If only there were more hours in a day...
The way my church works (and I suspect many organisations are like this. I'm just not as involved in any others.), you never really realise how many opportunities there are to serve and help out until you get involved heavily. And by that, I mean leadership. My friend approached me today about a new evangelism/community action ministry that he's planning on getting started in the next few months. I was like 'COOL! That's what you've been talking about doing for ages. Go for it!' And then he asked me to consider and pray about being part of the leadership team of that ministry. *headdesk*
It's not that I wouldn't love to do it, in fact, I think that might be why there is a problem. If I didn't want to, I'd have given him a flat 'No, thank you.'. There are two major problems:
If any of you have any brilliant plans for themes and activities, I'd love to hear your ideas. I've got lots of crafty sort of activities, but nothing really active or intellectual that would suit the older kids. We've got a boy who would play his Nintendo DS all day if he could and a girl who is incredibly bright, so if you've got ideas for 8-12 year olds...?
So the joys of being a small church? LOTS of opportunities to serve and to grow and learn things while serving. But it's also quite exhausting because there's so much to do. It makes you rely on God, though. So it's not a bad thing. :)
It's not that I wouldn't love to do it, in fact, I think that might be why there is a problem. If I didn't want to, I'd have given him a flat 'No, thank you.'. There are two major problems:
- A leader must firstly lead by example and... I'm not really leading by example now. I'm still waaaaay too shy to approach people to talk about Jesus. Heck, who am I kidding? I'm way too shy to approach people. Fullstop. I'm the mousy kind who waits for people to approach her. There's only one environment in which I deliberately approach people and that's when I feel completely comfortable and supported by the people around me. So... during Year 12 in high school, at work... and around my brothers and sisters in Christ. This ministry would be great for helping me get more comfortable talking but I couldn't lead it.
- I've already got less time to put into what I already do, let alone pick up another demanding activity. I was talking to one of my co-leaders for youth and I confessed that I'm just plain not doing enough to keep the youth group afloat once we lose some leaders. Which is what's going to hapen next year because one's getting married and another's considering stepping down if she can. That leaves two of us in the leadership team. *forces self to breathe* I've seriously considered doing part-time uni to give more time to what I do and love doing. (I enjoy all this so much more than I enjoy uni. It seems a whole lot more real than writing essays because I'm constantly dealing with people and watching what I do have an impact on them) But I'm pretty sure my parents wouldn't let me and besides, my degree is already long. If I stretched it out any longer, I'm never going to leave. And I really can't wait until I do.
If any of you have any brilliant plans for themes and activities, I'd love to hear your ideas. I've got lots of crafty sort of activities, but nothing really active or intellectual that would suit the older kids. We've got a boy who would play his Nintendo DS all day if he could and a girl who is incredibly bright, so if you've got ideas for 8-12 year olds...?
So the joys of being a small church? LOTS of opportunities to serve and to grow and learn things while serving. But it's also quite exhausting because there's so much to do. It makes you rely on God, though. So it's not a bad thing. :)