In this Moment: It’s Time to Get Involved!

This week, I ran across two poems that demonstrate the importance of Christians being involved in the work of their local congregation. Excerpts from both are included below:
 
Here's what a congregation could look like if we all get involved:
When everyone works and nobody shirks, You can raise a church from the dead!
And if when you make your personal stake, Your neighbor can make one too.
Your church will be what you want it to be, for it isn’t your church – it’s you!
 
Here’s what a congregation looks like when no one wants to be involved:
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
 
In 1 Peter 4:10 and 11, we read “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
 
Over the last 22 months (yes, it’s really been that long) serving as your family minister, I have talked to a lot of people about becoming involved in the dozens of opportunities we have in our congregation.  I am happy to say that many of you are heavily involved in the work of our congregation in a variety of ways.  Thank you to each and every one of you for what you do for Christ. I know that, if I find a need, I can reach out to many of you, and you will do your best to fill that need.  You know who you are, and thanks for being the worker for God.  You live the message of the first poem; your church is what you want it to be, it’s a big part of your identity (it’s you).
 
However, that statement doesn’t describe everyone in our congregation, or any congregation I have ever worked with.  In every congregation, some people fall into the Everybody and Anybody categories (and they also know who they are) mentioned in the second poem.  They’re the “Everybody,” the “Anybody,” and the “Nobody.”  They could do the work, but they rely on somebody else to do it.  They realize that, in their congregation, there are others that are heavily involved. So, they let them do the work and stand by while they do it.  Unfortunately, we also know the outcome of what happens when “Nobody” does it.  If all of us were Everybody and Anybody, but chose not to be that “Somebody,” the end result is that we will all be Nobodies because the work of the church will not get done.
 
When I talk to people about why they stay in the Anybody and Everybody categories, I hear reasons like “we don’t have time,” “I’m not comfortable doing that,” “I tried that before and I didn’t enjoy it,” and literally dozens of others.  But I’ve never heard one person say, “I don’t want to do that because I don’t want to bring glory to God through my actions.”  Peter tells us that when we use our gifts that God had given us, it brings glory to Him.  I think that one of the reasons (and maybe the most important one) why people do not get involved in our works is that they forget this scripture and how important it is for our Christian lives. When we work for God (in whatever capacity that is), it brings glory to him. Do we really want to choose not to bring glory to God through our inaction?

— David May