Do you know what Scripture verse is printed on our church stationary? We’ve taken a statement made by the apostle Paul as a way of describing our church’s outlook. Here is the verse – “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” [2 Corinthians 4:5]. I’d like for you to give focused consideration to that powerful verse and seek to write it on your own heart.
What does the statement, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” say to you? For me such thoughts as – “It’s not about me/us” – “the church is all about Jesus” – “we are to be offering Jesus to others” – “He is to be the Head/Lord of all that we are about” – come to mind. What comes to mind for you?
Now take the next statement, “and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” and chew on that thought. What ideas come to you as you read those words? As I read them I think of how we are to be what Jesus Himself was – a servant [Matthew 20:26b-28]. And what a servant He was, even giving His life as a ransom for all of us. He is now our Master and we are His servants – to do His bidding – to continue the work he was about as a servant here on earth. And who are we to serve? Certainly that would include our fellow Christians and church members. But they have an eternal Father taking care of them. Would you not think that our greatest service is to non-Christians who do not have God as their Father? Those are the ones Jesus came to serve.
As you are aware, I’m in the midst of a year-long training for senior pastors. In my instructor’s book, Fusion, he makes the following statements – “God is consistently blessing His Church with regular guests. Are we doing all we can to accept and honor His blessing…Gifts from God are given freely – and strategically – and God expects us to handle what we’ve been given with the same strategic care. First-time guests are extraordinary gifts full of unparalleled potential. As God brings them through our front doors, our prayerfully planned reciprocation can result in changed lives for the Kingdom” [pages 20, 27] Don’t you think that God wants us to be servants to the guests He blesses us with/sends our way?
To better be His servants to our guests we are forming 8 Servant Ministry Teams. I’d like to ask you to pray about being a member of one or more of these teams.
- Greeter Team – These servants will greet our guests prior to Sunday School and Worship with a smile and willingness to assist them get to where they need to go.
- Welcome Center Team – Once we establish a welcome center we will need servants to staff it prior to Sunday School and Worship, and then again after Worship.
- Refreshment Team – We intend to begin serving refreshments in the FLC prior to Sunday School and will need servants to take care of the preparation, serving and clean-up.
- Commitment Card Organizer Team – These servants will collect all commitment cards handed in after the Worship service – make appropriate copies of them – get the information to appropriate leaders.
- Treat Provider Team – This team of servants will be responsible for making treats [bread, cookies, jam, cupcakes, etc], ahead of time, to be delivered to our first-time guests on Sunday afternoon.
- Treat Delivery Team – Each Sunday afternoon these servants will deliver the treats that have been made for our first-time guests.
- Monday Follow-up Team – On Monday we will need a couple of servants to pray over all the commitment cards and then follow-up on each indicated next step of faith made.
- Follow-up Visitation Team – These trained servants will seek to line up a visit to each first-time guest the week following their visit.
I’m sure God could use you on at least one of those teams. Will you seek His will for you in this matter? It’s a certainty that He has called you to be a servant. We’re trying to give you many options to fulfill His calling on your life. Please join me in seeking to live out “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake”.
His servant,
Pastor Steve