As We Walk Toward Charge Conference

I love to sing and was truly blessed to grow up in a family that loved church music.  I jokingly tell people that by the time I was a teenager, I had been to more weddings, funerals, and revivals than most folks ever attend in their lifetimes.  Over the years, I have experienced many sung versions of The Lord’s Prayer.  However, I have never heard one as a beautiful as on the closing day of the August session of Camp Rainbow Connection (CRC) this year.

Like all communities, the CRC family is as diverse in its gifts as humanly possible – especially when it comes to singing.  I giggled when I received a picture taken during one of the music classes this year where a staff member was seated between two of our campers who love to sing but haven’t recognized the power of their voices.  The staff member has her fingers in her ears but a smile on her face while the campers were both singing away.  The person who took the picture captioned it as “The Loud Seat.” 

On Friday morning as the campers were sharing what they learned in Bible Class, one of the staff members without prior planning led the campers in singing the traditional version of The Lord’s Prayer.  The passage of scripture where Jesus teaches us to pray this way was the focus of the Bible Class on Thursday. Each of the four groups of campers had sung the prayer once during class.  This was the only opportunity for all 60 campers to sing it together.  Now, this is a group where some read and others do not, where some are verbal and others are not, where some have been a part of a church all their lives and where others only hear the stories of Jesus for one week a year at camp.  It is a group where you can usually pick out the voices of certain individuals and expect that you will never hear sounds from others.  It is a group where you know that only God will ever fully understand the words that are offered by some campers.

I stood in the doorway and watched as the song leader used full body motions to show the pitch changes.  The campers carefully followed her every move. Other staff clearly and succinctly offered the words. There was no musical accompaniment. Yet, it was the most amazing version of The Lord’s Prayer I have ever experienced.  There was not one voice that overshadowed another. The words were strong and powerful. Every gift and every talent was used in its own unique way.  The song was absolutely perfect! It sounded like the most well trained, long prepared choir was offering this gift to God. How truly blessed I was to experience that moment.

What might happen if the members of your church were using their gifts and skills this faithfully and effectively in the community? Discovering our gifts and fulfilling God’s call upon our lives is a lifelong process - a component of our discipleship.  Helping others to recognize, develop, and use their unique gifts transforms lives and multiplies the work of the kingdom - a component of our work as lay leaders. As we enter this year’s cycle of Charge Conferences, think about the leadership development process at your church.  Oh, how our churches and the world would be transformed if our goal was not merely to fill leadership positions but to help each person identify and use their gifts in service as part of their call from God to fully live as disciples of Jesus Christ!