I was once asked in a job interview, “what is something you can do that nobody else can?”
It was a bit of a silly question. Thankfully, it was only part of a set of initial ice-breakers in order to try and relax nervous interviewees. Because I’m pretty sure I had a mild panic and answered that I was good at helping people choose what glasses would suit them—and I wasn’t (and never have been) interviewing for a role at an optician’s…
When it comes to knowing what gift or service we can bring to our churches, we might feel similarly stumped—especially if our skills and passions don’t fit into any of the obvious categories. We don’t always see a clear place for ourselves, or think that we have anything particularly novel to offer. My church is pretty big—there is very likely someone there who is better at choosing glasses for people than I am.
But the blend of skills, interests, traits and experiences that make up who you are is utterly unique. And just being you, bringing your whole self and offering what you can is enough. In fact, the Bible says it’s more than enough—it’s vital.
We know from the biblical metaphor of the church working together as a body, that a healthy functioning church needs all of its parts. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul paints a clear picture about the necessity of every single person. Even those that “seem to be weaker” are, he says, “indispensable” (v 22). That means that even what we see as our lack of experience or ability can work in some mysterious way as part of God’s plan for growing and maturing his church into something increasingly healthy; something increasingly beautiful.
Have you ever seen a gym-goer who’s so focused on building muscle in one area of their body that they end up looking like they might just topple over? It’s not healthy to focus on one area to the exclusion of others. The picture becomes even more unbalanced if it turns out that pumping iron is this person’s sole focus—when all they can talk about is protein, press-ups and personal bests, not only have they abandoned their other muscles but they’ve neglected every other part of life. But the person who shuts themself indoors withering away in the books all day isn’t any healthier either. Our bodies need balance—and our churches do too. Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions to drive home the message that variety is the spice of church life: “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?” (v 29). A church packed full of eloquent preachers isn’t going to flourish. (And it would have a crowded pulpit.) A church packed full of people with different passions, skill-sets, personalities and giftings is what God has planned for our growth.
Church is a body, and church is a family. It’s not a business. In Ephesians, Paul says that we are all members of God’s household (2:19).
Your church growing and building is not down to a few employed people (far less a few volunteers)—and it’s not fair to expect it to be. Perhaps you don’t work for a church but for you the problem is that you feel you’re the one bearing the brunt of the labour. You’re Aunt Martha at the family gathering who’s exhausted from running around doing everything to serve the entire family and you feel a bit grudging about that. Or maybe you’re more like the distant cousin in the corner who never quite joins in and feels a bit guilty about it. Either way, for a family to function well it needs to love each other well. Love is what motivates us to serve one another. Love is what draws us to want the best for others. Love is what frees us to say “no” if we need to.
This is exactly what Paul stresses in the passage directly following 1 Corinthians 12—which you’ll know if you’ve been to more than one or two weddings—that love is the key ingredient of all of our interactions in the church. Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is “the most excellent way” (12:31) we can grow as a church. And with the Holy Spirit’s help, we are all capable of growing in genuine heartfelt love.
This will spill out in a variety of ways, according to our age, our other circumstances, what we are good at, what we get excited about, what our church needs… who knows what loving your church will look like exactly, but your church needs every single member—including you. And, as you love your church and prayerfully look for ways to show that love, you get to be part of what God is doing in the world, a part of something that will last for eternity—the building of his church.
For help growing in your love for church and your participation in church life, check out the Love Your Church series. These books will help you to be thoughtful about how you build up the body of Christ—whether by examining what it means to belong and to serve, to consider why you gather together, or to look at how you might help make your church a place of welcome.
Before editing books for TGBC, Catherine was a writer and editor at Christian charity, Stewardship. Amongst other things, she also previously worked in marketing for a theatre, spent time in mission focused on anti-trafficking in Asia and studied History of Art and English Literature at university.
