Find Your "Why?"

One of the most important questions, if not THE most important question, we can ask is "Why?"  If you were to ask my mom, she would tell you that I almost drove her crazy as a young child with this question.  I am analytical, curious, and observant.  Sometimes the answer was "it just is."

But in our faith and our walk with God, it's important to ask not only why things are the way they are, but also to know the WHY in our life.  My last blog entry was about serving, volunteering, and today I'm addressing one of the most important parts of serving-- know your "why."

No matter what area of ministry you choose, it's vital to know what motivates you to serve.  It's important.  Without knowing why you do what you do, it's easy to give it up.  It's easy to dismiss it, or to lose focus and burn out.  And as a speaker reminded our young adult leadership team a few weeks ago, God CAN choose someone else to do what He's calling you to do... BUT no one else will do it in the same way you could have.  That's a lot of responsibility, and I think it needs a good motivation.

Yes, we should all be motivated by the fact that God called us, that He has a plan for us that involves reaching others.  As a speaker named Derek Moody once shared in chapel when I was undergrad, "A faith worth having is a faith worth sharing."

I've been involved in a lot of ministries in my church over the years, and over these last few I've found myself more and more involved in the preschool services.  I have built relationships with kids and volunteers.  I love watching the kids grow in who they are, in their gifts and talents, in their relationships with each other, and in their relationships with God.

But here are my reasons WHY I believe so fiercely in preschool ministry and why I spend so much time investing into this:

1. I believe that preschool is a time in everyone's life when they first begin to remember things.  Most people's first memory is somewhere around age 3 or 4.  What if a child's first memory was about how loved they were when they came to church?  What if it was about how special they felt and how welcomed they felt?  That's what I want my church's ministry to be.  As a speaker once said to us back when I was in undergrad, the church should be such a welcoming and loving place that we're like Flintstone's Vitamins-- 10 million strong and growing.  She also wondered what it would be like for a child to feel such a sense of family and love and acceptance from their church family that when the child is older, he or she doesn't have to look for that love and acceptance anywhere else.

2. I believe that preschool is a time when kids are curious and starting to open up to new people and new experiences.  They are forming beliefs and values and learning at one of the most rapid paces they will ever learn in their lives.  What if we were opening them up to faith?  What if they opened up and increased OUR faith?  I love their imaginations and ideas.  I love that one of my 5 year olds was so concerned about Captain Hook's meanness that the little boy wanted to us to pray that Captain Hook would know about Jesus.

3. I believe that when kids are having fun and feel loved and accepted, that they want to come back.  When that happens, parents feel confident about leaving their children with capable staff and then the parents are able to relax and receive that day, too.  I hate when we have kids who come to us crying only because I know how excited our volunteers are to see new and familiar faces..  We have fun things planned, and we hate to see any kid go through stress of separation.  But... I secretly love when they cry because they have to leave.  Because they had fun and don't want to go home.  Because they weren't done playing.  If you love and accept their kid, you've almost always won over the family.

But most importantly...
4. Because they really do learn what we are teaching, and it is getting into their hearts.  We do NOT, let me repeat do NOT, babysit kids.  Both our Sunday and Wednesday curriculum is designed to engage kids in God's truth and to help them learn about who God is and how much He loves them.  For those curious, we use What Is Orange's First Look on Sunday and a curriculum called Lil' K on Wednesdays. 

And here's the thing... there are always those kids that you kind of wonder about.  You're not sure if they really get it or not.  You talk and teach, try to engage, hope it's sinking in.  We've had some really funny stories from preschoolers who said that Jesus had two dads-- Abraham (we were singing Father Abraham that day) and God.  Sort of right, but I digress.

And then some days, when you least expect it, they totally stun you with the depth and breadth of what they learned.  Last fall, some time in  mid September or so, we were doing a unit on Joseph and his family.  That Sunday we drew pictures of our family.  That was it, no extra things involved.  We were simply talking about how Joseph had so many brothers, and could they draw pictures of their families to tell us about it... And that's when one of my 4 year olds drew this:

We were almost ready to go to the next room for the Bible story, when the little girl handed me this.  Before I could ask her to put it on the stack to hang up for later, she began with no prompting to tell me that it was her family.  She is in the middle and her mommy is on the right.  But the first person in the picture is her daddy, and he doesn't have any hearts because he doesn't have Jesus in his heart but he needs to do that.  My jaw dropped open, and the other teacher and I couldn't look at each other because we were both so in shock and so emotional.

At four years old she understood the spiritual truths that were being poured into her.  Her attendance is semi-regular, so it's not like one of our every week kids, either.  But the truth was getting into her mind AND her heart.  At four she already had a heart to reach her family.

So go out there, find a place to serve.  And somewhere in there, find your why.  Your why might be in the place you least expect it.  It might not be obvious.  But find it.  You won't regret it.

The Sweet Spot

My church has two core focuses that are central to everything we do.  They are:
1. That the lost are saved
2. That everyone find their sweet spot in ministry.

I was very blessed to go to a school for undergrad that taught that everyone is a missionary, that everyone is a minister.  It doesn't matter your vocation or your major.  It doesn't matter if you ever go to college.  You have a purpose.  And if you have accepted Christ, you have a job to do.

At my church we believe that the local church is the hope of the world.  A local church grounded in God and in the truth of His word.  At its most basic, that truth and God's love is never meant for only one person.  Your salvation is never just for you--it's for you and for those who God puts in your path, for you to extend that truth and love to others.

One of the greatest ways to do this is to volunteer in your local church.  My church has ministry opportunities across the board, in every area of ministry, from the simple to complex, from entry level to some pretty serious discipleship and leadership development.  I firmly believe that God calls everyone to be involved.

Our pastor calls it the "sweet spot."  I've worked in a lot of areas of my church.  For about a year I was part of the side walk greeting crew, and I have to admit I was terrible at recruiting.  Nobody was thrilled about standing out there.  It's an easy job.  It was fun to wave, and people were generally happy to have a greeting.  But it wasn't my sweet spot.  I've been to some youth events, but a few visits is enough to show me that it's not my sweet spot, either.  But it is for many of my friends.  Nothing is more exciting to them than to show up to serve, to see the impact God's love can have through us.

You might be reading this thinking that's nice, gotta go...    But hang on there just a sec.  You can serve.  You should serve.  Peter says in 1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."  That means YOU.  You are an each one.  If you've given your life to God, accepted His grace, then you have a job.

So... where do I start?
1. Pray.  No, don't pray about whether or not you should serve.  God wants you to serve.  He pretty well covered that in the verse above, and in a dozen other places in the Bible.  Pray that God will help direct you where to serve.

And now it's time to take some more big steps...
2. Ask 'What?'.  Look around your church.  What interests you?  Is there an area where you can serve that lines up with your gifts and talents?  I think sometimes we make a quick reflexive decision about people and pigeon hole them into a ministry.  For example, I often hear of people mentioning that they are teachers, so people push them into kid's or youth ministry.  And sometimes it's what they want and it's a good fit... and sometimes they need a break from kids.  If you're warm and inviting, maybe greeting is the ministry for you.  If you aren't a people person, maybe the church office has some things you could do during the week.  Our church will often have volunteers come into the office during the week to do data entry, to copy things, to prep things for upcoming events and services.

3. Ask 'When'?  Find out what sort of commitment they want for different ministries.  Be realistic about your schedule.  For example, our young adult ministry has a big college student component. This means that some leaders are still in college and have to work around class schedules.  So our young adult pastor asks for a semester commitment.  He outlines when the meetings will be and what else is expected (consistent attendance at church, consistently showing up for the connect group and for meetings) for that single semester.  If a leader had a heavy schedule and needs the semester off, he or she can be welcomed back again when the schedule accommodates it.  There are unusual circumstances at times that mean having to take a break, but the general commitment is agreed upon up front.

4. Ask 'How?' How does the ministry work?  It might be helpful to get an inside look.  Ask if there is a current volunteer that you can spend time shadowing.  I'm the sort of person, I like to know what's expected of me.  I like to see the inner workings.  Tag along on a day when you can see what the job will entail.  For example, in our kids ministry we have nursery, preschool, and elementary areas.  Within those areas, there are even more break downs of jobs.  We have people whose sole job is to greet kids and parents, some whose job is to oversee the jump house before and after service and then to sit with the kids during the service, others to run sound, and another whose job is to keep time to be sure everything runs on schedule.  Take a test drive. 

Jesus himself was pretty clear that it takes people to make things happen.  God could instantly reveal Himself to the world en mass.  He doesn't need us, but He loves to involve us.  And one of the most basic ways He involves us is through the local church.  Try it.  You might be surprised how much you enjoy it, how much it makes you grow, how much it blesses you.