Serving and Growing Within the Church
A couple days ago I read this quote from a burnt-out church volunteer. “When they [the church] see a leader, they hook you. They say, ‘Here is an executive. She’s in our church — let’s use her and make her do these things.’ Before long, it’s ‘Will you teach Sunday school or will you do this, will you do that?’ I really can’t get involved. Once in a while, yes, but not just giving, giving, giving.” (the quote is from p.31 of Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace by Harvie M. Conn)
This quote troubled me. Mainly because this attitude that the church is always asking something of you is one that I have seen in my own heart. I confess that I have struggled with the selfish feeling of just wanting to “get mine” or at least just get a break from all that I am giving. I have seen growth in this area as I have grown in my affections for Jesus. Christ gave all he could for the church. If I love Jesus, shouldn’t I naturally love what he loves?
So the thought occurred to me as I read the above quote, “What’s the correlation between desire to serve and growth in love and knowledge of Jesus?” Of course, I am assuming that there is a correlation here. I wrote down some quick thoughts in my journal after reading that quote. The entry below is really my attempt at preemptively addressing this “the-church-demands-too-much-of-me-so-I-won’-serve-at-all” situation.
“In our bringing new people into places of service within the church, we must be sensitive to their ‘needs.’ People serve with different motivations — obligation/duty, to please others, to find/test gifts or calling, to glorify God, etc. We don’t want to stifle their growth with an overload of responsibilities yet we don’t want to keep them out of community by protecting them from service either. I think we ought to be mindful of how those who are serving our being served. Really the question is, ‘Are those who are serving being mentored and maturing as believers?’ As they grow in their affections for Christ, serving him moves from being a duty to delight.”
A heart that is passionate for Jesus, will love what he loves. Jesus loves his church. Looks to me that if we want passionate and happily serving volunteers within the church, they need to grow closer to Jesus.
