Flavors of Ministry

When I was starting the process of going to ministry, I had two things that I did a lot of: pray and reflect on what kind of gifts God has already given me to serve. What I have found interesting is that both of these two tasks have not ceased. Even to this day, I continue to pray about the skills God has given me to serve. At first, all I knew was that I wanted to serve; yet the harder question then came: how? When asked what areas of ministry interested me (pastoral care, preaching, study, teaching, worship, etc.) this was my answer: “At the moment I feel like I just walked into the ice cream shop knowing that I want some ice cream. And just like going to one of those build your own ice cream shops, now I need to think about what I would like and what I would like to try.” What kind of ice cream would you like?

Despite this creative answer making me want some ice cream, I still had the difficult work of discerning my gifts. Just like going for ice cream, you have to understand what you know you’ve done/tried before to know a starting point. This is where prayer came in to help. As I prayed over what activities I had done in the past, I understood that I had been gifted with some communication skills, active participatory leadership skills, and teaching skills. In my ‘professions’ at the time (colorguard director/choreographer and aquatics instructor), I had to communicate the actions desired, I often lead by actively participating in doing the desired actions, and patience for teaching and encouraging growth in the activities. These could be like your basic flavors of ice cream: I knew I like chocolate, vanilla, and coffee bases.

Yet, those were my skills. And here I will tell each of you: You have your own too! Who’s worked with their hands? Who is skilled at talking and encouraging others to think deeper? And who among you has organizational skills? These are all skills that God has given to us, in proportion so that we can share in the work that God desires to do within us!

This past weekend, I preached on Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 12, in particular:
“4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

Notice how these varieties of gifts are diverse, and yet the same one Spirit (God) is the source for all. Now consider how you can get all the different kinds of ice cream from the same shop. Ministry is kind of like that a bit. For me, I had to discern what those gifts were like for me. And now, I ask each of you to prayerfully consider what gifts God has given to you and activated through the Spirit. The following Ministry Committees need your gifts, as do the congregation, and our greater community of Red Bank in order to experience God’s presence in life; or as I often say, so we can know experientially God’s love, grace and embrace!
           Social Ministry - Do you like connecting with the community (both in the congregation and at large) and encouraging them to know God’s love through actions and prayer? See Ed Samsen and Cora Nevitt.
           Worship and Music - Is worshipping God important to you, and how we can worship God through music and liturgy meaningful for you? See Katrina Shealy.
           Properties - Do you care about our facilities, their upkeep, and do you have skills that could help improve our facilities? See Wayne Areheart.
           Christian Education - Are you curious about God, the Bible, or other educational opportunities? Then connect with Jennifer Boone and Gwen Freeman.
           Family Life - Do you enjoy fellowship and hope to make St. James a place that is accessible to all who attend functions? Connect with Ed Samsen and Cora Nevitt.
           Stewardship - Are you thankful for what God has given and concerned about how we can respond to the blessings that God has given us? Connect with Gwen Freeman.
           Evangelism - Do you enjoy embodying and talking with others about God’s love, grace, and embrace? Then I encourage you to reach out to Katrina Shealy.

I encourage all of us to prayerfully consider what you know you like; and what you would like to try! The beautiful thing about the ice cream metaphor is that when you go to such shops you can try different things all the time! So which flavor of ministry are you going to try?