The ministry of ushering
Many people in church (or rather in our congregation) have expressed interested and joined ushering recently. As a result of our recent recruitment, the Uni-YA usher ministry has grown into a 40 plus strong ministry (literally the largest ministry in the whole congregation) with 4 teams serving once per month. I have thought long and hard about this ministry: what is it that I want to stay in this ministry for so long while I have seen people coming and leaving for the past 4 years, going off to serve in other ministries?
More importantly in this question is how ushering fits into the whole picture? Truth be told, the bible says nuts about usher ministry. Conversely, it's the ministry of worship and preaching etc that's being explicity stated out in the bible. So now how? Does that mean that ushering remains at the periphery of all services and ministries? What are the main guiding principles behind this ministry? I might well be the first one to ever formulate a real theological position on this.
1 Cor 12:27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Peter 4:9 - Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
I have often thought hard and long which part of the body of Christ does the usher ministry belong to. Truth be told, the usher ministry can be found in almost all churches which have a building or a sizable congregation. My answer came from the word 'body'. Essentially the church is the body of Christ, with Christ as its head. Figuratively speaking, any visitors into the church are really invited to take a look and interact with this body. Take this a bit further, what happens when you first meet a new person? The answer is that first impression is formed. Ushers stand in the frontline of a congregation providing that 'first impression'. We are the 'grooming' and the 'clothing' of the body, essentially what allows someone to form the first impression of a church. When a new visitor visits our congregation, the first people they interact with apart from the people who invited them are the ushers.And this practice of showing hospitality, according to Peter, is an act of love (context from the previous verse).
1 Cor 12:5 - There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
Rom 12:1 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Essentially, in church, we serve in different capacity and different roles. For some, God called them to be shepherds, for another group, God called them to be worship singers and musicians, for yet another group, God called them to be missionaries etc etc. And for some, it's the usher ministry. Ushering is an act of worship within the congregation. When you think about what we actually do as ushers, our core calling is to facilitate a conducive environment for worshippers to worship in church. This means getting them a seat, serving them the Holy Communion elements, helping to direct them to the toilets etc, all for the purpose to make sure they are able to concentrate fully to dwell in the presence of the Spirit. Is this an act of worship for the ushers? I say 'yes'. I have learned along the years that sometimes I get distracted when certain things that are expected are not done properly. Example includes not receiving the Holy Comm elements, unable to find seats in the auditorium etc. And these affect and distract my worship unto God during the service. And ushers do an act of worship unto God when they minimise these distraction for the participants of the congregation.
1 Cor 11:23-26 - For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
William Temple - Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable
In Hope Church, one of the different things that we do, compared to other megachurches is that we prepare our own Holy Comm. This is no different for the Uni-YA congregation. We may well move to using the disposable Holy Comm elements in the future, but things are standing as it is now. Jesus, and subsequently Paul and the rest of the apostles, are fairly serious about the Holy Comm. According to Ravi Zacharias, the partaking of the Holy Comm is the most complete act of worship that someone can participate in as it involves all our senses (as described by William Temple). We engage our sense of taste, sight, smell and touch in the eating and drinking of the bread and the cup, our sense of hearing when we listen to the prayer and the exhortation from the service leader. We engage our mind when we meditate and remember Jesus' death for us on the cross. And in Hope, the ushers prepare these elements to be distributed to the congregation. If there is one important thing that the ushers are doing, it is this service unto God which allows all the people in the congregation to participate in this act in an orderly manner. I cannot overemphasize this importance as I think ushers ought to understand this. Our service, thus, becomes more than just smiling and acting pretty. It goes beyond the first impression that we are supposed to make. Essentially, we become part of the process, tying back to the previous point that our service is an act of worship to God.
These are some principles that I believe govern the need for an ushering ministry in the church. And as a result it is no less important nor less significant than the worship or preaching ministry. Each has its role to play in the Kingdom of God. And that's the reason why I always believe that ushers should treat their duty as seriously as those serving on stage and that includes: arriving for duty on time, be willing to avail themselves when times come etc.
More importantly in this question is how ushering fits into the whole picture? Truth be told, the bible says nuts about usher ministry. Conversely, it's the ministry of worship and preaching etc that's being explicity stated out in the bible. So now how? Does that mean that ushering remains at the periphery of all services and ministries? What are the main guiding principles behind this ministry? I might well be the first one to ever formulate a real theological position on this.
1 Cor 12:27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Peter 4:9 - Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
I have often thought hard and long which part of the body of Christ does the usher ministry belong to. Truth be told, the usher ministry can be found in almost all churches which have a building or a sizable congregation. My answer came from the word 'body'. Essentially the church is the body of Christ, with Christ as its head. Figuratively speaking, any visitors into the church are really invited to take a look and interact with this body. Take this a bit further, what happens when you first meet a new person? The answer is that first impression is formed. Ushers stand in the frontline of a congregation providing that 'first impression'. We are the 'grooming' and the 'clothing' of the body, essentially what allows someone to form the first impression of a church. When a new visitor visits our congregation, the first people they interact with apart from the people who invited them are the ushers.And this practice of showing hospitality, according to Peter, is an act of love (context from the previous verse).
1 Cor 12:5 - There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
Rom 12:1 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Essentially, in church, we serve in different capacity and different roles. For some, God called them to be shepherds, for another group, God called them to be worship singers and musicians, for yet another group, God called them to be missionaries etc etc. And for some, it's the usher ministry. Ushering is an act of worship within the congregation. When you think about what we actually do as ushers, our core calling is to facilitate a conducive environment for worshippers to worship in church. This means getting them a seat, serving them the Holy Communion elements, helping to direct them to the toilets etc, all for the purpose to make sure they are able to concentrate fully to dwell in the presence of the Spirit. Is this an act of worship for the ushers? I say 'yes'. I have learned along the years that sometimes I get distracted when certain things that are expected are not done properly. Example includes not receiving the Holy Comm elements, unable to find seats in the auditorium etc. And these affect and distract my worship unto God during the service. And ushers do an act of worship unto God when they minimise these distraction for the participants of the congregation.
1 Cor 11:23-26 - For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
William Temple - Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable
In Hope Church, one of the different things that we do, compared to other megachurches is that we prepare our own Holy Comm. This is no different for the Uni-YA congregation. We may well move to using the disposable Holy Comm elements in the future, but things are standing as it is now. Jesus, and subsequently Paul and the rest of the apostles, are fairly serious about the Holy Comm. According to Ravi Zacharias, the partaking of the Holy Comm is the most complete act of worship that someone can participate in as it involves all our senses (as described by William Temple). We engage our sense of taste, sight, smell and touch in the eating and drinking of the bread and the cup, our sense of hearing when we listen to the prayer and the exhortation from the service leader. We engage our mind when we meditate and remember Jesus' death for us on the cross. And in Hope, the ushers prepare these elements to be distributed to the congregation. If there is one important thing that the ushers are doing, it is this service unto God which allows all the people in the congregation to participate in this act in an orderly manner. I cannot overemphasize this importance as I think ushers ought to understand this. Our service, thus, becomes more than just smiling and acting pretty. It goes beyond the first impression that we are supposed to make. Essentially, we become part of the process, tying back to the previous point that our service is an act of worship to God.
These are some principles that I believe govern the need for an ushering ministry in the church. And as a result it is no less important nor less significant than the worship or preaching ministry. Each has its role to play in the Kingdom of God. And that's the reason why I always believe that ushers should treat their duty as seriously as those serving on stage and that includes: arriving for duty on time, be willing to avail themselves when times come etc.
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