How Can I Serve My Church?

Matthew Emadi

• Publisher: Crossway
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781433572111
• eBook ISBN: 9781433572142
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

4 Practical Ways to Serve the Local Church

Church Questions is a series that seeks to provide ordinary Christians with sound and accessible biblical teaching by answering common questions about church life. Each volume offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment.

Believers display the greatness of God's kingdom to a hostile world when we selflessly serve each other and those around us. In this short booklet, Matthew Emadi explains the vital roles we play within the church. Through acts of service including hospitality, ministry, and evangelism, we bless our communities and long to hear Jesus one day say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Basketball practice had just ended, and Jason lingered until he had my attention.1 Before he’d said a word, I knew what to expect.

“Hey coach, I think I might quit the team. I’m not really needed.”

Jason hardly ever got off the bench, and so he thought that without a meaningful contribution on game days, he served no purpose.

Jason was wrong.

He did have a purpose on the team—and a vital one at that, even if he didn’t realize it. He came to practice every day. He made his teammates better. Without his presence, everyone would have suffered. He made first-string players work harder. His friendship and camaraderie encouraged his teammates to persevere. Even on game days, he cheered his teammates on.

He was essential to the team whether he realized it or not.

Let me tell you a similar story. Sandy is a member of our local church. She told me one day, “I’m struggling to know what my role is in the church.” Sandy didn’t lead a ministry. She wasn’t responsible for any programs or events. And so she just didn’t know what to do. Like Jason, Sandy thought she wasn’t getting in when it mattered. She thought she wasn’t serving the church.

And also like Jason, she was wrong.

Sandy faithfully shows up every Sunday. She comes early and stays late so that she has plenty of time to talk to others. She’s always at members meetings, so she can vote on important issues and ask meaningful questions. She serves in the nursery and regularly invites church members to her home. She encourages our members with Scripture. She prays for them. She talks to visitors.

In so many ways, Sandy serves our church faithfully and meaningfully. She’s vital, despite not having an official title or formal ministry position.

Maybe you’re reading this book because you feel the same way. You want to serve your church, but you just don’t know what to do. Maybe you’re a new Christian, and you don’t think you’re ready to serve. Maybe you’re serving in ways that leave you tired and burnt out, but you don’t want to admit it. Maybe you’re waiting for some official role in the church or for the pastor to assign you a ministry, and you don’t know what to do in the meantime. Maybe you’ve avoided service because you don’t know your calling or how to identify your spiritual gifts.

Wherever you’re at, if you’re thinking about what faithfulness looks like in serving your local church, then this book is for you.

Small Business Staff or Citizens, Soldiers, and Sons?

Is the Church a Business?

Misconceptions about serving the church often stem from misconceptions about defining the church. Many people view local churches like small businesses where the pastor is the CEO and the people are the customers. They think the church exists to give them and their children a menu of programs, activities, and events. Those who decide to serve are like employees of the business, making sure the programs are well-organized, the coffee is hot, the marketing is catchy, the activities are plentiful, and the bathrooms are squeaky clean.

Don’t misunderstand me—there’s nothing wrong with clean bathrooms or hot coffee. In fact, serving your church might mean volunteering to clean the bathrooms or change the coffee filters. But how we think about the church will affect how we think about our service in the church. If we think of local churches as businesses, pastors as CEOs, and churchgoers as consumers, then we will think about service as if we are employees (church members) waiting for the boss (pastor) to give us an assignment (ministry) with a job title—secretly hoping it’s not “Director of Bathroom Sanitation.”

To think well about service, we need to think biblically about the church. Simply put, local churches aren’t like businesses; they’re more like embassies of a great kingdom or a family in the same household.

Embassy of the Kingdom of Heaven

On a mission trip, I had the privilege of staying at a Haitian orphanage located across the street from the American embassy. I have to admit that seeing the embassy always provided me a sense of comfort. I knew the embassy represented my government. Even though I was in a foreign country, I could go to the embassy, and they would recognize my citizenship and offer me the protection and privileges that are mine as a citizen.

As Christians, we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven and local churches on earth are little embassies of that kingdom. In other words, they represent heaven on earth (Matt. 16:18–19; Eph. 2:19; Phil. 3:20). Jesus Christ is the king of heaven’s kingdom, and he rules his church through his word—the Bible (Eph. 1:19–23). Through church membership, discipline, and baptism, the Lord’s local churches identify Christians on earth. They speak on behalf of heaven to declare to the world who is and who is not a citizen of Christ’s kingdom (Matt. 18:15–20).

What does any of this have to do with how we think about serving our church? Everything! First, we should recogniz...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Newsletter Signup
• Endorsements
• Other Crossway Books
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Chapter 1
• Notes
• Scripture Index