Where Are You Called to Serve?
Spring brings about such wonderful things. It brings blossoms of all kinds that fill our vision with wonderful color. It brings smells of fresh cut grass and the faint aroma of flowers peeking out after the long winter months. Spring brings the joyful songs of birds singing praises as they return from their long journey south…..and it brings our annual Every Member In Ministry campaign. For some of you , reading the words Every Member In Ministry, has no meaning because you have recently joined us so you are asking what is that? For others of you, the words Every Member In Ministry – lets face it, brings a yawn because you have been filling out your forms for about two decades now. You already know what you are going to mark on the form. But would you give me a minute or two?
This is a critical time of the year for the church. Because a church – EVERY church depends on everyone in the worshiping body to serve in some form of ministry. Welcoming people at the door, rocking a baby, singing in the choir or praise band, helping with funeral dinners, or taking a meal to someone who has recently been in the hospital, helping with all the technology that happens in the worship services, studying and teaching God’s word to children, youth and adults are all areas that we need each of you to serve in. So every spring we hand out our Every Member In Ministry booklets and ask that you prayerfully consider how God is asking you to serve during this next year. (September 17-August 18) This is not something that we, as the staff take lightly. We recognize the critical need that Hope has in asking each of you to commit one year of service in an area or two or three that you feel God is asking you to serve in. It may be an area that you feel comfortable in OR God may be stretching you and asking you to do some risk taking service, stepping out of your comfort zone and serving in a new area. If everyone would follow God’s lead I am confident that all the places of the church’s ministry would be covered. Because when we are all involved in ministry/serving then we are truly moving as the body of Christ. The same body that The Apostle Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians chapter 12: 12-20:
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
God knows how His body will serve best and He will put each of us in the place where He can most effectively work through us. Nonetheless, every one must prayerfully seek Him, and then fill out your Every Member in Ministry form! Don’t let this opportunity to pass you by this year. Be the kind of servant that makes God proud!