One of my favourite things

There was something interesting going on last Sunday which you may not have even noticed. Families were serving together…

• The Richter family led our Advent reading
• Randall was playing acoustic guitar and his wife Lauren was directing the service. Even 9 week old Levi was attentively listening to mom (Lauren) as she led the pre-service meeting.
• Phil was jamming the bass while his son Jacob was rocking the drums.
• Up in the tech booth, Britton was controlling my sermon slides while I preached.

And that was just in the auditorium. If we had wandered around the church on Sunday you would have seen Ron and Stephanie serving coffee, Penny teaching in Kids Church while Howard served as an usher, and the list goes on…

I love the spirit of serving that our church family has. I especially love it when I see families serving together. Whether it’s in the coffee ministry, as greeters, on stage or in Kids church, it always brings a smile to my face when I see brothers and sisters, parents and kids, and grandparents and grandkids serving together.

Have you ever served together as a family?

I have had the privilege of serving with my kids on worship teams, with my wife on Sundays, and together as an entire family on Christmas Eve. There is an incredible joy you experience when you serve together as a family.  It is one of my favourite things.

I have found that when my family serves together:

• Memories are made – I love hearing my kids talk about times that we’ve served together on Christmas Eve or other occasions. Often the stories are funny and sometimes they are learning experiences for both of us.  One thing for sure is that when our family serves together it always creates a memory that sticks.
• Growth happens – People grow in faith, skills, and capacity when they serve. I remember being on a worship team with my kids and watching them as the experience stretched their faith and skill while also increasing their capacity. Who they are today, their faith, their desire to serve, and their skill and capacity were shaped in part by those serving experiences. I’ve even grown as I’ve served alongside and watched them.
• Serving brings us together – Families are busy. When my kids were growing up it often felt like we were going in six different directions, especially in December. Now that our kids are grown and living on their own, it still feels at times like Britton and I are going in six different directions. Choosing to serve together means that at least once a week or once a month, we are. together, going the same direction, sharing the same experience and it reminds us how great it is to be together.

Have you served together as a family? Have you experienced these or other benefits from serving together with your family? Maybe it’s time to discover or rediscover the joy of serving together as a family?

There are lots of things you could do as a family. Below are a number of opportunities we have over the next couple of weeks where your family could serve this Christmas. If you’ve read this far you must be interested in experiencing the joy of serving as a family, so why not read a little further and choose a way to serve this Christmas as a family.

See you Sunday,

Pastor Kirk

PS…this Sunday we’ll be continuing our Best Gift Ever series. Together we’ll be exploring Matthew 1:18-25, the story of a man whose life was full of surprises and how he responded to those surprises.

Christmas Hampers 
Join us between 9:30 and 10:15 am as we put together boxes of food for families in our community who are in need.   We’ll be putting together Christmas Hampers with everything necessary for the receiving families to have a great Christmas.    

Greeters and Ushers
We need people to greet and help the 1000 guests we are expecting on Christmas Eve find seats.  We will need greeters and ushers for our 4 and 7 pm service. Come to one service and serve at the other.  This is something you can do with the whole family.  Email Pastor Eric if you’d like to help out.  

Nursery 
We are in need of help in our Nursery caring for children birth to three years of age during the Christmas Eve Service.  Come to one service and serve at the other.  Email Pastor Shauna if you’d like to help out.  (Please note we do have some restrictions on this serving opportunity for the protection of our children, but please don’t let that stop you from talking with us).

Coming Events