Love Your Church - Week 6 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 — SERVING: USING THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT FOR THE GOOD OF THE BODY

As a Christian, you shouldn’t think of your church as “the place where I listen to sermons” but as “the place where I serve.” Church members are contributors to the ministry of the church, not consumers of it. Three motivations from Scripture can fire up our desire to serve: God’s mercy — what he has done for us; the Spirit’s gifts — we are empowered and enabled; and the Son’s return — our serving is not in vain. When you look hard at God’s mercy toward you, offering yourself is the logical, reasonable response: Romans 12 calls believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, wholly consecrated worshipers committed to God in every realm of life, as if placing themselves in the offering plate.
The Spirit distributes gifts for the good of the body. Speaking gifts include teaching and exhorting. Serving gifts include practical help, generous giving, leadership with zeal, and mercy extended to the poor — all offered with cheerfulness rather than a begrudging spirit. God cares about hearts and motives, not merely external behaviors. Note that 1 Corinthians 13 was not written for weddings; it was written to correct spiritual gifts that had become self-promoting rather than church-serving. To discover your gifts, Tim Keller points to two pathways: self-examination (what do you enjoy? what feels fulfilling? what problems do you notice instinctively?) and experience (simply try things). But don’t limit service to your specific gifting — someone without the specific gift of mercy is still called to show mercy (Micah 6:8).

Part of the genius of the gifts-and-service model is that it decentralizes ministry. A church doesn’t thrive because one gifted pastor does everything well; it thrives when members discover and exercise their gifts for the common good. The person who shows up early to set up chairs, the one who sends a card to a grieving widow, the one who volunteers in the nursery for a decade without recognition — these are the ones whose service holds the body together. Don’t wait for someone to ask you. Don’t wait until you feel adequate. Begin. Practice. Adjust. Spiritual gifting is often revealed through faithful engagement, not through waiting for a bolt of certainty from heaven.
The return of Christ sharpens all of this. The nearness of the end in 1 Peter 4 produces not fanaticism but basic Christian living: self-controlled prayer, earnest love, gracious hospitality, and faithful exercise of gifts. When you see Christ and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” you will be glad you served — not only in convenient moments, not only in ways likely to be noticed, but in ordinary, faithful, often unseen obedience.

Questions - SERVING Read Romans 12 v 1-21

1. What does whole-life worship look like, and what motivates it (v 1-2)?

2. How should we see our own identity (v 5)? How does this help us to serve well?

3. Verses 9-21 contain some challenging instructions. Why is doing these things hard? What difference can they make (v 21)?

4. What gifts has God given you? How can you use them with excellence, passion, and humility for the good of your church?

5. What needs do you see in your church? How could you meet them?

6. Is there anything in Paul’s instructions that is lacking in your church’s life or in your own life? How will you pray in response to this passage?

01/09/2026

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

New to church?

Coming to a new place for the first time can be a bit daunting, and at Grace, we want you to feel welcome and secure when you visit us for the first time. As a church, we seek to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ. We aim to be clear and relevant in all we do so that everyone is welcomed, included and helped.

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 10:30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will be wearing a Welcome lanyard.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits after the service ends. It is a great way to meet people, or simply take time to find your bearings. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There are disabled toilets in the main foyer.

Our Service

The main service begins at 10:30am with a warm welcome from one of our team members. Then follows a time of sung worship, led by our band. We typically have 2 songs lasting approximately 10 minutes. Sometimes a person might pray or read a small passage from the bible. At this stage, we usually have a short talk specifically for the children, before they go off to Junior Church. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song.

images: Services

What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for kids of all ages:

Creche (0 months to 3 years).
Junior Church (years 1-6)
Sunday Ignite (years 7-11)
Young people (15+ years) Stay in service.

Children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome and songs. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the end of the children's talk, someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy.

The kids group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, music, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

Getting Connected

Small Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some afternoons and some evenings. Check out Home Groups and see if there’s one that you could join, or we can put you in touch with a small group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

Men's Ministries
Women's Ministries
Mission
Youth Work

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership


Pastor Simon Percy

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