How Then Shall We Serve

By Holly Meriweather

Soon after I began “working” at the BMA Global Ministry Center, I learned that I was actually “serving” instead. First at Lifeword then at BMA Missions (now BMA Global), I have served the people of the BMA for ten years. And I learned how to do it from the people with whom I interact every day. 

The broader picture of what that means has forced me to change my thinking. We are all meant to serve by sharing the gospel to the whole world. But for a long time, I thought that mandate was for the missionaries whose names I memorized at GMA meetings. Boy, was I wrong! The best examples of servants and servanthood come from our missionaries but also from ChangeMakers around the world that you will likely never see. 

How these co-laborers serve all over the world looks very different and is intertwined with their own cultural contexts. My husband John and I have had the honor of visiting many areas of the world to see first hand their ministries, encourage them, and have face-to-face conversations. We come back with pictures and videos and souvenirs but also with a ground-level view of their ministry and a greater understanding of that unique context. 

Although there is sometimes a language barrier, meeting and interacting with those ChangeMakers all over the world has been a special privilege. They are co-laborers building relationships and working to plant churches. They are better able to reach their own communities. Many were once in darkness about who Jesus is until someone shared the gospel. They are servants who bring people to Christ.

What that “serving” actually looks like is far different from what I imagined forty-five years ago when I memorized the names of BMA missionaries. 

In most parts of the world, worship services are much livelier and louder than in the States.  (Whatever you’re imagining, multiply it by one hundred!) Every country I’ve been blessed to visit has more from-the-heart worship than the American church. 

At a baptism service in the Middle East, each new convert gave their testimony, then the celebration begins: The whole congregation stands to their feet and sings the entire salvation song loudly with whoops and hollers. No way you can keep from tearing up, smiling and clapping. Same thing happens with the next new believer. Then the testimonies, singing, and clapping begins again. 

In the Spanish-speaking world, the Philippines, and Africa, many churches are open-air with flat out dancing and loudly miked-up musicians telling the whole area, “It’s Sunday morning! Come worship with us!” (In comparison, we don’t even go across the street to share the gospel and invite our neighbors to church.)

The comfort level of churchgoers all over the world is also very different. In Africa, church is the ground beneath your feet and the tree above you with no concern about time or  temperature. No one has a watch or strictly adheres to any schedule. 

In rural India, church is a small tarp suspended above a crumbling concrete floor, men and women separated and shoes off. The worship leader holding the microphone just a few inches away from the “congregation” turns up the volume just in case the neighbors can’t hear that church has started. Worship also includes dancing by girls young and old. 

Church is a celebration, and churchgoers don’t seem to care about their comfort level, whether it’s too hot, too cold, too loud, or too long. 

In stark contrast, the Myanmar church is a quiet indoor meeting of fewer than five people or whatever new government-restricted number officials decide. Someone is stationed at the door in case officials are looking for small gatherings that might be church meetings. If unlawful activity is suspected, worshipers are ready to hide songbooks and give an explanation for the meeting. Sometimes, they are hauled to jail. Because it’s a closed access country, I have never witnessed their worship, but the stories I read make me shudder.

Across the world, I have seen Christians serve others, share Jesus, and sing a joyful noise in ways that we complacent Americans would never consider. For our ChangeMakers, It’s just how they serve God and serve others.