The Ministry of Ushering

The following excerpt is from the book, "Serving as a Church Usher" by Leslie Parrott, through Zondovan Press....

PREACHING, TEACHING, MUSIC, AND USHERING
Any act of Christian service that helps direct people into fellowship with Jesus Christ is a ministry. The most prominent ministry in the church is PREACHING. Paul wrote to the Romans, “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14).

The next prominent ministry is TEACHING. Next to the preaching of the gospel, Martin Luther believed that teaching was the highest calling of humankind. The pastor who preaches without teaching, or the church that evangelizes without instructing, is not only obscuring the cross of Christ but failing to provide the Holy Spirit with opportunity to carry out one of his most important functions. Jesus told his disciples, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

The third great ministry in the church is MUSIC. According to Paul, music is at least on a par with teaching as a ministry in the church: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16).

The fourth great ministry of the church is USHERING. Paul, who believed in the power of preaching, the importance of teaching, and the ministry of music, also wrote, “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Corinthians 14:40). Ushers are given the responsibility of tending to the details of each service so that it is conducted in an orderly fashion.

SO - WHAT MAKES A GOOD USHER?

The three qualities of Christlike people expounded by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are exemplified in the ministry of church ushers. First, the ministry of ushering is like salt that makes everything more palatable and serves as a general preservative against deterioration. Jesus did not say, “You ought to be the salt of the earth”; he said, “You are the salt of the earth”(Matthew 5:13, emphasis added). And Paul said, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6). A good usher adds a tang of joy rather than a tinge of drabness to a churchgoer’s Sunday worship experience.

Also, the ministry of an usher is like salt because salt can never do its work until it is brought into close contact with the substance on which it is to make its influence. The church ushers, pastors, musicians, and teachers come into direct contact with more people in a given service than anyone else who ministers to them. The ministry of salt is silent, inconspicuous, and sometimes completely unnoticed. But it is there—in a powerful and useful way.


AND NOW - THE QUESTION - in what way have you been "salt" for someone specific? In what way has someone been "salt" for you? Was it what you expected, or did it surprise you?