To Fill a Seat or Serve?

Our church, First Christian Church, is currently moving locations. Last Sunday was our last day to worship at the “church with the bells”, as Sydney calls it. This coming Sunday begins worship at the transitional location. Eventually, there will be a new building built…somewhere.

This week has been full of moving everything from one location to the other. Ryan has been so busy this week with KeHE, 2 Navy funerals, and Navy work at home but has managed to help at church Sunday afternoon as well as Wednesday night. I so love his servant heart & willingness to help out. He literally jumps at the chance to help at things like this. Plus, he’s always one of the first ones to offer to help people move! Who does that?! We’ve moved enough to know that there aren’t many people in the world willing to help others move!

Wednesday night, I went up to help do what I can. Being 8 months pregnant, there isn’t much I can do. However, I did sort & clean toys in the 2 year old room. During this time, I noticed that the people that were there were many of the same people I see helping out in other areas every week. It made me sad. You might think it’s strange that it makes me sad, but hear me out.

Being an elder’s daughter as well as having worked for a church, I know full well that in many churches there are a handful of people that “run” the church. They are the ones that step up when no one else will. They’re the ones that do the dirty work. They’re the ones that are blamed when things don’t go perfectly. They’re the behind the scenes people. It makes me sad that it’s always the same people. No matter how much begging and pleading goes on for more help, the same ones step up to help. Why is that? Do we not want to get out of our comfort zones? Do we not want to let people in? Are we just lazy? I’m not really sure of the exact reason, probably a little of all of it.

It makes me sad that we aren’t a “church” in every since of the word. Some, including me at times, are just seat fillers. We just come to get something out of worship & go on about our lives. How awesome would it be if everyone that filled a seat in the pew was actively involved in someway? What would our church look like then? No, I’m not just speaking of FCC. I’m speaking of the church as a whole. If every church was filled with people that were actively helping grow, nourish, and mature the church what would this country & world look like? I suspect it would look drastically different. Just a thought. It convicted me the other night. I hope it convicts you.