Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:29-30 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Why do pastors and church leaders challenge us to serve anyway? Hopefully, it isn’t just so that they (the leader) can get a bunch of work done without having to pay more staff. I confess, as a leader at South, this is a risk I have sometimes found myself slipping into. There is a lot to be done, and staff can’t do it all, but is that what serving is all about? NO! A thousand times, No! Serving is not about building a local church brand or increasing numbers; It’s about helping everyone do what they were made for.
God created humanity to participate in his creation. Genesis 1 isn’t the only place we see this. When Jesus commissioned his disciples, he challenged them to teach the entire world about his way. God’s agenda in the world is to establish a good kingdom where the world thrives and where humanity is doing what they were designed to do, namely, to participate in creating goodness and beauty. So why do leaders ask you to volunteer? It is because you were not meant to be a consumer of Christianity. Showing up on a Sunday morning is not the end game. Changing the world is, and you were made to get in the game. It doesn’t have to be in the local church, but you were made to participate in God’s mission to renew and restore the world to the way it was supposed to be. If you are not doing that somehow, you will never feel complete as a human. Participation in God’s work is what you were made for.
by Aaron Bjorklund
