Transcript

0:00
This episode is about the importance of serving in your church and community. Welcome to the Christian point was Zack and Linda, I always love getting to do this with you honey each week. And hey, I’m super excited about this episode. And this is going to be a really important podcast that can change your life. We’re going to be talking about serving. And today I’m with my husband, Zack McConnell, and we’re here in Texas. And it’s a favorite time of year to enjoy outside sunshine here in Dallas. So we’re going to be right back for this great episode of the Christian point.

0:36
Welcome to the Christian point podcast, where we are all about growing your relationship with God. As lifelong Christian believers, your hosts, Zach and Linda McConnell explore topics that affect your world. Together, they are relearning and redirecting our path as we walk through struggles hang up since and purpose. The Christian point is a lively discussion that will help equip you with tools provide focus and encouragement from a biblical perspective. Always remember, Christ is the point. Now here are your hosts, Zach and Linda.

1:11
Welcome to the Christian point. Thank you for listening. Today, we look at God’s word. And we take today’s hot topics, and today we’re going to talk about the importance of serving in your local church. We all need to be involved in some type of service in our local church, a join in today, and we’ll have great informational discussion on how we can stay connected and serve in your local church. So today’s hot topic, we both serve in the local church and the importance of serving the local church as life changing and transforming. So our recent statistic is only 10% of the people serve in church, guys, that’s 10%. So it’s 10% of the people doing 100% of the work. And I just hope that this topic kind of stirs up the heart of people that they want to get back involved and to be a part of their local church and also in their community. And just the empowerment for lack of better word that place inside of me to want to serve more, not only in the church, but in the community is it’s just all such an eye opening experience. But you know, Mark 1045 says, That son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and serving is God’s will for your life. And we have become an all about me society. It’s really sad. So I want to talk about why it’s so important that we serve in a local body and in our community.

2:45
So I think it’s a two fold entered Linda, not only are we followers of Christ, called by him, were instructed to serve. But we’re also equipped to serve. And that’s the part people miss so often. So winning infusions for it says that when Jesus ascended to heaven, he left his followers equipped, right, rice, special, specific gifts to serve the body of Christ, and to serve others. So if you’re in that 90% of believers not serving, then you’ve been giving gifts from God that you’re pouring completely using, right? So look at it this way, when you go to heaven, and you meet the Lord, he’s going to ask you about this. And he’s going to ask, how did you give in use those gifts that you were given? Right? Or did you bury your gifts in fear? And, Linda, I want us all to hear well done good and faithful servant. Right? Absolutely. So we know that we’ve been given special gifts in that we’ve been equipped. And then in Matthew 25, Jesus instructs us to serve those in need, as though they were serving him, right. And I love how Dr. Martin Luther King said it in in one of his last serpents, before he was assassinated, he referenced Matthew 25. And he said, In my eulogy, this is Dr. King, in my eulogy, don’t talk about my Nobel Prize, don’t talk about all my words, but instead, talk about how I fed the hungry, how I clothe the naked, and how he visited those in prison. And that’s what makes a great man. And I love that so much. And then he went on to say, so therefore, anybody can be great, because anyone can serve. And all we need is a heart of grace. And that speaks volumes for us today. Within the society we live in, and it’s an all about me society, what am I going to get out of it? But if you think about serving in what you really do, in what you’ll get out of serving, wow, and it can be life changing?

4:51
Well, I totally agree with that. I think that too. And one of the things that makes serving challenging now is that people have reverted to going to Church Online. And they want to continue online, even though a lot of churches are back full time. But you really have to have tangible experiences if you have to go online to serve. And one of the ways you can serve from a home, you can serve your church as volunteering on the media ministry. And they could help respond to prayer requests and comments. That’s right, that’s important. So we have to actively seek service because God made us a part of the body. And we are all part of the body. So we have to find our area of the body and serve in it.

5:35
That’s right. I think it’s so important to know that each area we serve in it, there’s not one area that’s more important than another, don’t you agree? It’s like, right, the hand can’t say do the foot, I’m more important because you need a foot. But you need that as just as much as you need a hand.

5:51
Right. And Matthew 23, verse 11, to 12 says, it’s good to serve. And when you consider some people are now going to church and experience Church Online, because the world has changed. And as we all know, the church must, in itself continue to change and embrace technology, not just because it needs to, but because it’s a way of being able to reach people that ordinarily may not actually be comfortable going into a church for the first time. That’s right. And most people these days, check out a church online before they come for an in person visit. And in my personal journey, I mean, I’ve been in a large mega church, and now I’m in a midsize church, but our church day has adapted to make sure we can make the most of the times that we’re living in. And you know, Colossians 323 says, for whatever you’re going to do, do it as if working for the Lord. So we should embrace technology, because you know, it’s the way to reach as many people as quickly and as easily as possible. So I think so Zach has it as a church leader, do you feel like it’s important to have your congregation serving?

7:03
Linda, I think to fully manned, live into the mandate of God, into the Kingdom mandate, it’s essential that all of us be part of the body of Christ. And we need to fulfill all aspects of that. God has equipped each one of us differently. He’s given us each different gifts. So in order to come full circle, we need everyone, everybody, regardless of what you can or can’t do to be part of that. But we can’t say the ushers are not as important as a worship leader, right? We can’t say that, not him. We can’t say Not everyone’s important. I think it’s very important that we realize we can all be part of God’s body through serving. It teaches us one of the greatest characteristics that Jesus himself exemplified. And that was his humanity. Right? Right. God said He would exalt all the humble. And I think if we learned that God is pleased when we’re serving, it’s through that opportunity. We show our humility. And I think that if we can help people to understand that, that that really brings God into full circle in our life of serving Him.

8:15
Absolutely. I think that’s a great point. And it’s a spirit of humility, because I think there’s a lost art in today’s society. And people say, you want me to do what, I just want to go to church, and I just want to sit I don’t want to serve. And when I, when I want to get in, I want to get in, in and out as quick as possible. And I want to sneak out, and that way, I don’t have to connect with anyone. So I can go grab a bite to eat. So my point is 90% of church attendees need to change their tactics, and are not using any gifts God gave them. And it’s so sad because they’re missing out on a bucket of blessings, a more fulfilling life more peace by giving them by giving them receiving, and being a better role model for your kids. And not serving has big consequences for our future generations to 90% need a dramatic change and a shift. And they need to quit being lukewarm Christians sitting on the sidelines. But when we truly serve, you value people and you don’t put yourself above them, you put yourself actually below them. Right,

9:27
right? We’re talking about the importance of serving in your local church and community. And there’s just a few things we’ve touched on. In you actually get emotionally physically spiritually full. When you start to give instead of receiving right, it changes your life in your children’s life. When you give you actually get filled up. And another one is it builds up the body of Christ when we’re serving, it brings unity, it brings like minus among believers. And you know a lot of people are doing Church Online still So how things have changed in serving, it’s how we have changed in our local church and how we need to respond to those changes?

10:10
Well, I think first thing, I would say, obviously, the dynamics of interacting, we’re a relational being, and we want to be with each other. And obviously, the separation that many of us had to endure during COVID has been difficult, right. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to fulfill, for example, the Great Commission, which is to continue talking about the great work that Jesus did. So there’s plenty of opportunities to continue serving. But you know, God has given us the nominal brains to adapt, and be able to think about new ways to continue his mission. And I love the quote by Mother Teresa. Love cannot remain by itself. It has no meaning. Love has to be put into action. And that action is service. She has such an amazing servant’s heart. And I hope to be more like her each day. And many think of WoW, who does a great servant that you can think of, they think of Mother Teresa, and what a legacy she left behind. And she still influences people today.

11:15
Absolutely. You know, again, I think this whole thing about humility, because now the game’s changed, I really get to see what’s in the heart of people. So now you have to be willing to do more behind the scenes. So here’s an example. Let’s talk about taking care of the elderly, have members do drive bys and phone calls, let them come out on their porch and let them see drop off a meal, drop off a card, maybe you can mail something to someone if you don’t want to drive out and about. And that’s what we’ve had to struggle with keeping members connected, you know, so that having church members that would help in the be the arms and the feet, going out doing the drive bys that can really be a blessing. Just ask your church office? What can you do to help the shutdowns or the sick or those who need a meal, or those who are struggling and need a card of encouragement? You can also reach out to lower income schools and ask how can you help those students? Many need readers to come in since some students come from single family parent homes, and they need more time in the school to improve their reading abilities, right? Or volunteer at a homeless shelter? Or cleaning out your closet? Make a donation?

12:28
Absolutely, we’ve done that. And that even extends to the way we can serve. Now. You can ask your church office are there 10 People I can call right now. And get a list of 10 people be proactive? You need to go out and find ways you can serve. Don’t just sit there on the Pew thinking, well, no one’s asking me to do anything. So I don’t need to do anything, you can go out and do this by asking. You can pick up the phone and you can call and check in on the shut ins, just with a phone call. Or you can write a letter like Zack said. And if they feel safe, you can send food and get creative and contacting people like the old school way.

13:10
Absolutely. Guys, we don’t have to start big start small. Just call a few people a week drop off and card is someone’s front door a few times, right? That just get the ball going. You know, it’s going back to that old school way do a house visitation. And don’t feel uncomfortable that you have to come inside you can stay on the porch, you know, maybe the person you’re visiting is worried about COVID or something like that, and they want distance that’s fine to stay six feet away, whatever. But I think that serving in the community it brings the body of Christ together. And for those who are true servants, like we said earlier, it does feel you up emotionally and spiritually. Absolutely. We lead alive people. That’s what we need, who are serving. You can host a small group, you can come and greet before church, you know, the needs there. All we need is for people to step up. Don’t wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder, God’s giving you gifts, use those gifts. You know, if you’re not serving, then you need to step it up in need to get involved. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it right the old saying, we need to find ways to serve and really get in there and figure it out.

14:25
Absolutely. Well I mean, Hebrews 1024 and 25 encourages us to keep meeting and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. I mean, there’s an encouragement. There’s an edifying when we meet together. And of course, we know the enemy. We know the enemy wants to keep us apart. Yeah, he wants to divide and conquer because When we isolate, that’s when depression starts slipping in. And, oh, the suicide rate increases, we are not meant to be alone. And because the only voice you’re listening to is the one in your mind when you’re alone. And it’s not always the right perspective.

15:18
Also, let’s think about ways to serve and be able to minister to people. So there’s creative areas to Serbian, it’s the ways to help out and your local pregnancy center, the Salvation Army, your local homeless, shelter, all these different places, get creative and use your gift, even if you can’t use it in the church, be the hands and feet of Jesus.

15:40
That’s right. That’s what we’re called to do be the hands and the feet, and we’re supposed to serve. And we need to get back to old school, like you said, we need to bring that effort. And it’s troubling with those statistics in the beginning that only 10% serve. Because generally, the rule across the board of anything is 8020 80% of the people have 20% of the people doing all the work. But you’re saying statistically, it’s only 10% and 90%, are sitting there at the Christian service.

16:13
That’s right. Another thought I encourage people to start a prayer group in your home, just send out a little message to anybody that wants to come and pray at your house. Come on, you might be surprised just how hungry people are to be around each other, praying and asking, sir, and how can I pray? What can I do? And then I had this one lady come up to me in church, and she goes, I really want to participate. But I’m not sure what my place is in church because I don’t pray out loud. And you know what I was like, you know, you don’t have to pray out loud, to pray an effective prayer. And you know, I encouraged her. You can serve by praying, even though you’re not speaking, I think some people get the idea. I can’t serve because I’m too fearful, or I feel others will judge me because I’m not good enough. You know, I’m going to be made fun of or whatever, whatever it is that keeps you from serving. You don’t need to fear when you’re serving God, because he’s going to equip you. If you pray for others. You don’t have to pray out loud. Just go and pray to serve in your church. Just show up and ask how can I help? Then let the Holy Spirit enable you to do what he’s called you to do? In first Corinthians 12, it talks about the diversity of gifts. And Linda, there’s no gift that is more important than the other. You know, sometimes we esteem the gifts of the people that are up front. And when we see people, we forget about the people who are actually cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the pews after church are the people who are ushering I just want to encourage people to pray that we can get individuals plugged back in serving, right?

17:55
Absolutely. Yeah. So first of all, I believe that as church leaders, you have to teach people that the church is a safe place to fail, right? We can experiment and serve them with one area. And if that doesn’t fit for you be comfortable to go to another area. So one thing we do is we say we’ll give you like a four week period to serve. And we’ll come back and evaluate. And if you hate it, you don’t have to do it. Right. And if you’d love it, we’ll keep you there. But the second thing some churches do is they give people a spiritual gifts test. And yeah, helping those people serve to where they want to, and where they gifted is a blessing. And if you were told some moms, hey, they’re gonna have to serve in the kid service every Sunday, they would just run and hide. They want time away from their kids. But they might love to do administrative stuff, or serving down doing some social media or serving writing greeting cards, right? Well, I’m great with that, because that’s my gift. And when we put people in the right areas, then they’re able to be more excited to serve in that area. And there are some people who want to work with the kids. And I’m like, Oh my gosh, that’s amazing.

19:07
Yeah, some people would rather like helping with admin. But once they saw the job, they decided they didn’t want to help with admin stuff. But that’s not their gifting. And then another time, people may ask, would you mind volunteering with the kids? And they say, I’m sorry, no, but I’ll clean the toilets. Like you said, you don’t know what each person’s gifts are. You served with your church in youth, but only three to three kids showed up. But those two or three kids, you see their growth, you see their journey, and it’s quite remarkable what you can accomplish. If you put your mind to it, and you work at it. You can accomplish a lot for him for his glory, glory, God’s glory in for God’s purpose, right. Helping others makes you happy. Amen. Amen. And helping others can help with your chronic pain since it gets your focus off. yourself, right, right, and then helping others can lower your blood pressure. So lots of health benefits and parents are gonna love this. Helping others promotes a positive behavior. And in their teens in a study went on to say that their test scores are higher, that their social interactions were better. And then lastly, by helping others, it gives you a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

20:26
Absolutely. And to your point about the kids like when we went out to serve, take your kids with you, and teach them how to serve. And we taught our kids and children’s ministry during church for 13 years. And we had our kids as helpers. And that taught our kids ministry still skills, it taught them how to deal with children, how to set up videos, how to do practice scripts, how to encourage kids and parents. And that created their desire for our kids to continue volunteering in church. And that’s encouraged them to see serving and building up and they got confident, early on. And as young kids that will set up a kid for life of service, and it will feel natural to them. So I think that when you bring your children into volunteering with you, they understand early on the impact, they feel that great purpose and all the benefits, and it gives them a heart to serve as well.

21:25
That’s right, Linda, and this is important, because that’s a foundational piece. Serving has to become a foundation for our kids, you know, teaching them to serve from a young age, getting them involved in food banks, getting them involved in serving in the church, and teaching them that serving is not just something we do on occasion. It’s a family value. We serve others, it teaches so much I remember my kids were quick to ask, can we go get Angel Tree gift? And how many can we buy? And so it teaches hospitality teaches service to your young kids. And it’s an important value and it feels odd not to serve. Right, right. And that’s what we have to teach his parents that you feel odd not to serve. And that’s an important point.

22:12
Absolutely. And if we don’t help people, especially as leaders in the church and in ministry, helping them to serve them, we’re actually feeding into other problems. Because an idle mind becomes a devil’s workshop, keeping them busy doing the things that God has already called them to do, that will benefit the kingdom. So no, we have to make sure that we help them to thrive within their own individual areas as well. And I think as leaders, if they see us serving, and the congregation sees the leader serving, then they’re going to want to serve as well. And they’re going to want to step up and say wait a minute, I can serve just as good as the next person. And it’s

22:55
so important, like we said before, find what you’re good at, because God has called you to serve.

23:02
Absolutely. So figure out your spiritual gifts. And that’s how God equipped you, right? And then that’s where we’re going to thrive. And that’s where people are going to benefit the most from where they’re gifted. And that’s the beautiful thing about getting people to serve in a position that they’re gifted for, you began to see your church functioning and functioning well. And so it’s very healthy, because everyone is functioning in their particular gifted area, and they’re happier. And then you have a culture of serving. So that’s when new people come in, and they look around and they’re like, oh, wow, I’ve got to find a place where I can serve, right? Because that’s a connection. And that’s what everyone does here.

23:45
Right? And they see a healthy, thriving community of people serving and that becomes unity, that we need so much in the local body instead of division.

23:54
Absolutely. Well, we’ve had a great discussion today about getting involved in your local church and serving in your community, and using the gifts God gave you. So I would encourage you if you’re not involved in local church, to find that church community, and then start serving and watch your relationship with our godly father and others start to flourish. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the show today. So Zack, I’m going to thank everyone for joining us. And I hope this message spoke to you guys. And we’d love to hear from you. Please write a review, subscribe and share this podcast through Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, or go to the Christian point.com Thanks so much for listening to the Christian point with Zach and Linda. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a review. And make sure to subscribe and share these episodes. We’d love for you to check out our website, the Christian point.com You can make a donation there and that’s

24:49
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24:53
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25:07
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