This might sound like a shock to you, but if you've been volunteering at your church because you feel like you owe your pastor or your church a big deal of thanks, then you've probably been volunteering for the wrong reasons. We never owe the church or its leadership our service, but service comes out of a heart full and overflowing with the spiritual blessings made available through Christ.

I once handled volunteer management for a small group of volunteers at our local congregation, and one of the things I struggled with was showing appreciation. Because of all the work and hours that volunteers had put into running services, discipleship events, programs and projects, I always felt like I had to repay them for what they did.

It was later on that I found out through an informal meeting with our volunteers that my attempts to "repay" them for their service was actually backfiring. None of the volunteers ever expected anything from me and they were actually in some way insulted by all the gifts, free lunches and so on because they felt like I was coming off as being a recipient of their service when in fact they were never doing it for me—they were doing it for the lost and for God, but never for church leaders.

John 13:34 tells us, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (ESV). One of the main ways we express our love to others is through service, and the most readily accessible channel to serve is the church.

When we volunteer—or even work on a vocational basis—in ministry, our work is always first and foremost out of a heart exploding with gratefulness to God. For all the blessings we now have through Christ (Ephesians 1:3), it only seems proper that we offer what little time we can to give back to Him by giving time to take care of His body, the universal church. David's heart captures it best in 1 Chronicles 29:14:

""But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand" (NIV).

Secondly, ministry volunteerism is for those who come to the church hungry, sick, abandoned, hurt and deprived of love. Lost and broken people walk into your church in need of love. We can be that channel of God's love to them by ushering them, leading them into worship, ministering to their kids and teaching and discipling them.

If you want to serve the church, serve the people of God and serve the God of the church, but never feel like you're serving an organisational hierarchy or a leader. As a leader of our congregation, I hope the day never comes again that I feel that people are serving me, but I ask God for the grace to always remember that volunteers are serving God and the lost with me.