Why Is It Important To Serve In Church?

As A Christian You will hear about the importance of going to church but you may ask why is it also important to serve in the church.

You might be excited to serve in your church but have no idea what is your gifting.

Before I go any further I want to ask you this very important question.

Are you serving in some way in your local church? Are you a contributor or merely a consumer? Today I want you to know that God has a role and responsibility for you.

I believe one of the best ways to show your gratitude to God is through being a servant.

Why Serve In Church?

God is looking for us modern-day churchgoers to serve in his church.

You are a part of the Family of God and you have a role to play.

God is looking for workers to work together to bring people into his Kingdom

He’s looking for people who are available to hear His Word, receive His power, and do His will. God can use all kinds of men and women.

Like Gideon, some of God’s servants are weak in themselves but strong in the Lord. Like Barak, some people don’t want to fight the enemy alone.

All of us are different, but all of us can serve the Lord for His glory. If God calls you to serve Him, it’s not primarily because of your abilities and talents.

He often calls people who seem to have no leadership qualities at all. He calls you because you are yielded to Him and available to do His will.

Don’t look at yourself; don’t look only at the challenge; look to the Lord.

It is possible to be a member of a church, but never be part of the team that makes the church function properly.

Spiritual growth happens when you move from being a receiver to being a reproducer.

A church of 100 people could not function if there were 100 pastors, but neither can it function well if only 1 person does everything in the ministry.

God is looking for Servants.

Jesus said the harvest is ripe but the labourers are few.

He said that thousands of years ago and it still stands true today.

Where are the labourers or where are the servants?

People who are willing to serve.

I believe the first step to saving people is to serve them.

Jesus was constantly serving people.

It is nice when we can come together and worship together on a Sunday.

It is greater still when we can work together and serve together helping to achieve a certain aim.

Are you willing to be a servant today?

Are you willing to serve in the work of the Ministry?

You have gifts and talents that God has blessed you with to serve others.

My admonition to you is to use it for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God

God wants you and is willing to use you.

As the Song writer said – I give myself away – so you can use me

Are you willing to be used by God today?

My Story On Serving In Church

Now let me share my story with you about how I started to serve in my Church.

I remember when I first came to church I would do nothing but just sit down every Sunday and go through the motions of Church.

I will sing, I will clap my hands and I would listen to the sermon.

Week after week this is all I would do.

I remember I would continually watch the drummer and wish I could play the drums.

One day the Pastor asked me to help out with the projector to show the songs while people sing.

I volunteered myself to do it and that was the first role I had in serving in the church.

Was operating a Projector my spiritual gift?

I would get into that in a moment.

Here is the main thing I want you to see.

This is how you can start.

You can start small.

There are lots of simple things you can do in church to help out.

Challenges of Serving In Church

Now I will admit that there are challenges you will encounter in being a Servant and getting involved in Ministry.

Discovery of Gifts

Many times we have people say that they have no gifts.

Have you ever felt like you were just kind of behind the door when the gifts were handed out, and, and, and somehow other people seemed to have talents and they seem to have abilities, and you can’t even walk and chew bubble gum at the same time? And you just don’t have any talents. You don’t have any abilities at all.

It’s like when the Holy Spirit was giving out gifts your name wasn’t on the list.

It’s like they totally forgot you.

If we read 1 Cor 12 we will realise that everyone has a gift.

Everyone has something that they can do

One of the best ways to find out what your gift is – is to ask other people

We have a tendency to limit ourselves and look down on ourselves or even downplay our strengths.

People will see what you cannot see.

Ask a leader or Pastor what you are good at.

Another way to discover your gift is through getting involved in things in the church.

For example, if you are in a Sunday school or youth group etc the leader will give you things to do and opportunities.

Take part in it and they will help you to discover what you can do and what you cannot do.

OCD

This stands for Obsessive Comparison Disorder

We look at other people and see how great they are and we compare ourselves to them.

We tell ourselves we could never be like someone else.

You may be called to sing but you watch a Sister who sings well and say you could never do that because you are not as good as singing.

And we decide not to get ourselves involved.

Let me share something with you

This is not American Idol.

This is not a competition.

We are on a mission, not a competition.

We are not here to try and outdo each other.

We are not here to look better than each other.

We are here to complement each other and make the job easier for everyone.

Stop comparing yourself to what other people can do.

Compare leads to Despair.

Comparison is a calling killer!

This is one whisper the Devil is telling people to make them feel unworthy so that they would not start serving.

OCD is one of the biggest challenges that stop people from Serving in Church.

Criticism

Another challenge of serving is that you are going to be criticized at times.

You are going to make mistakes and fumble at times.

That is normal.

Nobody who serves is perfect and you will realise that it has some people looking for perfection.

One thing you may realise is that a lot of people who are in church and aren’t serving have all the ideas about how everything should be done.

These people might give you a piece of their mind from time to time.

People will belittle you.

They will ask you what makes you think you qualify to do your job.

Some people will even bring up your past and what you used to do.

They will tell you – “what makes you think you qualify to preach”

“Or to Lead in Worship

Or backup sing

Play a musical instrument”

You will be criticized in the beginning.

It has no way you will be as good as someone who has been doing it for years when you are now starting.

It will have some people who may be in the audience will tell you – “you are not as good as that sister and you holding back the worship”.

Some might not sing if you leading cause they find you are not good enough.

Criticism and being able to handle it is a challenge.

There is Constructive and Destructive Criticism and you need to know how to tell the difference.

Here is what I want to leave you with.

DO WHAT YOU ARE CALLED TO DO
Not everyone will understand
Not everyone will approve
Not everyone will applaud
Not everyone will affirm
Not everyone will celebrate
Not everyone will support
Not everyone will stay
Not everyone will encourage
But do what you are called to do

Those are some of the challenges and reasons why it is important to serve in the church.

In our next post, we would continue this topic by looking at Spiritual Gifts and how they help you to serve in Church.