Where Will This Church Be in a Year?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about where this congregation will be next year. Part of me doesn’t know where to begin, because I’ve only seen this church during COVID. I’ve come to love you, I believe I made the right decision coming here, I believe we can do great things together in God’s kingdom, but I’ve never been to a Sunday evening service here, there are many brothers and sisters I haven’t met, and we’ve been severely hampered in what we can do.

But there’s one thing I do know—where I want to see this church a year from now.

• I want to see more souls come to Jesus.
• I want to see faith grow as we follow Jesus together.
• I want to see neighbors served in Jesus’s name.
• I want to see brothers sharing their lives together in fellowship.
• I want to see generous giving so that more good can be done.

How does the church move toward more evangelism, more faith, more benevolence, and more fellowship? The answer is really simple: Brothers and sisters use their individual talents for service in the kingdom. That’s it. No fancy formula from a church consultant or a Ph.D. in an ivory tower—every member of the body using his or her talents to serve the Lord is the answer to strong, healthy churches.

Remember the Parable of the Talents? A landowner preparing for a long journey gave all his servants talents; one servant received five talents, another two talents, and another one talent “each according to his ability” (Matt 25:14). You know that the first two servants (the ones who had received five and two talents, respectively) doubled their investments, but the man who had one talent hid his talent in the ground. That master condemned the one-talent man: “As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 25:30).

You know the one-talent man wasn’t condemned because he only had one talent; after all that was the ability he had. He was condemned because he did nothing with the one talent he did have.

How are you using the talents you have? What can you do to help this congregation move in the right direction?

• Do you have the right talent to teach?
• Do you have the right talent to evangelize?
• Do you have the right talent to pray for the sick?
• Do you have the right talent to prepare food for the suffering?
• Do you have the right talent to welcome the newcomer?
• Do you have the right talent to encourage the disheartened?

You have the right talent to serve the Lord in this congregation in some way. Find your talent, use your talent, and let’s watch God do great things in this church.

This article was originally written by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., for the weekly newsletter at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.