Chosen to Serve

 

 

Maria Stockman – Digital Copywriter, cbn.com

In 2013, I had the privilege of being part of a church plant in an inner-city neighborhood. It was arguably the most challenging and rewarding spiritual experience I’ve ever faced. The hours were long, and the jobs were thankless; nonetheless, we were a joyful group of people!

It took four months of immersing ourselves in the community before we launched our first church service. We started with a children’s ministry, a mentoring program for youth, and a weekly Bible study. Our offerings fit our mission; for the first year, it felt like that was all we needed. Our church grew over the year, nothing major, but people in the community came to know Jesus and got plugged into the church.

At our weekly Bible study, I noticed the majority of the group were women. So, I approached my pastor and suggested that maybe we start a women’s ministry or at least a women’s Bible study. I thought he would say, “Yes, great idea! My wife could do that!” because isn’t that what pastors’ wives do; they run the women’s ministry? (All the pastor’s wives reading this are groaning right now, I’m sure!) However, he said that if you see a need, you should pray about filling it. Um, excuse me. I was coming to him with an excellent idea for someone else to do, not me!

I agreed to pray about it and revisit the conversation with him later. The Lord absolutely was putting it on my heart and used others in my life to confirm that this was my season to serve Jesus by leading a women’s Bible study. Our time together during this study was so precious, and I still remember many of the great meals, laughter, tears, and prayers we shared over the years.

We’re all chosen to serve, and each of us is called to different areas. In the early Church, in Acts 6, we see that some were neglected during the meal distribution. The apostles gathered all the disciples and basically said, “Hey, we are called to preach the Word of God, so we’re going to appoint some of you to serve” (Acts 6:2, authors paraphrase).

So, through prayer and the laying of hands, the apostles essentially commissioned these men to serve the church to meet all the needs. I love this line in Acts 6, and if you pay close attention, you’ll see a similar theme throughout the book:

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7).

The Lord continued to add to the number daily of those who found faith in Jesus Christ. He was rapidly growing the church, and His followers were using their gifts and talents to not only share Jesus but to feed, clothe, and shelter His people.

Are there areas in your church or community where you see an unfulfilled need? Don’t wait for someone to ask! God has chosen you to be His child; therefore, let’s all serve Him and His Kingdom as part of our worship of Him!