A guest post Adrian Warnock asked me to write for his blog while he’s taking a summer break:
There’s not alot worse than rolling out of bed Sunday morning with a groan in your soul because it’s 7am and you have to serve at your church. Let’s set the scene for a second: Last night you were up late at a birthday party for a member of your small group that you felt obliged to go to, then your alarm wakes you up and you end up allowing yourself ten minutes extra snooze time which makes you rush to get to church and miss your morning coffee. At church you are greeted by the happiest, friendliest team leader and your heart sinks. You don’t want to be smiley, you don’t want to be friendly and worst of all, you don’t want to pray with the team pre-service. Don’t be shocked – we’ve all been there! The fact of the matter is, we’re humans and we’re liable to have many a morning like that. I think alot of us have lost (or perhaps never discovered) the true meaning and reason behind serving our local church. I am a firm believer that every person involved on a Sunday (or during the week as well) is a pivotal building block in the church; whether it’s taking out the trash, controlling a dozen two year olds or preaching the message. I’m sure you’re familiar with those verses in 1 Corinthians (12:14-27 mainly) that talk about how the church works like a body and how every part is important – that’s the word of God; hold on to it! Our goal is to be like Jesus for His glory, and He was the ultimate self-sacrificial servant (Mark 10:45). We need to be excited about serving! We don’t serve to keep the church up and running, it’s not as if God needs us to do that – we serve because it’s what we’ve been called to do. God decided before the dawn of time that you were going to be on the ‘Welcome Team’ on Sunday the 18th July 2010. He planned it all out for you to be at this stage of your spiritual walk. God demands our service and it’s up to us to choose how we do it. Let’s be encouraged to get excited (by the way, what’s more exciting than being involved in God’s perfect plan?!) and to pray about serving – pray for a good attitude, pray that you’ll have the impact that you’re supposed to have, pray through 1 Peter 4:11 – it puts things in a whole new perspective. God is working for and through us – who cares if it’s 7am?!
One Quiet Friday 