For some of our members, PBF’s offerings can look like the smorgasbord of a lifetime. In addition to Sunday School and the Worship Service, we have Home Fellowship Groups on Sunday evenings, midweek Bible Studies, Men’s Bible studies, Women’s Bible Studies, Growing Together Groups, Young Adult Fellowships, and informal one-to-one groups. For others, it may look like opportunity overload!
Whether it scares or excites you, let me be clear: you can’t do everything. More strongly, let me say: you shouldn’t do everything. That may not be what you expected to read, so let me unpack it along three lines.
1. Be Realistic about Your Needs
For those who feel the pressure to be involved in all kinds of things, relax. Having just taught through the Membership Class again, the elders really want you to be at “the Big Four”—four essential events for life at PBF: Sunday School, the Worship Service, the Prayer Gathering, and Home Fellowship Groups. Two of those events are weekly, one is bi-weekly part of the year, and the other monthly.
We hope you can take advantage of others opportunities as well. In fact, some of our members may need more for their spiritual health. At the same time, there could be others that would be better served doing other things (see below). The simple fact is that we need to realistic about what would be best for us in our current spiritual life, rather than be driven by what we think is easy (laziness) or expected (man-pleasing).
2. Look for Ways to Serve
So many of the opportunities we have for gathering and discipleship involve members being served. They are served the Word by people who have spent hours preparing through study and prayer. And this is a wonderful thing!
But, if you’re attending three Bible studies a week and not serving the rest of the church family during the week, that might be a sign to change things up. An essential part of the Christian life is serving. In fact, Jesus said the one that serves the most is the greatest in his kingdom (Mark 10:43–44).
Make sure that apart from the Big Four and any other events you attend, you have some way of giving of your time, energy, and resources to serve others in the body. As important as instruction in Scripture is, the healthy Christian isn’t one who just sits and soaks. They bear fruit from good works (John 15:8).
So, what does that look like?
3. Informal and Formal Go Hand-in Hand
There are many formal ways to serve at PBF, some of them with very low commitment. For example, we always have openings for greeting on Sunday mornings. This can happen as little as once a quarter! There are opportunities to rotate in nursery or kids classes, anywhere from five to fifteen weeks apart. We also have people who serve on Sunday mornings helping with technology like sound and slides. There are some other, bigger commitments too (like teaching).
But there are informal ways to serve as well—ways that encourage, comfort, and make disciples. We often call this “one anothering.” What does it look like? Many things! Consider a few examples:
- Having coffee with someone to talk about spiritual things.
- Getting together with someone regularly to read the Bible and pray (AKA, one-to-one Bible reading).
- Dropping off a meal or favorite snack to someone not feeling well with a note that lets them know you’re praying for them.
- Buying someone a good book on a subject they have admitted they are struggling with. . .
- And committing to read it with them over several weeks!
- Stopping by to hang out for an hour or two with a stay-at-home mom to help fold laundry, enjoy friendship, and talk about spiritual things.
- Taking a walk and praying together with someone.
- Intentionally organizing a backyard BBQ with another believing couple and some unbelieving neighbors or coworkers.
The possibilities are endless! And none of them are on the church calendar. Pastor Greg recently said that some of these informal opportunities can be even more impactful at times than other formal gatherings. So, consider how you might be able to invest in the lives of others in informal disciple-making.
Keep a Watch on Your Schedule (and Your Heart)
As PBF continues to grow, there may be even more opportunities in the future. Often this will be to make sure something is available to everyone. But don’t think it means we expect you at everything.
Instead, be a vital part of church life in the essential gatherings, then look for ways to balance serving and being served, evangelizing and edifying, both formally and informally.
Above all, stay personally connected to Christ so that you can make the most of the opportunities God gives—in his strength and for his glory (John 15:1–17).
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