A Guide for Lay Members (4 of 5)

Today is Scout Sunday (February 23, 2014). So what do Jesus, Scouts, and Christians have in common? The answer is SERVICE. In Matthew 25:31-40 Jesus teaches us that the best way to serve God is to serve others. [in verse 40 Jesus says, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ (CEB)] Scouts teach the same thing. So do Christians. Service is how we follow Jesus' commandment to love God and our neighbor.

Today’s words to ponder is the fourth installment from the General Board of Discipleship (GBD) of the United Methodist Church recently published a guide for lay members (www.gbod.org).  I decided to republish this article to help us reflect on Lent. So far we have covered the Lay members' covenant commitment to 'pray' for the church, to accept and exercise their responsibilities as the body of Christ with their 'presence' and to use their 'gifts' to nurture and grow the body of Christ. This week we are looking at  ‘service’.

The author of the article wrote, “Service reminds us that Jesus' life was an example of living as a servant and his words instructed his disciples to do the same.

• Participate in church service and mission projects. When you recognize an unmet need, work with others to try to meet the need.
• Volunteer regularly to serve the church community through office work, teaching, building cleanup, Sunday morning service, and other ways.
• Volunteer regularly for community service, such as school tutoring, cleanup and recycling, disaster recovery, and other ways.” (http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church)

It would be impossible to address all the diverse areas of service where Lay members can contribute to their church communities and throughout the world. However, the point of the GBD’s article is not to provide a list for the faithful to follow but to remind laity that being part of the Body of Christ is more then membership. It is an active role that provides a place (the body of Christ) to grow in faith as well as a place to be in service (to love God and to love neighbor) Christians can learn a lot from boy and girl scouts on what it means to be faithful members of the body of Christ. 

First Published in the Morrow Mirror (Morrow First UMC, Morrow Ga) 2.23.2014