People frequently will tell me, “Our Church needs to …”

There is a long list of the ways that sentence ends. Our Church needs to help the homeless. Our Church needs to do more outreach. Our Church needs to be more compassionate to the hurting. Our Church needs more people serving the kids. Our Church needs to do this, and our Church needs to do that.

Usually, they mean, “Other people need to be more like Jesus in our Church community.”

A simple response is to ask, “Tell me your people.” I would like you to tell me the last needy person you helped, tell me who you are sharing this gospel with right now, or tell me who you are contacting regularly as an act of compassion.

Generally speaking, they have no names to share. What is implied in their statements is, “I am not going to do these things, but other people should.” They think if the pastor, elders, deacons, and ministry leaders would just put in more effort, then everything would be better at our Church.

The reality is that ministry is for everyone. Every. Single. Person.

Whenever your mind gets filled with “Someone should do this,” just know that maybe you are that someone.