Wouldn’t It Be Great If We Use Our Spiritual Gifts to Build Our Church?

From the Pastor’s Desk (61)

You will notice a newly designed offering envelope inside your bulletin today.  From now on, we will be using it to honor God through the giving of our tithes and other offerings during Sunday worship.  And I, for one, am very excited to see this new offering envelope because it is an indication that New Life is moving towards in becoming a biblically functioning church. 

One of the principles God laid down for His church is that His people would use God-given spiritual gifts and talents to build His church.  This is what Paul had to say about the usage of spiritual gifts in church:

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.  If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 

If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”  (Romans 12: 6-8)

In these few verses, Paul repeatedly used the phrase “let him…” and he did it to emphasize a biblical principle.  And the principle is that, in building God’s church, it is vitally important that everyone who makes up the body of Christ understands his or her spiritual gifts, passion and talents and fully utilizes them.  Without this, there is no way that it would become a prevailing church that would stand and overcome the forces of evil in this world.

So, why am I very excited about this newly designed offering envelope?  Why does it indicate that New Life is moving towards in becoming a biblically functioning church?  It is because this professionally looking offering envelope was not done by someone outside but by one of the members of New Life.  In fact, the same person made the new communication card that you have been using the past couple of months.  She is utilizing her talent to benefit and build God’s church!

This is not something new in our church.  We have always tried to build New Life utilizing members’ spiritual gifts, passion and talents.  Many of you have already served God in an awesome way using your spiritual gifts and talents!  And we are continuously striving to improve and do better at this.  One of my responsibilities as a pastor, therefore, is to help people understand how God uniquely wired them, and train and give them opportunities to serve in church using their spiritual gifts, passion and talents.

Why is using our spiritual gifts and talents vitally important in building God’s church?  First, we become very fulfilled and fruitful in our ministry because we are doing the things that we enjoy and are good at to serve God.  Second, the local church will become a place of excellence because the right people with the right gifts and talents will be at the right place doing God’s work.  And third, our seeker friends will respect the church due to its high quality.  Most people, when they come to church, do not expect anything that is of high quality because they think church is a place where mediocrity is tolerated.  But just imagine your seeker friend getting very impressed with the quality of our ministry because we are building the church using our spiritual gifts, passion and talents!

It would truly be great if all of us fully utilize our spiritual gifts, passion and talents to build New Life!  The Class 301, which helps you discover your passion, personality and spiritual gifts, will be offered in the fall, so please plan on taking the class.  But for now, do your best to get involved in various ministries and find out which ones help you to be most fruitful and fulfilled.

If all of us do our part in New Life according to God’s principle, then our church will become a prevailing church that will greatly honor God!

Your pastor,

Eric