If someone had told me at any point in my earlier life that “using my gifts” in ministry would look like me creating a centerpiece by building an incomplete, multi-colored Lego structure while simultaneously preparing deviled eggs I would have been super confused and then laughed and laughed!
I’ve found myself out of my depths lately when it comes to serving in my local church. For most of my adult years, I’ve been involved mainly in a Women’s Ministry capacity: pretty events with tasty food, lovely centerpieces, and handcrafted, girly gifts. Sure, in my “younger years” I helped my sister, Shan, put on a few VBS events, and even played my part in a few skits. But the Youth Group? Not even for a minute.
I’m not sure I even really liked Youth Group when I was a youth! I mean I loved the teaching and I loved the fellowship, but all the silliness and games just made me want to crawl under a table until it was over. My older kids weren’t even part of a Youth Group. But I do remember my Youth Group fondly. In fact, some of my dearest friends now are people I hung out with in Youth Group (including my husband). And a major foundation for my faith was laid in my High School Sunday School Class.
When my husband and I relocated across the country and began settling into a new town and a new church I was determined to wait and see where God would lead me to serve, instead of striving to serve where (and in the same ways) I had always served. I wanted to have an open mind and an obedient spirit to be used in whatever way would benefit His Kingdom the most–without me meddling in things–even if it was out of my normal. I still pretty much assumed it would be in Women’s Ministry somehow–because what else would He call me to?!
What I used to think was a gift for “hospitality” (meaning serving women and couples through events) I’m now realizing is a gift for facilitating fellowship around food–in general. Over the last few years, I have felt strongly that God wanted me to feed people. Not just spiritually with His word, but practically as well. I’ve tried to lean into that calling and be obedient when I sense Him nudging me to get my oven preheated. Feeding people isn’t a new act of service for me, I’ve been involved in many meal trains for people in my church and have participated in almost every women’s luncheon/tea/event that I’ve known about since I was young. I just didn’t really expect God to lead me to feed a group of teenagers and their leaders.
It started with my son and daughter joining a youth small group through our church. My husband and I offered to host the high school boys group in our home. Right away, I felt led to also offer to feed the youth and the leaders dinner each week before their meeting. Feeding them and seeing them get to know one another in a way that often happens when people eat together, fed my own soul in a way I had not anticipated. All I had wanted to do was take a burden off the leaders and families on what I knew had to be a busy night for them. And to give the kids an opportunity to talk outside of their question and answer time at the end of their teaching time. Both of those things may have happened, but on top of that, I was the one blessed to witness their time together.
But then COVID became a whole pandemic and the world shut down. Small groups stopped and transitioned to virtual meetings. I was so sad to lose that Tuesday evening opportunity. And then my husband had (and survived) a major heart attack and my whole world flipped into chaos. There was no way I could have managed meals for others as I was barely figuring out meals for us at this point, but I was watching and eagerly awaiting when we would settle down and figure out how to function again.
Once COVID restrictions had lightened up, my husband was feeling better, and we were establishing new rhythms and routines, our church started gearing up to relaunch our in-person Youth Ministry and somehow I found myself heading up a Youth Ministry Support Team. One of the main jobs of this team is to provide snacks for the Youth Group on Tuesday nights. How hard could that be? I imagined it would be a plain table with simple snacks laid out for the kids, buffet style. Quick and easy–nothing to see here, just chips and cookies!
But as I began preparing for that first Tuesday night, the Lord laid it on my heart to provide a little more sustenance than chips and cookies. So I rounded up some of the parents for a more substantial snack and then I sat down to whip up some quick signs in Canva to use down the center of the table. These signs would highlight the five areas the Youth Pastor would be teaching over the course of the year. While putting those out I decided to use a sharpie marker to quickly write out the main scriptures that went with each teaching topic down the paper table runner so the kids could read them as they filled their plates. It wasn’t fancy or even really well done, but it was something and it caught the eye.
The next week, while talking with the Youth Pastor about what the lesson and illustration would be, I thought, “Oh, I can use that on the table as a visual reminder for the kids!” I had begun to realize this “snack ministry” was an ideal opportunity to put the Scriptures in front of kids who may not be putting them in front of themselves. And to reinforce the concept and lesson they heard during worship and teaching. Food for the belly and food for the soul.
And that’s how I suddenly found myself elbow-deep in my son’s box of Legos at 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon while 24 eggs boiled on my stove. I have to say, as confused as I am about why God called me to serve here, I am loving every minute of it. When I think I have no clue what to do for the next week the Lord will give me just the perfect idea!. And then I’ll spend a few days wondering how in the world I’m going to pull that off–and then He helps me do that too!
So lately, I’m finding my creative juices are churning less over homemade cards, pretty centerpieces, and pretty gifts and more over a new kind of centerpiece and a new kind of fellowship. I love getting to see the teens light up when they see a table laden with awesome snacks just for them and watch them look over the centerpieces, connecting what they see with what they just heard. I’ve never considered my love of crafts as a “gifting”–it’s just always just been a hobby that I can pull from for ministry stuff, but now I’m beginning to wonder. It seems that God will use anything, in any way, to serve His WHOLE church body and bring glory to His name!
A skeleton body missing parts illustrates the need for all parts of the body to participate for the body to function well. A mixed-up Mrs. Potato head illustrates the value of each part and of not comparing your role with another. A variety of gifts are wrapped and labeled with some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I’d love to hear about where and how you use your unique gifts to serve your church body. Did you always know that was the place for you? Has your area of service changed over the years? We’d love it if you’d share your serving story in the comments!
Serving Christ Together-
XOXO,
Doe
