What do you do for the Lord?

It was in 1973 that a preacher at my original church, Manchester Road United Reformed Church, Nelson, Lancashire, told of his meeting with an old lady who was leaving church after his service. He had been asking what each member of the congregation did for God as they left for home. Greeting this old lady, he shook her hand and asked, "And what do you for the Lord?" Quick as a flash, she replied, "I wash up!"

It is a reminder that even the most menial of work within a church fellowship is done to the glory of God. When I heard those words in the sermon my mind went back to my days as a young boy growing up within that fellowship. I remembered important weekends when we all got together and worked hard to get the church or the school building ready for a big event. Over a few days each year we had the Annual At Home Days. For this we brought out all the most comfortable furniture and carpeted the floor of the hall to make it look as if we were at home. There we were entertained by concert parties and even an orchestra! What some churches called "The Annual Sale of Work" we called "The Big Effort" and we were known for this event across the town. Much work went on arranging the staging for the augmented choir's annual rendition of Handel's Messiah. We invited gifted singers as principals and the accompaniment was by the Nelson Orchestra and the church's own Carnegie organ. The event was in two parts, afternoon and evening.

All these great events were eagerly anticipated each year. Each one of them took an amazing amount of work by people of the church. We loved it because we were "doing it for the Lord". Christians believe in the "priesthood of all believers" and this was shown through the work put in to organise a great event in the life of the church. Each individual believer has his/her own priesthood. This is one of the wonderful privileges of being a Christian.

In these almost Godless days in the United Kingdom we are apt to write off the church as ineffective in working "for the Lord". Don't you believe it! Although the numbers are fewer there is an incredible amount of work being done at home and abroad by Christian believers. On the 15th May I was proud to have been invited to represent Mission Aviation Fellowship at a flying day at Caernarfon Airport. Yes, Caernarfon does have an airport! A new Christian Trust had been formed to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to train as pilots. The Trust asked the Douglas Bader Foundation to come along and operate their Bader Braves event whereby youngsters with disabilities are able to have short pleasure flights accompanied by their families. To see the smiling faces of the young passengers as they completed their flights was amazing! The event will be run again in September because this event was oversubscribed. At that event the charity, Mercy Ships, was present as well as the Gideon Society and Mission Aviation Fellowship. There was also a group of young Christian musicians who were very talented.

We tend to think nothing is happening in God's service, particularly in Wales, but this is not true. Cast your net further afield and you will see Christian missionaries still beavering away all over the world. We at Mission Aviation fellowship exist to be their transport when difficult and impossible terrain would otherwise slow down or stop the work. We fly medics from Medecin San Frontieres, the Christian Blind Mission, Wycliffe Bible Translators and many more. Ask them "What do you do for the Lord?" and you will have a long list of activities that go to helping disadvantaged people everywhere.

Through my presentations for MAF I have learned just how many times people in inaccessible places are being reached and affected by the Gospel of Jesus. Experts are flown by MAF to help to every part of their lives. Even today there are people still being reached who have never been contacted by the world before. They are adding to the millions of those who continue to be reached in the name of Jesus. A great reason to shout, "Praise the Lord!"

So don't write off the Christians of today because their work is continuing everywhere it is needed. Remember that old hymn, "God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year." It remains true and we should give thanks that it is so.