The Grace of sharing responsiblities

In the Bible we read about spiritual gifts. First the Holy Spirit distributes a variety of gifts to all believers; some get more, some less. Believers are to engage in a variety of ministries. We must all be united in exercising our gifts for the building up of the church to the glory of God.

There are some gifts that put believers in the limelight – preaching, singing, leading songs etc. Many believers are gifted in working behind the scenes – like cleaning the kitchen, preparing meals, sweeping the floor. They are all of equal importance.

We were at Central Corps last Sunday and I cannot help but notice the sharing of responsibilities. The church has more than one ‘praise and worship’ team and each team has its own leader. Even the leaders rotate. Each time we visit, we see a different leader. Last Sunday it was Guan You who led worship with sensitivity, feeling and skill. Daniel Ng was the bandmaster. The band played well in accompanying the singing. The pianist was Shermin who played beautifully the tune ‘Blacklands’ to accompany our singing of that song “He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater.” (I prefer this tune to 'The Ash Grove') Daniel did the opening prayer – he just prayed as requested without adding all kinds of comments. Elaine without making any comment read the Bible with thought and feeling.

There are many pianists at Central and they all take turns in providing music. In this way our young people get training and practice. We’ve done meetings when other pianists played – Daniel, Sarah, Rachel and others. Wonderful sharing of responsibilities! No wonder the church has so many youths participating.

I’ve learned this – no one is indispensable. It takes grace to learn to share and not hog the limelight. The church suffers when some people cannot let go! I've known of a 'praise and worship' leader who claimed that he heard the "voice of God" to move to another church. The real reason - the pastor felt it was time to give someone else the position. (There's a lot of church shopping and hopping) Learn to let go and let God have His way and let others have a chance. Do we care enough to share?