Why Volunteer, Serve, or Join a Ministry Team?

(This article is one of a series of articles entitled “Why Volunteer, Serve, or Join a Ministry Team?” My hope is that these articles will inspire you to serve faithfully and/or help you, as a leader, cast a vision for serving and helping others find their joy in serving as well.)

Reason Five: Serving Utilizes the Spiritual Gifts God Has Given Us.

Utilize your gifts, fulfill your destiny. Don’t waste your gifts and talents that God has so generously graced you with! Don’t go to your grave with your song still in you!

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

Sometimes people tell me, “Ok Pastor Scott, all this sounds good, but what do I have to offer?”

I quickly remind them that they’ve got gifts! They are valuable to the Kingdom of God and yes God wants to use them to minister to others.

Even if people can’t currently identify their gifts, 1 Peter 4:10 tells us that we have at least one gift. It’s called the “whatever gift”. Use your “whatever gift” you have been given to serve and minister to others.

Grace Gifts

You are graced by God to have the gifts you have. “…faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”1 Peter 4:10 I love this! Our gifts and talents are giftings that God has graced us with. Graced, enabled, and empowered by the Holy Spirit for a special purpose and plan.

We can’t boast or brag about our giftings because it’s not our ability, it’s the enabling power of the Holy Spirit working within us.

We can’t be envious of others’ giftings. They are just using what God has graced them with.

Therefore, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms, we say “Yes” to using these special grace gifts and talents!

Discover your gifts and talents, use them, and develop them! Practice makes perfect.

Use Whatever Gift You Have Been Given

Okay, so you may not have the most exciting, glamorous, or praised job. You might not receive any recognition at all; nevertheless, use your gift to serve others.

I will never forget our Church Plant days. We were renting a room at our local recreation department. Church had to be set up and torn down every Sunday morning, beginning at 6 a.m. and ending around 1 p.m. There was no way we could have ever pulled it off without many volunteers using their gifts and talent.

But one volunteer really stands out in my mind. Mr. Henry, an elderly gentleman in our church, on his own accord started taking out the trash at the recreation department every Sunday. He would go to the bathrooms, kitchen, common areas… and empty all the trash. Not a glorious job, but he did it faithfully!

Twenty-two years later, I still have fond memories of Mr. Henry. Sure, he and his wife did other things as well. Since I was bi-vocational they helped me with hospital visitation, and started a ministry called “Seeds of Love” that took food to families when they had surgery or recently had a baby. They were very faithful in it all. But I don’t know if Mr. Henry will ever fully understand what his taking care of the trash meant to me. I never had to worry about it. Never gave it a second thought. Never had to check behind him to make sure it was done. Thank you, Mr. Henry, for using that very non glamorous gift of helps and service.

What is Your Role in the Body of Christ?

All members of a local body of Christ are important. Like our physical bodies, in the body of Christ, every member is significant and has a special purpose or function.

1 Corinthians 12:15-20Now 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. 16 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. 17 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? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

Is there any part of your body that you feel is insignificant? Would you be willing to give up any

part of your body? So, it is in the body of Christ. Everyone performs a needed function.

The body will not be complete and work as it should if just one member decides not to do its part. And no part of the body should consider itself better than any other part.

What is your role in the body of Christ? Teaching, cleaning, singing, ushering, working in the nursery, greeting, etc. These are some of the many different things that we do. And yes, they are all significant and needed! Not all gifts are the same and not all do the same things, but we see the beauty of the Body of Christ when each of us do our part.

When WE SAY YES and do our part, it benefits me and you- and blesses all the church.

I heard a great illustration one time about the Kingdom of God. It went something like this.

The Kingdom of God is like a large banquet table full of food set before each guest that will be eating at the table. All the guests that are facing one another and ready for a great meal. The only problem is that no one has any elbows. They cannot bend their arms, so there’s no way to get the food to their mouths. The best solution? They begin to reach across the table and serve food to the guest sitting across from them. They all ate, enjoyed, and joyfully served each other.

We all need each other. We need to serve each other and the Kingdom of God, only then will we be satisfied, and joy filled.

Whatever gift you have been given, be faithful to serve others.

Pastor Scott Moore 10-23-23

scott.moore@believersmail.com Believers Church of Statesboro

www.believersstatesboro.com