Who decides what each member of a church should do? Who decides who the officers of the church are? Depending on your church and denominational background, we could provide many answers to these questions. For example, I come from a congregational background (specifically Baptist). Therefore, on the surface the answer for my church would seem to be, "The congregation decides." Maybe we hold a business meeting and vote, or delegate the appointment of officers and leaders to the pastor, elders, or deacons.
Yet that would be an incorrect answer. 1 Corinthians 12:19 tells us that "God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided." (HCSB) Ultimately it is God who decides where each of us should serve in the church. The Holy Spirit specifically is the one who gifts us and calls us to minister in the way He determines.
What does this mean for our churches? I believe that in many churches too many people are operating outside of the areas to which God has called them. While in a few cases this may be due to a desire to find a place in which the person receives more attention or admiration than they might in the place God has gifted them for (and after many years in the church I've known a few of these!), it is more often due to people realizing "something has to be done" and doggedly volunteering to do it. After a while, working in an area that does not match their gifts, they may burn out, and not only leave that ministry but stop working for the Lord altogether.
I believe it is imperative that our churches look to fill positions of leadership and service with those the Spirit has called to those ministries. Each of us has gifts to be used to build up the body of Christ, and we need to use those gifts. I also believe that if God calls a church to engage in a specific ministry, He will provide the people to carry out that ministry. If we do not see "ministers" to take on the challenge of a ministry, we need to at least pray and ask God if we should be doing that ministry at this time.
Do you know what God has gifted you to do, and where in the body He has placed you? How are you taking your part in the body of Christ? There are no small gifts and no small people. Sometimes those who get the most attention (as a pastor, I speak especially to my fellow pastors) may be far less significant to the healthy service and growth of a church than many who labor in relative obscurity, and probably also less significant than we often think we are. But all of us are called to serve, to use our gifts for the glory of God and the building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we seek the Lord's will for our churches, let's help each member find the Lord's will for them in our churches. When we all work together as a body which is put together by God rather than by human wisdom, necessity, or desperation, we will see our churches grow and impact their communities and their world for Jesus.
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