Episode 21 - The Body of Christ

Pastor Dan and Director of Discipleship Mandy Stevens talk about where we find our place in the body of Christ.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hey everybody, this is Dan Metzgrim, the pastor of St. Mark's United Methodist Church, and with me today is Director of Discipleship Mandy Stevens. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:24

I'm doing great today. How are you, Dan?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

I'm doing wonderful. It's sunny. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

I know. It's warm, but like it's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Some people I have found don't like the heat. I am I love the heat and I love being inside the air conditioning while it's hot out.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

And then I love going outside when it's warm. I don't like being cold in the winter.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

I'm with you. Exactly. I know. I try not to complain when it's hot because I know what the alternative to.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

That is exactly I'm exactly the same. There's some people who are the opposite who really like the cold weather. Uh that is not of God.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

That is your evil right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yes, exactly. So um, hey, we are going to be starting a new series at St. Mark's. Well, first of all, just like, hey, if you are a new listener because uh the courier did an article on the podcast. I know, how about that? I had forgotten they did that interview until my mom said, Hey, you're on the front page of the paper. And I'm like, why? We did an interview about the podcast. So that's great. That was very nice. But um, but yeah, so hey, if you're new, welcome. Glad that you are joining us. Uh, what we do is we kind of talk about what it is that we're going to be talking about on Sunday. I've been working on the sermon throughout the week, and um, then I try to bring somebody in and we kind of talk through a little bit about what some of the things are that we're going to be discussing on this coming Sunday. And uh we're starting a new series called All Together Now. And really the crux of the series is going to be about uh the idea that we are all necessary, that the church is for everyone, that um that we all have a place here, and that there's something, I think there's something that God wants to do through through each of us and in each of us. Um no matter who you are. I'm really excited for next week. I'm just uh I'm excited for this week, but next week I'll already I'm thinking about uh we're gonna be talking about the place of children in church and how important that is. Exciting. Uh yeah, but this week we're just gonna kind of be introing this this series, and um, we're doing it based off of the scripture in First Corinthians 12, where Paul talks about the body of Christ, and he uses this example of uh this analogy of uh that you need every part of your body, the hand can't say to the foot, I don't need you, the eye can't say to the mouth, I don't need you. We or and one part's not necessarily more important than the other. And he says, in the same way, uh, we every part is needed in the church. So churches maybe look a little bit more, they look different, maybe more complicated, I don't know, than they did 2,000 years ago when Paul was talking to the church.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Probably a little bit different, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

I don't think they had a multimedia team at the church in Corinth.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah, probably not.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Yeah, different things like that. They probably didn't have a nursery.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Maybe they had a nursery, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Maybe that was one of the first things. Yeah, maybe they said, can somebody take the kids? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

It was the moms who were like, somebody were with the kids all the time, take them.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yeah, they probably were like, guys, it's your turn. We're going to church. Yes, it very well we don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

We don't know. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Um, but we know that a part of the way that uh the church in general looks today, at least here at St. Mark's, is that there's a lot of different places where people serve, um, a lot of different ways that you can serve in the church. You've been in several churches over the years uh and served in different capacities. What are some of the ways that you have served or that you have seen other people serve in the church that maybe people might not it might might not be the thing that always comes to mind for people?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah, I think that's I mean, that's a very broad question because there's so many ways to serve. Um, personally, I mean, I love serving like hands-on with people. So I've done a lot of children's ministry, I've done a lot of like adult discipleship stuff. Um, I personally love to plan and organize. Chat GPT told me the other day that um planning is my form of relaxation.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

I know, who knew? So that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

But that is weird to me. Right? Good for you.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

So strange. I know that's why we compliment each other well.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yeah, because it is my thing.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

But we need both of our skills, right? Yeah, which is so cool. So I've done a lot of planning, and um but one of the things that I think is really cool is like my husband is kind of the opposite of me. Like he is an extrovert to some degree and he loves people and loves being with them. But man, any behind-the-scenes task, like it doesn't matter, and nobody's ever gonna know he did it, but he will just jump in and do it. And those people, I don't know, those people are so cool to me because they're so needed and they're not doing it for recognition or you know, any applause.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

They're just like, hey, I'm gonna just quietly serve and I I probably unfairly take advantage of people like that because I know that they exist. I'm not necessarily that person. I try to be sometimes. Like I have to be, I have to like I have to be very intentional about okay, I'm gonna do this thing behind the scenes and like I'm not, you know. But a lot of times those little details are the things that I just don't think about.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Um, but I know that there are people who think about them. And so whenever somebody is like, hey, do you think we could, you know, do this thing or host this event or whatever it might be, I'm like, yeah, I'm sure somebody will help make that happen. You know, like it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

I've heard those exact words out of your mouth.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

I know, I know that you have because I know that there's gonna be somebody who stacks all the chairs and puts them away. I know there's gonna be somebody that takes care of making sure that everything is where it needs to be. That yeah, and there are people that that serve in those ways much better than what I ever do. Um, and I'm so thankful for those people. And and I think a part of what Paul is talking about, and and what we what we know to be true is that there's not one that's more important than the other, that we need all of these things. And it becomes very apparent when there's some of those things, when there's some of those places where um there's something lacking, like you know when the nursery is not staffed, yes, because it's very loud in the sanctuary.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Or and don't get us wrong, we love baby cries and noises, they're great. Yes, but we know as parents, sometimes that's hard. Sometimes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Sometimes you want to be able to have that time where, and there's yeah, again, there's no right or wrong. If you ever bring your kid in the service, we're totally fine with that. But uh, all that to be said, we we also know that there's a need for people who are who are willing to go and to serve in capacities like whether it be the nursery, or you notice when there's not somebody there to greet you when you come in. You notice you notice if nobody took out the trash. You like these are things that that we notice. Um there's a lot of different ways that that you can serve, um, and that you can do these things. And uh so yeah, it's it's super important, I think, to try to find those different areas. I always like to think of the idea that there's both a I think everybody has a ministry and a mission. Yeah, and the difference is for me, um, I think a ministry is a way that God is calling you to serve the body of Christ somehow, to serve the church somehow, whatever that might be. And there is also everybody has a mission, which is something outside of the church walls, a way that you're supposed to serve the community, serve uh those who don't yet know Christ, serve um in some way outside of all of this. How have you seen that lived out in your own life? Because I know that you do you do a lot of things in the church, but you also do a lot of stuff outside how have you kind of discovered those things in your life?

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Yeah, uh well, I love first of all, and we talked about this on a previous podcast I was on, that like you have a mission, but it doesn't mean you have to go far to do it. Right? I mean, it can be right in your own backyard or you know, in the city. So personally, I feel like God has just placed on my heart people who just are more vulnerable for whatever reason. You know, maybe they've grown up with generational poverty or they're seeking refuge here from instability in another country or whatever. Um, and I'm just always quick to want to support those people in whatever however that looks. Um, I don't always get it right, you know, and sometimes I'm afraid to do that, or you know, I make excuses for why I don't want to do it. But when God finally hits me over the head with it, I definitely feel like that's that's one of my missions outside of here.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

I like that. You said something about making excuses. Yes. And so one of the things I think that we know is that it's really easy for us to make excuses for why we uh don't need to serve. And we and we end up making church in Christian life something that serves us instead of us serving. And and we um and so a lot of times we'll find excuses for why not to serve. You've been in positions of churches for I think you said since you were 21.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yes, 21.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Where you have been helping to get volunteers and you've been helping to connect people and stuff like that. What are some of the most common excuses that that you hear and why are those excuses dumb?

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Oh great. I don't mean to offend people here.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

It's not offensive. It is, it is just true. There's no good, uh, in my opinion, and I know that I'm I probably am very biased towards this. I I don't think there are there's no excuses that can fully hold water for why we can't serve in some way.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

But I think there are good reasons to maybe not serve in a certain capacity. Absolutely, but it doesn't get you out of serving altogether, right? It's just like finding where where God is calling you today might not be where God called you 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Absolutely. I think that is true.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Yeah, and so I think when I started um when I started ministry like on staff, I was a children's ministry director. Okay. And I was 21. Like I met you then. That's how we met. I met you then.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

I was doing an internship at that church.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah, so cool. Um, and I had just graduated college and thought I wanted to be a teacher and kind of ended up hating that. And so I was like, God, what is happening here? Like, what are you doing? Definitely felt like he was calling me to children's ministry. Um, got my first job there like two months after graduating college, and I was leading a team of volunteers, a huge team of volunteers that were all like at least five, if not 50 years older than me. And I just remember feeling like super out of my depth and kind of like imposter syndrome. And I did hear a lot of excuses from time to time. And one is I've done my time in children's ministry, you know. And I do believe that to some capacity, but maybe you're a baker now and you can bake the snacks for whatever children's ministry thing that's happening.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah. You know, I've done my time really rubs me the wrong way. I don't care for that. Yep. Um, because I I know you might get to retire from your job someday. You don't get to retire from Christianity. Yeah. That's when you die. You get to retire then. But until then, we're all like, as long as there's breath in our lungs, we are all a part of this ministry and mission. And so I understand the idea of I've done my time maybe in an area, yes, but not overall.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

You there is still something that you can do that you um that you have the bill uh ability to do. And and I think about that, especially, especially with kids, and um, you know, that it's very easy to say, oh well, when I was a young parent, I did stuff with the kids, and um I don't have to do that anymore. Yeah, which maybe you shouldn't, maybe there should be some other thing you do. But I think there could also be something really valuable about older generations who've got that grandparent energy, maybe, who are like who are willing to come in and step in and be around um be around some of those uh younger kids and and things like that. And and what a blessing to young parents to have some some people who come in and and are able to help in some of those areas. I think that can be a really, really beautiful thing. So yeah, so I've done my time. You it's not like uh this is not a thing where as long as you do five years of some sort of thing that you get to check it off, puce it's the rest of your life. No, nope. We wanna we wanna keep we we want everybody to have a thing. My goal is for everybody, and you know this, my goal is for everybody to have at least one secondary connection beyond just sitting there on Sunday morning. Want you to be here on Sunday morning or watch online on Sunday morning or whatever it might be, but it's that secondary connection, whether it's serving or uh participating in something that is just so vital to really being connected to the body of Christ, I think.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

I agree. And you know, church is not a spectator sport, and yet so often we treat it as that. Like we can just come and consume and then go. And you know, but what I think we're learning in these scriptures that you're talking about is that that's not the way we're supposed to view it. You know, we are a body and we are all essential to make sure that is functioning.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah, absolutely. And and and I'll talk about this a little bit more on Sunday. It's not that you're I I want to be careful that we don't ever talk about this as like you're obligated to do these things. You get to do these things. It's it we get to serve in the church. It's it's not because we're trying to like earn our salvation or earn our worth, or if we don't do this, we'll get in trouble, or something like this. Like these opportunities, these ability ways to serve, they are here so that you can live into everything God made you to be and and experience the fullness of what it means to get to get to be a part of the church. It's like we and we we I don't know, we've gotten into this culture of like I have to go to church or I have to do this thing or what like no, you get this is a really cool thing that you get to be a part of.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Yeah, I mean, think about in how many countries where for Christian churches they have to like meet underground, like they can't even tell anybody they're going. Like to have church is such a privilege and to be part of that.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah, it's it's a privilege, and it's a privilege to get to but because because of what Jesus has done for us, it's just a way that we get to show love back to him. Uh it's a way that we get to to be thankful for all that God has done for us. We get to serve in some way everything we do, we do for the glory of God, right? Um, and this passage that's after 1 Corinthians 12, where it's talking about the body of Christ, it goes into talking then about it's the first Corinthians 13 passage, it's a long passage, right? So, no matter what it is you're doing, no matter what area of giftedness you have, no matter how you're serving all these things, we get to do it with love. And um, you know, love is patient, it's kind, you know, all of the things we do. If we're not doing it with love, there's no point in us doing it. Yeah, we're serving so that we get to love others in the way that Christ loved us. It's it really takes that whole wedding passage and kind of gives it this whole new lens of looking at it. It's not really weddings really stole it, but it's not really Paul did not write 1 Corinthians 13 just so you could read it at your wedding.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Exactly. It would all of us.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

It was to talk to us about how we're supposed to use the ways God has gifted us to serve in his church and outside the walls of the church. This is how you're supposed to do it. You're supposed to do it with love.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Um, and so I think that's the most vital thing, is like because some of the other excuses, you know, go back to excuses, it's like, I don't know if I'm good enough, or I don't know if, like, oh man, I I'm new to this thing, or I'm too old, or I'm too young, or whatever it might be. We have all these different excuses. And Paul's kind of like, look, use your gifts the best you can, do it with love, and it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yep, yeah, because he's gonna equip you. Like, you may not know how to do it, or yeah, you may have all these excuses, but he's gonna come through when you say yes to that, and he's gonna work through you in ways that you couldn't do it on your own.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Yeah, I mean, I think about that with people who you know, I teach I teach a Bible study on Wednesday nights in the fall and in the spring, and I I I toy with the idea of stepping back from that. I I won't, I'll keep doing it. But I just don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

There was like a collective gas on the other side of the thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

No, nobody worries. Um but I I want there to be space for people who aren't the pastor of the church to teach.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Because if you can do it with some love and some grace, and you don't want to go in thinking you have all the answers. I don't have all the answers. I know this. Um, I've got a love and a passion for it, and I think that's the thing that probably comes through for people. But if you're if you're willing to step out in love and just and to take that on, whether you're a expert or not, um, I think that's something God can use in a really beautiful way.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

I agree. And you know, whether it's teaching a Bible study or any volunteer role that I have ever had, I have never felt ready for it when I have said yes ever. You know, like I just think about that too. And yeah, you just do it.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I mean, you talked about you were you were 21 recently. I was 23 when I took my first church when I started pastoring a church. I remember looking out and seeing people that have three times my life experience at that point in time. And I'm like, who am I right to to to say anything to anyone? Um but my first sermon series that I did, I remember what it was. It was on faith, hope, and love. And it was and um, and I I know I remember somebody saying to me after my first sermon, they said, Hey, that'll get better. All right, but I think I think I might not have done a great job, but I think they could tell that I'm gonna try to love you guys the best that I possibly can. And and uh that covered a multitude of of error and just not being very good with potential in the over here.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

This will get better. Okay, um, yeah, thanks for sticking with it, man.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

And that was 20 years ago now. Yeah, um it did get better. It I hope so. Because I remember I I go back and look at some of the stuff that like I can't believe I said that in front of people. Yeah, boy. Right, you know, yeah, um but God can take that stuff if you're willing to serve, if you're willing to step out and say, I'm here to serve, yeah, I'm gonna do it with some love, we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

I think God can use that.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

So yeah, that's what we're gonna start talking about this week. I think everybody's got a ministry, everybody's got a mission. That includes you who are listening to this, and um love for you to come and be a part of uh all this, or you can check us out online and uh uh listen to the sermons there and uh be a part of the service. Gonna be hearing about Habitat for Humanity this week, also. It's gonna be some really good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Exciting.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yeah. So Mandy, thanks for being with us today.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

And thank you all for joining us on another Sermon Prep Podcast.