Child days
As a kid, I have been pretty much involved with the church. I have been singing in children's choirs or church presentations especially for special events such as Christmas and Anniversaries. These were great memories that, I wish I knew everyone in the choir (or at least remember all of them). There were some who I can still see in the church (our first church) and maybe, the others, hopefully transferred and are still serving God in another church.It's all fun and games as a kid, and I honestly enjoy the practices for the choir, skits, puppet show (just once). Even if practices took place every saturday and sunday (afternoon i think), and probably 4-5 weeks before the presentation day, I'm still thankful for it for this kept me to grow in the church.
Early Teens
During my early teens, it was a struggle. Especially with our transfer of churches [Growing up as pk and my life changing experience]. I had a hard time being involved in our church, our third church (our church now). I like it when I see my friends there, but get bored when they are not there. I try to get happiness that I can't get in my church by getting involved with other churches through inter-youth fellowship events. My involvement in our church is there, to say the least, but my heart is not really into it. There were no special events to be involved with such as choir practices or anything. The thing that you can get involved with is cleaning the church, and all those chores.Late Teens to present
The time when I re-affirmed my salvation [My salvation story], I got more involved in our church. I started to teach our youth group, and we started with 2 students - where 1 is always late. It was a change of perspective, and though it was hard and a struggle at first, I've been more involved in our church. Because of my commitment to the Lord, I offer my talents, skills and even as simple as cleaning for the Lord. It is a struggle especially if I don't feel like doing some things, or I get tired in our choir practices. But through that I try to change my attitude, and be more active and try not to get tired during practices. As leaders, I think, that is one part of our job. As leaders, we need to set an example and pull them up, not drag them down. And this is what I have to offer, why? through this, I have Joy. Joy in serving Jesus.
Being Involved
What can I do?
Finding something that you want to do and can do in a church is hard. Often times, Christians think that when you give your talents to the Lord, it talks about "musical" talents. The fact is, it's not. If you are skilled with something, you can offer it to God. If you are good with carpentry, make a chair for the church. If you are good with flower arrangement, then make the flower arrangement in the church. If you are good at teaching, try handling a Sunday school class. If you are good at driving, offer to drive your service van and bring church members safely home. The thing is, if you are good at something, offer it to God.
If you are skilled at sports, you can spice things up a bit. Make training events for your youth or children group. And then hold lessons in between training sessions. The same goes for musical talents. Teach students in your church to play an instrument, you probably can form an orchestra.
What if I have no talent or skills?
If you think you have no talent or skill to offer, why not try cleaning the church? For a small church like ours, there are no janitors and it is up to the members to take care of the church. "Am I helping?" Probably for large churches, you have janitors and you don't need to dirty your hands. Ask yourself this, "Am I leaving trash when I leave the church?" "Am I taking care of the church, or destroying it?" If you think you can't offer anything else, ask yourselves, (this would be a challenging question for long-time Christians (maybe 3years or more) - "Am I being a burden to our Pastor?" "Am I inviting friends?" "Am I loving the Pastor and all church members?"
A word of caution
We also need to evaluate ourselves, specially if what we offer is our musical talent. Do we do our best when there are a lot of people, or it is a special occasion? And then when there are a few people on a regular Sunday, you don't do your best - you even won't play your instrument. Are you motivated to please man or God? Are we only attending church during special occasions and disappear on regular sundays?
This may seem "too much" to you, but being involved glorifies God (if you have correct motives). It gives honor to him. It is a part of our spiritual growth and maturity.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,
in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God
—this is your true and proper worship."
-Romans 12:1
And most importantly, through serving and being involved in the church, that is how you find JOY. It is a challenge indeed, but when you accomplish it, joy comes.
Post Title: Invloved --> Involved
ReplyDeleteI might also mention what can be in the Church sometimes stem from the congregation, in fulfilling their needs, apart from 'official' Church duties also. To recognize oneself as part of the body is to seek to contribute to the body.
Everyone has a niche, in agreement with what you said in your post. For me, one task I found I could volunteer to do is translating Christian material between languages in both printed and web materials.
thank you for pointing out the title typo error, ahaha
ReplyDeleteYes, there are other things that can be done in the church aside from "actions" that generally relates to service. One easy-to-say-hard-to-do thing is probably pray for each other. This is one thing that Christians can do for each other. Encourage one another, help and strengthen the faith of each one, as we are part of One body.