Nehemiah led the Jews who returned to their homeland after the Captivity. He organized
them to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. To the amazement of their enemies, the Jews
completed it in fifty-two days. Nehemiah wrote, “When all our enemies heard about this,
all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized
that this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:16).

To our amazement, as well, they built the wall with all volunteer labor. God’s work is nearly
always done best by motivated volunteers.

Our church depends a lot on volunteerism. We do it not just to save money, though it often
does that. We do it to foster involvement, commitment, and fellowship. The Lord’s church
at LifeWay becomes my church (in a good way), when I invest myself in it in tangible ways.
We become “partners together in the gospel,” which is true fellowship (Philippians 1:6).

Every Christian needs a way to express loyalty to Christ. Adopting a job and faithfully
doing it gives us that sense of contributing to Christ’s cause. The volunteer’s reward is
treasures in heaven, more motivating than money and more satisfying than selfish desires.
The Bible instructs, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the
Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a
reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).

God’s work is sacred. We encourage all volunteers to view their jobs as such. The paid
preacher is not the only one who does sacred work. You may teach a class or cut the grass,
make calls or paint the walls, help the poor or greet at the door, sing to the Lord or serve on
the board, administer missions or count the donations, defend the truth or run the booth, and
so on. Each job, if done to the Lord, is sacred and, therefore, significant.

We have been gratified recently to have a number of people step up and volunteer to do
tasks in the church. They see a need and devote their talents to it. Space here does not
permit us to list them all. That is just as well, since they serve the Lord, and not for the
recognition of men.