Over the summer my Community Group took a field trip to Battleship cove in Fall River. We had the privilege to tour battleships and submarines where hundreds of volunteers signed up to defend their country and our way of life. As we walked through deck after deck on these ships I was amazed at all of the equipment expected to be run by young men fresh out of high school and boot camp. It seemed like endless amounts of valves, buttons, gauges, levers, and instruments. How on earth could anyone know what all this stuff does? How could such a massive battleship operate smooth enough to not just float through the open seas but also engage in battle?
After speaking with a few former Navy sailors at GENESIS, it was explained to me how these young men go through rigorous training and endless amounts of practice to learn a specific job essential to the life and operation of the ship. Each sailor was taught to not only perform a job but was also expected to own each job. It was vital that these sailors perform their duties efficiently in order for the ship to complete its missions. With each sailor specializing in one job or task they could perform without worry and with concentration. It’s the only way a massive battleship operates efficiently with hundreds and sometimes thousands of sailors aboard.
As a church, I believe we need to grasp this battleship mentality of efficiency and organization. Our church is not made up of a large staff of pastors, priests, bishops, deacons, elders, worship leaders, prophets, and other paid staff that can just run the show for us. Our church is made up of broken people with nothing in common except the grace of God. But, we are a group of sinners blessed of God with talents, abilities, and an eternal drive to win souls for Christ and enjoy our God.
Over this past year I’ve had the opportunity to serve GENESIS in a very visible way through leading worship each week, to now serving GENESIS in a very behind the scenes type of position – scrubbing toilets and taking out trash. Though one of these jobs is obviously cleaner, seemingly more glamorous and just simply more fun, I truly believe that each is an example of absolute vitality to our Sunday gatherings. With the amount of attendants going up, our church needs in turn will go up. Things like Community Group leaders, GENESIS Kids workers, Facilities workers, Connection team members, are all in high demand.
Imagine how efficient our battleships would be without enough volunteers. Even if they had enough sailors to man the guns, who would steer the ship, who would navigate, who would be in charge of communications, who would cook the food to feed the sailors? How efficient could the sailors work if trash just piled up all through the hallways and decks of the ship. How efficient would the ship be if nobody was in charge of doing laundry? My guess is that morale would be pretty low if the sailors wore the same dirty clothes over and over again as they lived, worked, and slept in extremely tight quarters.
In 2006 only 8% of church plants survived. This is a stat that should scare us. This is a stat that should make us cry out to God for vision and grace. This is a stat that should drive each and every one us to rise up and say “how can I help?!” I don’t want GENESIS to be part of this statistic, but I don’t see us being efficient or even surviving if our leaders and volunteers are spread thin performing multiple jobs.
We have the opportunity to be part of God’s plan, to play a part in His story whether large or small, whether in a visible way or behind the scenes. How can we not get excited about being part of seeing the Kingdom of God expand before us! We might not all have a gift of teaching, a gift of healing, a gift of miraculous powers, discernment, or a gift of prophecy but we can surely clean a toilet, we can all hang a sign, we can all push a vacuum cleaner, we can all invest in GENESIS Kids during service, we can all make coffee, click a mouse, or say hello to new people that might walk through our doors. We have an amazing opportunity to be used by God! Let us not forget what Jesus said about the least among us being the greatest. Let us not bury our talents, gifts and service like the fearful servant in Mathew 25:25 producing nothing with the opportunity given to him by his master.
I take great joy in knowing by 9AM the bathrooms are clean, the coffee is made, our church looks presentable and the bread and wine representing Christ’s sacrifice has been prepared for my fellow sinners. My job on the Facilities Team might not be glamorous or in the spot light but I know that it’s part of my worship and the least I can do for a Man that gave His all to pay for my mistakes that were not His own. I know that serving, fighting, and bleeding with my fellow Christians will draw us closer together as friends, and soldiers. And, I know that a clean toilet can definitely sparkle and shine for the glory of God and joy of bathroom patrons!
