“How can I serve the church?” I get that question several times a year from visitors and new members. I will answer that question here, the way I generally answer it to the person asking. I start broad and work toward the specific.
Serving the church begins by publicly committing yourself to the church in membership. You serve your brothers and sisters in Christ when you profess Christ publicly through making your faith in Jesus Christ known to them. Baptism and formal church membership are the means by which the church recognizes that covenant commitment. Commitment is act of service. My commitment to my marriage means I am serving my wife, Susan. I am serving her needs for security in my love and protection of her and our home. I am serving her by prioritizing our relationship above other relationships. I am serving her helping her achieve all of God’s plans for her. She is served because I commit. Just like the church is served when we commit.
Commitment is only the starting point of service. You cannot serve the church without it, but it is not the end, it is part of God’s means for serving like Jesus. The next part of my answer goes to Hebrews 10:24-25, “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Spiritual consideration means spending time in God’s Word and prayer. You need to be reading God’s Word so that it is daily transforming you into the likeness of Jesus. He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” (Mark 10:45). You need to be praying not just for the needs of people you hear about but asking God how He might use you in meeting that person’s needs in either a spiritual, emotional, or physical way. If you ask Him, He will guide you in steps you can take. It might be just to keep praying for them. It might be to write them a note. It might be to visit them in their home. It might be to drive them to some appointment. It might be to give them money. It might be to have their lawn mowed. It might be to have a food delivery to them. The beautiful thing is you are availing yourself to the Holy Spirit to guide you.
The next thing I tell people to do who want to know how to best serve the church is that they need to be involved in simple and informal discipling relationships. The people God has put them around are those who can do them spiritual good, and for whom they can do spiritual good. You need to use those relationships to pick a good Christian book and read it together. Read the Bible together. You can meet for accountability and prayer. These relationships are God-ordained opportunities for you to serve and be served.
Another way you serve the church is being hospitable. Hospitality is not having formal gatherings or planning big events. Hospitality is about loving strangers. Invite people into your life where you are. Instead of sitting where you always sit in Sunday School or in Worship, sit next to the person who is by themselves, or near a family you have never met. Invite someone you do not know well to have coffee with you or to grab a meal together after church.
Then in the much more specific sense you can talk to me, or any of the church staff and express a desire to serve in a certain ministry or use a certain skill or background in a way that would bless the church. Children’s ministry, student ministry, and worship ministry can always use people in a variety of ways to help people love God, love others, and teach the Bible. There are teams the church uses to care for the facilities and the vehicles. There are teams for missions, history, our resource center, and many other practical needs the church deals with. There are committees to help the church steward finances, personnel, and volunteers. These are very specific ways you can serve. But are no more valuable than the church member who physically is barely able to attend church, prays for the needs they know of, and shows love and care for those the Lord brings across his or her path. God knows exactly where each part of the body fits and how it best serves His Kingdom.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
