News for the week of April 18-24, 2024

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all able to enjoy the wonderful sunshine that our Heavenly Father has arranged for us today.  If all goes well and I get through my to-do list quickly enough, I’m definitely hoping to take advantage for a few minutes later this afternoon.

It’s been a good week. I’m particularly thankful for last Sunday’s Community Day event. What a wonderful time we had together, celebrating all that it means for us to be the household of God, the body of Christ, and the temple in which the Holy Spirit lives! It was great to hear stories of God’s faithfulness, to catch up with friends and meet new people, to laugh with each other over food, and to get a fresh sense of the many things that go on each week in our community.

I think a lot of us were a bit surprised (and hopefully very encouraged) by all the different ministries that are connected to West Van Baptist. In more ways than we realize, people are learning Scripture and growing in their faith. They are receiving encouragement and practical help when needs arise; they get comfort in times of stress and difficulty; they build friendships; and they discover opportunities to use their gifts and explore their interests in ways that contribute to Jesus’ kingdom. Our members support a bunch of missionary agencies and initiatives here in BC and around the world. They organize outreach events. They host activities that create opportunities for connection within the church and beyond. They sing together, study together, hike together, work on projects together, pray together, share life together.

A lot of things happen—and it’s not just filling people’s time and keeping us entertained. Lives are touched for good. The internal bonds that connect us to one another are strengthened. And God is worshipped.

Worship, after all, isn’t just saying or singing things about how great God is on a Sunday morning. It isn’t just thanking Him in prayer, or giving financial resources to help His church grow. In a healthy life of discipleship, worship fills all that we do. When God is pleased and honored—when we make serving Him our goal—we worship as we work at our jobs. We worship when we care for our kids or our elderly parents. We worship when we shop for groceries, when we cook dinner, when we walk in the woods, when we visit a neighbor. When we serve on the missions committee, bring friends to Alpha, pray with people who come to the Healing Rooms Ministry, lead or participate in a Bible study, count the offering, work the Sunday PowerPoint, make coffee for a gathering, share with a neighbor. Write a newsletter.

We are called to worship God with the whole of our lives. And as a church, we worship Him in all the many ways we live and serve together. Wherever our service is done in His name, for His glory and under His lordship, there is worship. So, there’s a lot of worship going on at WVBC!

Much of this happens on a fairly spontaneous basis. The Spirit gifts and leads us in various areas of service, and God is honored. Of course, it’s also true that many of the ministries associated with our church require organization, coordination, sometimes some facility resources, and sometimes some cash. Providing these things, too, is a form of worship. We sometimes make the mistake of calling the organizational work a “necessary evil”—something no one wants to do, but that needs to happen to keep the wheels turning. Can I encourage us to reject that mindset, and see even the administrative support work as genuine worship?

This means the work of Council can and should be worship—even when they’re just reviewing the budget or reading the pastor’s report. The work of our key leadership committees is worship, even if it’s hard to schedule meetings for everyone. And the AGM coming up this week can and should be worship. It may not be as exciting as lifting hands and voices in song, or as sharing our faith with a neighbor at an evangelistic event. Fair enough. But the business we do together helps to empower all sorts of ministries that go on, both on Sundays and all the days in between. So even our agenda and voting and adherence to the rules of order can be worship, when we offer them to our Lord and pray that He will bless and use our efforts.

May it be so as we come together this Sunday. And may God continue to richly bless all the many forms of service that our people offer day by day all across our community.  Thank you all for the ways you give of your time, your resources, your spiritual gifts, yourselves, in practical worship. It’s a pleasure serving our Lord with you.