People Helping People

As the pastor of a church, I am often asked by members what they can do to help the church. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m not a traditional thinker.  This trait has certainly carried over into my ministry as well.  But I digress.  When people ask me what they can do to help the church, I usually tell them to do whatever makes them come alive.  The scripture puts it this way: 

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others?  Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.”  1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT

God didn’t create you to fill a gap or serve in a position.  He created each of us to be an originals.  Simply filling a ministry need at a local church just because it needs done won’t be nearly as satisfying or effective as asking yourself:  What am I excited about?  What can I hardly wait to do?  What do I wish I got to do a lot more of?  The answers to these questions will likely point you to your destiny.  And your destiny (which means divine plan) won’t look like anyone else’s, nor will it likely be a cookie cutter, out of the box thing.  Ask yourself, What am I good at?  What do I like to do?  What do people compliment me for?  Doing these things for the benefit of others and the glory of God is your ministry.  I believe it’s time we start taking ministry back from the organization and start returning it to the people.  God didn’t create organizations, He created individuals.  Individual followers of Christ coming together is what we call church.  You will find that when given the freedom to do so, these individuals can and will minister to their hearts' content and their maker's design in a way that brings health to the body and life to the community, not to mention tremendous fulfillment to the individuals themselves.  Let’s make this the year of people doing ministry wherever, whenever, and however they feel led. This points to one of our SCC core convictions:   PEOPLE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT.  A church is supposed to do what is best for the growth of the people, not the people doing what's best for the growth of the church.  It’s a subtle shift with a powerful effect.