10 Tips on Serving (J5: Consumer to Producer)

Hey gang,

And now with my incredibly late start to the week, I present to you my first J5 post. Consumer to Producer focuses on going from a passive member of the community to an invested owner of the community. To learn more, click here. Psych! I meant click here.

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10 Things You Need to Know About Serving:

1. You probably won't see a burning bush. But maybe. Especially if you live in Southern California during a dry season. But odds are, God's not going to pull the burning bush move on you. For one reason, I don't think God likes reruns. And for a second reason, the first signs that we should serve are usually pretty vivid to begin with, but we're usually to dense to notice. Which leads me to my next point...
   
2. If you feel like you are ready to look for a place to serve, stay open-minded. Serving can be a lot like prom: the first time you go to the dance, it probably won't be with your first choice. Don't look for that perfect fit the first time you serve or join a team. Just get out on the dance floor. Sure--don't pick something you'll absolutely hate, but don't rule out anything that's not a perfect 10 either. The first time I served in a church, it was as the leader of a group of 2nd & 3rd grade boys. It wasn't my first choice, but I tried it anyway and found out that I actually liked it. So don't judge a serving opportunity by it's cover. Try it on. See how it fits. And if you don't like it...
3. Know when to quit. Serving isn't marriage. For one, marriage tends to make you look like a big dork. Secondly, serving--unlike marriage--isn't a life sentence. If you are serving in an area that you feel just doesn't fit, know that you can quit. Sometimes, somebody who is serving in an area that they hate, can do more damage to that ministry than somebody who isn't serving at all. Now, that said, I have two sub-rules...
4. Never leave your post unmanned. If you do feel like it's time for you to leave a serving team, don't leave without knowing that a replacement is secured. Remember, it's OK to move on from your current post to a serving team that fits you better, but it is NOT OK to just leave your team short one person. Imagine any sports team taking the field with one less player than they are used to. Whether it's you or your team leader who finds the replacement, make sure you two have a game plan and a time frame that gives them time to secure your replacement, but doesn't hold you in your post any longer than is necessary.
   
5. Before you try to leave because "It's just not my passion," try and have an idea what your passion is. There is something good to be said about serving where you're passionate. Passionate team members help create effective ministries. But there is also something to be said about people who chicken out of serving in certain ministries because of their own vanity. So before you play the Passion Card, ask yourself, "What am I passionate about?" If you have an answer to that, then that is what you should pursue. But remember...
6. Even Picasso had to take out his own trash. And YOU are not Picasso. The number one bonehead mistake people make about serving on a team is that serving on one team gets you out of helping out in other things. See that empty cup on the floor? Pick it up. Lost couple who can't find child care? Point them in the right direction. If see something that needs to be done, try helping out instead of walking away. We may serve on different teams, but we all serve the same God and He'd like us to try our best. Speaking of which...
   
7. This isn't High School. The band kids are neither elite nor geeks. The cleaning team is not below the drama team and the children's ministry on a Sunday morning is no less important or impactful than "Big" church in the auditorium. If anybody thinks differently, you have my permission to violently kick them in whichever set of reproductive organs they happen to possess.
   
8. Don't be just another warm body. Think. Create. Innovate. Don't just show up to do a job, make it exciting. Look for the gifts God has given you that you can use to make this team the best it can be. Even if it's something as small as writing encouraging letters to your teammates, find ways that you can really give your all. On top of that, remember that most ministry teams are always evolving (Easy Christians, put down the gun!). And by evolving, I mean that no team has arrived at perfection, there are always ways to expand and improve what we do.
9. Either serve with people you love or love the people you serve. When I first started serving, I served as an intern with 5 college students that I would have taken bullets for. All of us interns lived together and saw each other every day. We were all friends and so serving together was a blast. I did that for two summers with 2 different groups of interns and because we didn't just do ministry together, but did life together, ministry became fun. But after my second summer, I stayed on my ministry team but with an entirely new crew of people I didn't really know. That's when the ministry started to become dull for me. I was serving with people for 2 hours every Sunday, but never saw them or knew them apart from that. This won't be true for everybody, but it was true for me--serving with people isn't that fulfilling when a community isn't there. And if you aren't already doing life with the people on your team? Try starting it. They may be strangers now, but they could also become great new friends.
   
10. Put a bullet in your ego. Don't just leave it at the door. One of the worst things to see is when ego gets in the way of serving. Remember, the team is not there to serve you. The team is not even really there to serve itself. The team is there to serve those not on the team. Don't let yourself get in the way of something that could be really cool.
    

Fin.