A Journey of Service
There’s lots of things that need prayer in our lives. Nearly everything really. God wants to be involved in both the big decisions and he’s with us through the little ones too. There is something that you don’t need to pray about though; serving. God wants you to serve.
Our church has four outcomes that we believe are the measurable goals by which you can figure out if you’re growing as a believer or not. One of those is understanding and using your spiritual gifts. Personally, coming to understand my gifting took a while, but it started with service. I became an usher at our church in college because I thought it would be fun to greet people as they were coming in to worship. I was by far the youngest usher we had, but that was fine with me and the other ushers and I really got along well. Eventually I ended up recruiting some of my friends and trained new ushers. During this time I was also attending the college ministry and attending a small group. In time I was asked to lead a group and as a result I felt really charged by this opportunity. From there I started asking if the staff for the college ministry needed any help setting up for the gathering, and I would come in during breaks in classes and set up the tables and that sort of thing. I developed a relationship with some of the other staff of the church and when the campus opened in the Regal on Elmwood one of the guys mentioned that they could use some extra help with setting up the media equipment. That’s when I stopped ushering, as I realized that ushering wasn’t what God wanted me to do anymore, and joined the set up team for The Chapel at Elmwood.
I share the beginning of my journey to understanding my spiritual gifts because it shows that wherever you start isn’t necessarily where you’ll land, but it’s important to start somewhere! There are loads of opportunities to serve here at our church as well as in your community and God will use your service to further the Kingdom. God asks for our willingness to be obedient to the call that he’s placed on our lives. That call is to love Him and love others. Service reminds us that there’s more to life than we see in our small bubbles and that we need to be open handed with our time and talents with the world around us. The Bible has made it clear that whatever God is going to do in this world he is going to do through his people. That means he wants to use you and me to bring His love and glory into this world. Our abilities and gifting have been given to us by God for this reason, for the sake of giving Him glory and for blessing others. So why not start that process and get serving? I promise that it’s what God wants for you and the Bible is clear that God is all about what's best for us.