As Christians it is easy to get hung up on ourselves. Instead of asking God about who we can reach for His kingdom we begin to ask Him questions about our own selfish desires. What about my needs God? What about my wants? God, what about my schedule? What about my dreams? What about my family Lord? What about my finances? Me…me…me…I…I…I. Christ was pretty hard on His Disciples when it came to this area. Jesus basically told them in Mark 10:35-45 that they needed to be servants to God and others…that the first must be last…and He displayed that daily.
At Compass Point we try hard to create a culture of servanthood…that it is better to give than receive. This is why we put so much focus on our ministry teams. Every week we encourage people to get involved greeting our guests, setting up the production, making coffee, running the worship computers, leading our children or investing in those far from God. Our ministry teams are the only place we intentionally try to create community. It is where friendship are built and relationship are developed. It is also where we find our potential “next level” leaders. Mainly it is our way of carrying out one of the most important concepts in God’s Word…we are here not for ourselves…we are here to be servants to God and others.
Most of our teams ask their members to serve several times a month. We have found that the more they serve on the team…the more they make friends at Compass Point and get plugged in for the long haul. Some of our team or more geared for this than others. A few of our teams are structured so that there members get to be in the worship service every Sunday like our Set Up Team and Greeting Team. We schedule them to serve two to three Sundays a month. Others like our Kids Team don’t have the option of being in the worship so we try to schedule them to serve only once or twice a month.
Our scheduling goal of these teams only focuses on giving people the chance to live out the Biblical principles of servanthood and Christian community. Burnout is really something we ask our team leaders to ignore when scheduling. The reason is…in 20 years of ministry I have discovered that people using the “burnout” excuse do so because:
- They have become so turned inward and selfish that they have forgotten Christ’s mandate to serve others.
- They have added so much non-church crap to their lives (work, school, playing, events, hobbies, schedule, etc.) that the Church and God is getting the shaft.
Our goal at Compass Point is to create disciples. With that goal in mind we work hard to create a culture where people begin to understand that following Christ means denying themselves…so they can serve God and others.
CHRIS ELROD 