Let This Letter Be Your Guide To Serving In The Church
KidminAccelerator
Serving in ministry is something that grows you closer to Christ while allowing you to realize the Gospel in the lives of others. As someone who has committed to a specific ministry, you need to do more than just “show up” on the weekend. Your service over the weekend should be an overflow of what God is doing through you in the week.
Just like they do in the popular kids’ program, Sesame Street, this blog post is sponsored by a specific letter—P. Here are 7 “P’s” to help you in your service in the church.
Pray
Pray for those you will be serving. Many people come to church for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, for two reasons: curiosity or crisis. If you are representing the church in your service, how you interact with them will be a reflection of the Gospel in their eyes. You have no way of knowing when this will happen or with whom, so praying in advance sets your heart in the right place for when the moment arrives.
Prayer also helps you put things in the proper perspective. You are a conduit through which God loves others; you are not the source. If you do not pray and ask God to empower you to serve others, you set yourself up to carry the load on your own. Prayer reminds us who works through us to love others
Prepare
Whether you teach children, greet people at the door, serve meals during the week in the kitchen, or lead worship, you have some preparation to do. Do not shirk it. Read the lesson. Learn the music. Practice smiling in the mirror. Do whatever you need to do so that you show up ready to serve and confident in what you are doing.
Pick Up
Make sure you show up early enough to get ready. When you arrive at your place of service, make sure and pick up anything you need. If you prepare, you should know what these things are without needing to ask anyone. You will also be able to spot anything that is missing or needs adjusting. Remember that anyone you ask to help you get ready is putting off getting ready themselves.
Pursue Relationships
Get to know the people you are serving as well as the people with whom you are serving. The Church is not an organization performing tasks, it is a community doing life together. Build friendships, sit together in worship, get coffee or lunch after church. Serving together for a common purpose is one of the best ways to build deep and lasting relationships.
Participate
When you are there, be present. Put away your smartphone, unless you use it as part of your service. If you suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out), then apply it to your service. Fear missing out on what God does in some else’s life. If you are in children’s ministry, sing the songs they sing. Do not stand like a guard on the perimeter. If your student ministry does silly games for icebreakers, do them. Delayed gratification, or even a little embarrassment on your part, can make a big difference in the life of someone you are serving.
Put Away
The old saying “your mother does not work here, clean-up after yourself” is a fun one, and it applies here. Put the supplies you use away, pick up any trash you see on the floor. Help stack chairs. Throw away the coffee cup someone left behind. Do your part to leave everything better than the way you found it. Do not assume clean-up is someone else’s job. If everyone pitches to help, no one has to do very much.
Pray
After you serve, bring it full circle. Pray for what God did in the lives of the people you encountered. Thank God for the chance to serve. Ask him to reveal how you realized the Gospel today.
Just like on Sesame Street, let a letter remind you that serving is far more than the tasks you do to help the church. Serving is your chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
KidminCreative helps ministries bring the Gospel to the next generation in creative, yet biblically-grounded ways.
Ministry Accelerator combines scriptural disciplines and creative methods to create a sustainable faith in Christ for everyone. Join us by emailing info@ministryaccelerator.org.
