“Brighter Days” Week 3: Serving

Consider your personal experience of church as a whole. What are one or two things that frustrate you when they get overlooked or done poorly? What do you think is important for creating a healthy church community? 

It takes a lot of different roles and skills to create a healthy community. Fortunately, God has a solution for this: the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-26) As the body of Christ, we are all uniquely designed to see and address different kinds of needs. Oftentimes, the things that bother us when they don’t get done, bother us because we are designed to address them.

Consider your personal experience of leadership. Was there a certain mentor, family member or ministry leader who was influential to you? How did you get connected to them? What was most impactful to you about that relationship? 

Many of us feel like we can’t lead because we don’t feel like we fit the mold of a bold, charismatic hero that we assume a leader “should” be. But that’s only one type of leader. Different types of personalities and even different seasons of our life need different types of leadership. So it’s helpful to consider the different types of leadership styles that may be more appropriate for you by considering what was impactful to you. 

Consider your past challenges. Was there a specific season of your life that was particularly challenging? What was going on during that time? Was it difficult because of outside circumstances or internal struggles? How old were you (a child, teenager, young adult, etc.)? Did you get the support you needed during that season of your life? 

Life is not without struggles, but our good God doesn’t waste a moment of our suffering (Genesis 50:20) We can use our past life lessons to help walk others through similar challenges and/or seasons of life. Often, that is where we are most impactful, either by embodying someone who was there for us during our time of need, or by being the person we needed when we didn’t have someone. 

Consider your present situation. What are your biggest priorities & responsibilities in life right now? How demanding are your responsibilities (family, job, house, etc.)? How much free time do you have? Are you volunteering anywhere else right now? 

When deciding how to serve, it’s important to consider how much time and energy you have at your disposal. Serving is meant to bring us out of our comfort zone, but not at the expense of our responsibilities and relationships. Choosing how we allocate our time responsibly allows us to serve for a lot longer without risking burnout. 

• onsider your personality. In addition to your spiritual gifts, what other strengths do you have? Are you people-oriented or task-oriented? Do you prefer the big picture or the details? Are you comfortable with technology? Do you prefer to take the lead or support the lead? What are your spiritual gifts? (If you don’t know, you can take a spiritual gifts test online; we recommend this one https://hgctools.com/sgifts/)

You were intentionally and lovingly designed by our Creator (Psalm 139:14) This means your personality and preferences are important to Him. Certainly, there are times in our lives when we need to set down our preferences for the sake of others, but that doesn’t mean you need to take on a long term role that is draining to you. As you consider where to serve, look for something that lights you up inside.