serving

The Faithfulness of God in the Fall of Life

ELIZABETH TURNAGE | CONTRIBUTOR “For everything there is a season, and a time for every activity under heaven.” (Ecc. 3:1). Golden yellows, flaming oranges, deep burgundies — the brilliant leaves dance in the wind, announcing the change of season. Sunflower wreaths adorn neighborhood doors; coffee shops beckon with pumpkin spice lattes. Where I live, in the humid South, the dripping heat has relented to slightly drier air. What’s not to love about fall? We love fall, but we know, as Robert Frost reminded us, that “nothing gold can stay.” With shorter daylight hours will come the browning and furling of the leaves, and within a matter of days, a cool wind will loosen their dried-up grip on the branches, and they will slowly fall to the earth, returning to dust. Fall means glorious light and color; fall hints at the winter withering to come. Indeed, as the cynical Preacher of Ecclesiastes suggests, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1)....

The Faithfulness of God in the Fall of LifeChristina Fox2025-09-27T13:21:26+00:00

Caregiving as a Calling and Ministry

MARISSA BONDURANT|GUEST If Jesus visited your church this week, which ministry team would he sign up for? This is a hypothetical scenario, but I think Jesus would sign up for the ministry of caregiving. When you hear the word “caregiver” you might think of a trained professional like a home health worker or a nurse. However, the dictionary definition is much broader. A caregiver is described as anyone who regularly looks after or cares for a child, an elderly, or a disabled person. National surveys estimate that 40% of adults in the United States are caring for an adult and/or a child with unique health needs1,2. For this article, I skimmed the book of Mark and counted thirteen stories of Jesus healing individuals, and three separate accounts of Jesus healing entire crowds. If we know God has a heart for caregiving, and we know that 40% of our church members are caregivers, the question to ask is: are we treating caregiving as a ministry? As caregivers, do we see ourselves as having been called into this role? And as churches, are we training, equipping, and supporting one another in this mission field? In this caregiving series, Elizabeth Turnage and I want to help start some of these conversations. We will do that by shining a light on some of the lesser discussed aspects of caregiving. Things like anticipatory grief, giving dignity to a sick or dying loved one, and the difference between whining and biblically complaining...

Caregiving as a Calling and MinistryChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:44:33+00:00

A Word to Weary Small Group Leaders

AIMEE JOSEPH|GUEST After a long day of drop-offs and pick-ups, meetings and meeting needs, opening our home and our hearts to more people is usually the last thing I naturally want to do. Yet, every time we host a small group or Bible study, I go to bed both tired and satisfied. I love quiet. I love calm. And these are nearly always on backorder in a household of three growing boys in the context of ministry. I feel like I can barely keep enough food in our pantry for our children. As such, thinking for snacks for weekly guests grows my task list, my grocery bill, and my already-overflowing shopping cart. Keeping up with basic cleaning is a challenge for me, so getting the boys’ shared bathroom in suitable condition for strangers feels like a Herculean task. However, once the people are finally gathered in our backyard, at our table, or on our couch, all those concerns flee. Once God has gathered saints and strangers in our home, I am reminded of the priority of persons in the economy of the kingdom. Sentient, living, breathing, burden-bearing souls come to our home each week to be received by other sentient, breathing, burden-bearing souls. We talk about the weather and the latest taco spot, but we also share tidbits of our stories. We multiply each other’s joys and divide each other’s sorrows. For some portion of an evening, we are reminded that there are cares outside the casing of our own hearts. In the Church, small group leaders do a lot of heavy lifting. They faithfully accommodate their homes and hearts to others. They are tempted to grow weary in well-doing, especially when it does not seem like huge things are happening week in and week out. This temptation to have drooping hands and hearts is not new to the church. In fact, the writer of Hebrews continually reminded the Jewish believers to keep going in the seemingly ordinary act of regularly meeting together. “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25)....

A Word to Weary Small Group LeadersChristina Fox2023-03-24T18:17:39+00:00