We Need You!
By Allan E. McNabb

A few days ago, on January 4th, Jon Gruden, head coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs issued a press release preceding yesterday’s NFC wild-card playoff game. In the press release, Gruden said regarding Simeon Rice, “We need you. . . .”

That’s the message I want to communicate in this article. We need you!

We Need Every Person
There’s not one person, from oldest to youngest, who is not needed in this congregation. Everyone is important and has important work to do.

Every person helps equip the saints “for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12).

Every person helps us grow in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, “to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

Every person helps the congregation “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

The Work of Each Individual Member, Causes Growth
Your work is important to the growth of this congregation. Paul tells us that we are to “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:15b-16).

The church grows because of the things supplied by each individual member, as we do the proper work Christ has ordained for us, His disciples (Eph. 2:10).

We Need You, for the Congregation to Grow
The Lord has blessed us with growth, both spiritual and numeric. Now we are faced with the challenge to do the work, bringing babes in Christ to maturity and building upon past success.

To succeed as a congregation and reach our goals, we need you, following the elders’ example, and doing the work God has blessed you to do.

As one of my favorite songs says, “There is room, there’s a place, in the kingdom of God for you. There is room, there’s a place, there is work that we all can do.”

January 8, 2006