Serving
We try to be a church where it’s not just a small percentage of people carrying the vast majority of the weight.
Serving is a part of our walk with Jesus. We don't get to opt out of service, and we need our people to commit to serving here at Northgate.
There are numerous ways you can volunteer at Northgate. Our greeters and parking lot attendants are volunteers. Volunteers are serving on our worship team. There are openings with our audio/visual team. We need helpers in the Children’s wing. Every Sunday, our volunteers work to keep the cafe open, making it a great place to grab coffee and a snack and mingle. They sometimes require extra help as well.
We'd like to encourage you to explore volunteer opportunities and try them out. You may find a good fit for you, but you're not stuck forever with the first thing that you try. Sometimes, when you volunteer in a church, it feels like this is now your job, and it's your job until you die or find someone to replace you. That's not the commitment here. Sometimes people serve for a season, and they move on.
It’s incredibly important to us that we help you find the right fit. We do not want you being at home on a Sunday morning going “Oh man, I'm in the toddler room today. Oh, it's going to be the worst.” If you don't enjoy being around kids, please refrain from volunteering in our kids' wing, as we have staff who genuinely love working with children and strive to make it the best hour of their week.
Given the chance, we could introduce you to people serving here who will say it is one of the most meaningful and rewarding things that they get to do because serving isn't an obligation to fill a need. It’s so much more. Pastor Andy Stanley said, “If you aren't engaged, something is missing, and if you aren't engaged, you are missing something.”
We need to understand both sides of that coin because, often, especially in a church of this size, people will come into Church on a Thursday or Sunday, and someone has opened the door. There were people at the desks, and the cafe was in great shape. There are people at the kids' desk checking-in the children. The lights are on, the stuff is happening. The sound's going. People drop off their kids, and they say, “Oh, okay, they're good, they don't need me.”
Every single thing we do needs more people. It needs a larger pool of people to help. It would be better if we weren't asking the same people in the kids' wing to do the same thing every week.
Some people want to serve every other week. Some people say, “Hey, once a month.”
The bigger that pool gets, the better. So, go for it. Get involved. We need this, and you need this. Both you and Northgate will be better off when you make that commitment to serving.
If God is giving you a nudge, listen to that nudge. God will give us those nudges. We have a responsibility to listen.
We should be aware that when God does give us those nudges and we don’t listen, at a certain point, He’s like, “All right, well, I'll stop doing it then.” Remember that every job matters, every gift is important. Paul tells the church in Corinth that every job matters. Some of us preach. Some of us play bass. Some of us shake hands with a smile and a shared joy. Paul says that there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of work, but in all of them, it is the same God at work through all those gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
Each manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good, so Paul is saying that we all have gifts, and they're different gifts, but they all serve God and are for the common good.
Tom Reneer did some studies and found that 80% of first-time guests know whether or not they're coming back to church before the service starts, before we've played a single note. Before anyone has prayed, read a verse, or preached, people have already decided, four out of five, whether or not they're coming back. Doesn’t that tell us that each gift is not incredibly important because people are making that decision based on the parking lot, based on the lobby, based on the cafe, on kids check-in, on how friendly the people are there, so if you haven't already, we ask that you pray about it and you consider making a commitment to serving. It’s a part of our walk with Jesus.
Serving is a part of our walk with Jesus. We don't get to opt out of service, and we need our people to commit to serving here at Northgate.
There are numerous ways you can volunteer at Northgate. Our greeters and parking lot attendants are volunteers. Volunteers are serving on our worship team. There are openings with our audio/visual team. We need helpers in the Children’s wing. Every Sunday, our volunteers work to keep the cafe open, making it a great place to grab coffee and a snack and mingle. They sometimes require extra help as well.
We'd like to encourage you to explore volunteer opportunities and try them out. You may find a good fit for you, but you're not stuck forever with the first thing that you try. Sometimes, when you volunteer in a church, it feels like this is now your job, and it's your job until you die or find someone to replace you. That's not the commitment here. Sometimes people serve for a season, and they move on.
It’s incredibly important to us that we help you find the right fit. We do not want you being at home on a Sunday morning going “Oh man, I'm in the toddler room today. Oh, it's going to be the worst.” If you don't enjoy being around kids, please refrain from volunteering in our kids' wing, as we have staff who genuinely love working with children and strive to make it the best hour of their week.
Given the chance, we could introduce you to people serving here who will say it is one of the most meaningful and rewarding things that they get to do because serving isn't an obligation to fill a need. It’s so much more. Pastor Andy Stanley said, “If you aren't engaged, something is missing, and if you aren't engaged, you are missing something.”
We need to understand both sides of that coin because, often, especially in a church of this size, people will come into Church on a Thursday or Sunday, and someone has opened the door. There were people at the desks, and the cafe was in great shape. There are people at the kids' desk checking-in the children. The lights are on, the stuff is happening. The sound's going. People drop off their kids, and they say, “Oh, okay, they're good, they don't need me.”
Every single thing we do needs more people. It needs a larger pool of people to help. It would be better if we weren't asking the same people in the kids' wing to do the same thing every week.
Some people want to serve every other week. Some people say, “Hey, once a month.”
The bigger that pool gets, the better. So, go for it. Get involved. We need this, and you need this. Both you and Northgate will be better off when you make that commitment to serving.
If God is giving you a nudge, listen to that nudge. God will give us those nudges. We have a responsibility to listen.
We should be aware that when God does give us those nudges and we don’t listen, at a certain point, He’s like, “All right, well, I'll stop doing it then.” Remember that every job matters, every gift is important. Paul tells the church in Corinth that every job matters. Some of us preach. Some of us play bass. Some of us shake hands with a smile and a shared joy. Paul says that there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of work, but in all of them, it is the same God at work through all those gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
Each manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good, so Paul is saying that we all have gifts, and they're different gifts, but they all serve God and are for the common good.
Tom Reneer did some studies and found that 80% of first-time guests know whether or not they're coming back to church before the service starts, before we've played a single note. Before anyone has prayed, read a verse, or preached, people have already decided, four out of five, whether or not they're coming back. Doesn’t that tell us that each gift is not incredibly important because people are making that decision based on the parking lot, based on the lobby, based on the cafe, on kids check-in, on how friendly the people are there, so if you haven't already, we ask that you pray about it and you consider making a commitment to serving. It’s a part of our walk with Jesus.
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