2023 December news-letter article - we value Service

Greetings brethren,

As we continue to consider what we value, I’d like for us to think together through the statement that “we value service”.  “Serve”, in Latin is “minister to”.  So, a “minister” is a “servant”, and the equivalent Greek term is “deacon”.  Do only deacons serve?  If not, whom do WE ALL serve?  When the first “deacons” were called (though that specific term isn’t used in the passage) in Acts 6, they were making sure that all the ladies within the church were treated fairly in the distribution of food.  So, does service/ministry involve caring for one another within the church family?  Galatians 5:13 gives us reason to answer undoubtedly “yes!”

Assuming that service/ministry isn’t limited to just deacons, it would be equally foolish to think that followers of Jesus are only called to serve one another.  Allow me to gently challenge each and every one of us to be involved in active service in some capacity.  I believe that God doesn’t just expect all disciples to serve, He expects all disciples to be serving one another AND lost people.  Are we serving our neighbors who may not yet know Jesus as their Lord?

If you are currently on a committee, or have a “job” around our church in some capacity, thank you for your willingness to work for the good of our church family.  However, please do not let this be the long and short of your service.  As you think of the way(s) you are currently serving, consider how someone might be reached with the Good News of Jesus as a result of your service.  How are souls being saved and broken people introduced to the Healer through your service?  Hope Kitchen puts us on the stoop of over a hundred homes around Walnut Cove every month.  These are people experiencing direct physical need, most of whom have no church home.  Many of us volunteer through East Stokes Outreach Ministry.  Those slinging canned goods around the pantry are directly supporting the people sitting across the table from hurting people, sharing the love of Jesus and praying with the clients.

Just this week, we are sitting down with about 70 guardians (about every way that word is defined) of children who will receive gifts through our Baptist Association’s Toy Store.  Every person who has adopted a child, or shopped for toys, or wrapped a box, or loaded a bicycle into a compact car, or prepared food for the clients, or called 53 people in one night to make appointments, or vetted applications… stands right behind the greeter who opens the door and ends up hugging a lady and crying together.

As with our “Who’s Your One” emphasis, the challenge as been to identify someone near to us that may be far from God.  So, who are near to us as a church family and far from God.  Who are the lost and downtrodden?  Who is most dramatically experiencing brokenness in our own back yard?  Is Walnut Cove a better place because we’re here?  Whose lives are we brightening?  As you labor in service, ponder who is encountering the message of Jesus, directly or not, as a result of your efforts.

During this chaotic season, we will be running 100 miles per hour in 1,000 different directions.  It will be very easy to charge on in our agenda, but let me challenge us all to slow down and consider whose day we can brighten with the love of Jesus.  Once all the decor us put away, and all the parties are over, we will be left with a child in a manger, a Messiah, who became human so that we might have salvation from sin.  That is the Christmas gift we have received.  Who is being handed this gift this year, as a result of your efforts?

As with joyful steps they sped to that lowly manger bed,
there to bend the knee before Him whom heaven and earth adore;
so may we will willing feet, ever seek Thy mercy seat!
--A.J.