88. Ministry Is A Privilege
KSC (Korean Speaking Congregation) of our church has hosted the “Lay-leader House Church Seminar” this weekend and is ending today. It’s the third time our church is hosting this seminar and 29 participants have come.
Not every church that does house church ministry can host lay leader seminar. The host church has to meet a number of criterions every year to prove that the church is consistently reaching the lost and house church meetings are happening dynamically. This is to prevent participants learning the wrong model of house church ministry. The very fact that our church is able to host it three consecutive years is the sign of advancing in God-given mission to make disciples.
Hosting the seminar is not an easy task. It takes a lot of people to make it happen and requires resources and sacrifice from the hosting church. Shepherds have to open up their home to the participants, prepare a room for them, and provide hospitality during the seminar. However, I have been witnessing that shepherds and members have been doing it with joy and thankfulness because they have come to realize that ministry is a privilege.
Serving people can be fun even without much faith when not much is required of you. People appreciate what you do and you feel the sense of accomplishment. But when the sacrifice required exceeds our comfort level, that’s when people begin to feel that ministry is burdensome and try to do less. However, as long as we live this way, it becomes very difficult to experience God.
Let’s say we are comfortable with giving 80% of our effort. Then, God asks us to give 120%. If we continue to give 80%, we don’t experience God’s help. But when we get out of our comfort zone and give 100%, then God gives 20% more so we can accomplish 120%, which was not possible on our own. That 20% extra is the measure of God’s grace that we experience.
God always invites us to give more than what we can give. Not because he is demanding and unrealistic. It is because God wants us to taste the joy of doing “God-sized” task. That is how we experience God. It is truly our privilege to serve and impact the 29 participants because they will go back to their churches and lead their own house churches, bringing much more people into God’s family than what we can on our own.
