“This is how I’m serving the church right now.”
The comment came from my son-in-law Josh. Our daughter Katie is on the worship team of a very large, multi-site church on the east side of Toronto. Most Sundays she has to be at church long before service begins, as early as 6 am in some cases. Then they attend service in the afternoon as a family at their own site. But when Katie is leading there, Josh has to find something to do before service for a couple of hours with their two young boys, and in the winter the only places to go are Home Depot and Walmart. And there he serves.
I’ve never been overly impressed by speakers who parade around churches and show little interest in other than their own platform ministry. Over the years, we have been blessed by many servants of God who have taken time to show an interest in our family or help out at church in small but practical ways before they hit the platform and preach.
We have worked with a lot of churches who still have to set and up and take down all their chairs on Sunday mornings. I have stacked chairs in at least three countries, and have done it twice in the last few weeks, once to help set up a church retreat I wasn’t even attending.
When it comes to taking stock of people who may be ready to assume leadership responsibilities in a congregation, the litmus test they must pass is having a serving spirit.
Jesus said it very plainly: “I am among you as one who serves.” He was telling a bunch of men obsessed with finding a place at the table that the one ready to wait on that table was the one God was really looking for.
My son-in-law is a very capable worship leader himself and a good preacher as well. But right now he’s ready to wait on some tables so people can come to the banquet and be fed, equipped and sent out.
You may feel your gifts aren’t appreciated adequately in your local church. Or maybe the rosters are full for the time being. So why not consider following Josh’s example and find some places just to serve, no matter how humble they are or how little recognition they receive?
Our primary service, after all, is not to people. It is to God. To please God is to serve him how he wants, regardless of what that looks like outwardly.
If worship, as Romans 12 says, is the laying down of our lives before God, then stacking chairs and taking your kids to Walmart while your wife rehearses are acts of worship which start long before any church service begins.
That kind of serving becomes a filter through which the impurities get removed so that if we do get to stand on a platform, what we say or do there comes out of a purified heart, and God gets the glory.
Regardless of our gifts, we will never graduate from serving, at least not in this life. Jesus’ last act of serving was his greatest. If you end your life serving, as he did, the next thing you will hear are the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
And in that moment you’ll know it was all worth it.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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