Laboring Together in Community—

“Who will sign up to serve?” “I hope Joey will lead relay games again this year.” “I need a dynamic teacher for the pizza and story time room.”

These were the thoughts swirling through my head as I closed my laptop. It was time to plan our annual “Kids Night Out” event, and the link for both attendee and volunteer registration had been sent. It was that middle slice of event preparation; the outline had been prayerfully sketched, and we were now just waiting to see whom God would call to color everything in. We always have many different areas of need: hospitality needs, decoration needs, craft needs, teaching needs, nursery needs, and entertainment needs. We needed different shades of gifting. Thankfully, creative distinctiveness in the body is God’s specialty, a design only He can fashion into a masterpiece.

Some of us are teachers who want the lesson a month in advance.  Some are crowd engagers who can help those small bodies get the “big wiggles out.” Some are a quiet, calm presence who can soothe a newborn to sleep. Altogether, as the church, we labor to display God’s love and care to our covenant children. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10).

Certainly, God’s varied grace is more vibrant and complex than our feeble minds can fully comprehend. As ministry leaders, we bring Him praise for making the church so wonderfully complex, and as Peter, James, and John did to Paul, we offer our co-laborers the right hand of fellowship (Gal. 2:9). I’m often surprised and even thrilled when God reveals someone’s gifting that He intends to be used for the children and families of our church. You even may be surprised by who God brings. Our job is to extend invitation, instruction, and encouragement, and let His spirit work.

It’s comforting to know that He’s with us as we’re laboring together. The Bible says we are God’s co-workers! (1 Cor. 3:9). Imagine that—shoulder-to-shoulder with the Maker of the Universe as we’re gluing crafts and sweeping up goldfish. Although it’s not the simple, He’s with us. If you’ve ever set a place for Jesus at the dinner table to help your kids grasp His presence, try writing His name in one of your next volunteer slots to remind yourself. He’ll be attending! And you can bet He’ll be at work doing immeasurably more than you could ever dare to ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

Some Sundays not all the slots get filled or will stay filled due to challenges or illness. Sometimes the laboring isn’t easy or our people and the needs don’t mesh. We don’t want to just fill our ministry needs; our hope is that those who serve also will be filled.

It turns out Joey did want to lead games again at Kid’s Night Out this year. Not only that, but we had so many volunteers register that I was able to assign him a partner. As I brought the empty pizza boxes back into the church cafeteria that night, I pulled out my phone and grabbed a couple pictures. By the smiles in the pictures, you couldn’t tell who was having more fun—the kids or adults.  That is the type of laboring in community that is worth the recruiting, the praying, and the clean-up. It’s when the Giver of the gifts pulls it all together and you get the perfect fit.