The Importance Of Excellence
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23). This means that when you are involved at church, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you should aim to do your very best. Never settle with the notion that it’s “good enough.” Instead, make it your goal to do whatever you do with excellence.
We try to achieve excellence by having everyone develop the criteria to measure success and by engaging in advance planning so that we can build on our successes.
Deeper, Not Wider
This means that you won’t be able to do everything. When we are over-committed, we end up doing all things poorly, even those things which we love the most. We get discouraged, and we can even think that we should give up altogether. So, do get involved in something, but learn also to say “no” to other opportunities if they hinder your excellence. It is far, far better to get become deeply committed to two or three ministries than to be frustrated in seven or eight.
Passion, Not Just Ownership
One way that we will sense that God is at work in us as we serve Him is by the development of our passion. Ownership is fine and wonderful-we feel a sense of belonging and comfort. But God wants to give us so much more! He want us to have a passion for our labor for Him. When we have passion, here is what we will experience:
- we sense that God is right here with us
- we feel like we were designed by God to do this work
- we enjoy not just the successes but also the opportunities to solve problems
- we look for ways to serve more creatively rather than hide from problems that arise
The Need To Get In S.H.A.P.E.
So, how can a person find out what ministry to join? There are several ways-talk to people about it, visit with a pastor about your gifts and the church’s needs, pray and ask the Lord to guide you to the right place of service, and just try several things on a trial basis just to see what is available. However, here at Wildwood we have a ministry tool that helps you evaluate where you can best serve the Lord. This tool, called S.H.A.P.E. helps you discover your “shape”!
S.H.A.P.E. stands for
S-Spiritual gifts (The Holy Spirit gives each believer at least one spiritual gift or endowment designed especially for the believer to serve the Lord)
H-Heart (What kinds of things are you passionate about?)
A-Abilities (What special abilities do you have?)
P-Personality (God uses every personality for His glory)
E-Experiences (What previous experiences have you had in serving the Lord?)
The SHAPE tool helps you identify those areas of both supernatural and natural giftedness and experience so that you can know the areas where you might be best suited to serve here at Wildwood. After completing the SHAPE exercise, you might want to meet with a pastor to think through where you might best serve our Lord Jesus.
The Importance Of Thinking Strategically
We each have only one life to live. We ought not waste our lives. So, think through in a strategic way how you will spend your one life. May it be spent in worship of our great God, in serving the Lord Jesus with passion, and connecting with other believers in fellowship that grows stronger and stronger.
“And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22
