Week Seven
Purpose in the Church
The church (ekklesia) was created to be a community that regularly meets to accomplish God’s mission on earth. It’s not an organization that is primarily comprised of paid staff that serves attendees. NO! Professional pastors are useful primarily as a way of expediently empowering the rest of the people gathered to connect with Jesus and be pastors/leaders/servants themselves to everyone in their lives during the rest of the week. Pastors aren’t on Jesus’ mission anymore than YOU or anyone else in your group is called to be.
The church is primarily regular followers of Jesus that huddle up at the beginning of the week to spiritually serve each other, so they can serve others.
Naturally then, we must rely on the whole church to create the best experiences for everyone that comes to meet with our church community. Most of what happens at FCC is accomplished by volunteers. They’re not so much people serving the organization though, but rather “partners” in the same mission of God.
It’s so important for people following Jesus to engage in a role within the church. It’s not the only way to serve, but it is a crucial way to serve. Why?
Spiritual needs are of primary importance for every area of our lives. From manual labor to teaching, there are a variety of roles to help provide the best possible weekly experience for any guest to encounter Jesus.
Serving side-by-side is one of the best ways to develop meaningful relationships.
This is not the staff’s church. This is YOUR church and THEIR church. Our church is led by a group of non-paid leaders for that reason.
Serve @ FCC
Please direct your group members to check out the different ways they can get involved in the church by clicking HERE.
Gifting
Most of us generally understand our gifting already through our many years of trial and error, skill-development, and career experience. What few of us understand is how those skills, talents, and natural passions can contribute to the mission of God. That takes a lot of creativity as we embrace God’s mission as our own. Your group is a great starting place for discussions surrounding that. Feel free to do the ones that they recommend in the facilitator’s guide and have your group report back their findings. For some groups that might be a really helpful starting place.
Here is an additional resource I’ve found to be more practically helpful in understanding how God has wired us. Maybe consider it as something worth exploring as a group in the future.