Friday, May 6, 2011

the church has no volunteers - oh my

hey, did you hear the news, the church has no volunteers. nope, not a one, what are we going to do??? but don’t be alarmed, there’s nothing to worry about. yep, absolutely nothing to worry about because the church doesn’t need volunteers. the reason for that is because we have more then enough ministers to do all the work of the church.

see my friends, Jesus never called anyone to be a volunteer. in fact you will not find the word “volunteer” in any of the gospels in the new testament. Jesus doesn’t want volunteers. The army and rotary club call for volunteers, but Jesus calls disciples.

a disciple is someone who response to Jesus’ call to follow Him, in fact that’s what the word disciple means – one who follows. and Jesus calls His disciples to follow His example. there's a story in john’s gospel where Jesus washes the feet of His followers and says to them, “I have given you example, do as I have done - serve one another.”

Jesus came as a servant to humanity, and bids us to follow Him and become servants too. so if you are a follower (disciple) of Christ, then you are a servant too. and did you know that the word “minister” comes from the Latin “to serve”, so a minister is a servant, and all Christ’s true followers are therefore ministers. yep, the church is chock full of ministers – me, you, the guy who sits next to you in the pew, the woman handing you the hammer at a mission project, the girl standing next to you in the praise band or choir, all of us – ministers of Christ, called to serve one another, and to serve God by participating in God's work of healing our broken hearts and broken world.

so the next time someone asks you to volunteer to do something for the church, just tell them, “sorry i’m not a volunteer, i’m a minister of Christ - so what is it you need me to do?”

© 2011 Halley Low

1 comment:

  1. "wherever you see persecution, there is more than a probability that truth lies on the persecuted side."
    - Hugh Latimer

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