought back to that night of almost 30 years ago. In the middle of this crisis I saw boys turn to men. In the absence of our leader we were forced to step up and do things we weren’t sure that we could.

I was reminded of this recently when a minister friend suggested the best thing he could do to encourage lay ministry would be to unexpectedly not turn up one Sunday morning. Switch off the mobile and leave the rectory. What do you think would happen? Could church function for a Sunday without the ‘professional paid ministry staff’? Would someone step up and lead the service? Would someone eventually open the bible and teach something?  His suggestion was obviously tongue in cheek but there was some great wisdom in it. If the minister’s role is the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry then he must get out of the way to let the ministry happen.

Maybe falling off a cliff would be a little dramatic. But what would it take to encourage people to step up and use their God given gifts for his service?