We Must Obey God Rather Than Human Beings

When I graduated from Bible College, I was twenty years old. Since then, I have worked as a volunteer in children's and music ministries in a variety of churches ranging all sizes — my husband changed jobs frequently, so we moved a lot.

My first volunteer position was at the largest church in Canada at the time. On Sunday mornings, I volunteered to teach children the Word of God and to lead the children's worship. During the week, I also volunteered as a music secretary for an amazing music pastor. I learned a lot from these ministries and I loved them!

I will be honest: the size of this church never intimidated me. I never really thought much about it. I loved working with the staff members, all the people, and, of course, the children. Even though the church was huge, it was a fully God- and ministry-oriented church. God blessed it with His beautiful presence every Sunday.

One of the things I liked about this church was that there was always time set aside during the service for all the pastors and elders in the church to line up at the front below the stage to pray for people's needs. I can tell you from experience, whenever you went up to the front of the church to be prayed for you felt God's presence very strongly. You always left feeling blessed and loved by God, with an inner peace, and a confidence that God heard your prayers and will answer them. Today, it is very rare to see a prayer line during a Sunday service. It is even more rare to see a pastor come down off the stage to pray for individual people. Nowadays, pastors tend to pray a general prayer for the people, and it is usually from high up on the platform.

Later on through the years, every time Brian, I, and our sons moved, our new church would put me to work almost immediately, making me and my family feel like instant members who were greatly appreciated. It always made the move less traumatic.

But things have changed over the years. The jobs I used to do voluntarily are now paid postions. When I come into a church with the same gifting as other people, instead of a welcoming relief for my help, I find intense possessiveness of paid positions, jealousies, questioning of motives, rudeness, and disrespect.

From the very beginning, God spoke to me to work only as a volunteer in all the churches I attend. As a result of my obedience, God has blessed me and my family immensely, providing for all our needs and much, much more! It is sad that this is met with hostility and is no longer acceptable in many churches today.

I know why God has asked me to always be a volunteer. If I were paid for the work God has called me to do, then my work could easily become a job and no longer a ministry. I would be tempted to please the church people more than pleasing God, and this would obstruct my relationship with Him. But because I don't have to rely on my job as a source of income, I am free to speak the truth of God's Word without having money or people control me to do otherwise.

When I first moved here a few years ago, I was considering a position as a Children's Pastor at a nearby church that we had been attending for a short while. God then out me to the test. When I went downstairs to observe the present children's ministry, I was horrified to see that the Word of God was never taught. When I confronted the previous Children's Pastor about it, she told me that, in the interest of increasing the enrolment of children on Sundays, she wanted to see Sunday School run like "party-time." Her reasoning was: if children can go to a party every week, they will certainly convince their parents to come to the adult service, increasing overall church attendance.

The next day, I went to the Lead Pastor of the church and voiced my concerns over using children as pawns to increase church numbers, instead of relying on God's Holy Spirit by ministering the Word of God. I found it creepy that I had to explain to a pastor the importance of children knowing God through His Word. I was totally shocked when he dismissed my views and supported the previous Children's Pastor. He strongly insisted that the Word of God not be the focus in Sunday School. Finally, I looked at him and asked, "What if I told you to do the same in the adult service?" From the anger I saw in his eyes, I knew I was dealing with a man who was not of God. This was revealed even more so in the following Sunday service as he incoherently gave a message that didn't relate to the sermon's topic in any way, and spoke words out of anger that were in complete contradiction to the Word of God.

As my family and I walked quietly out of that church on Sunday morning, there was no discussion on whether I would take the job or not. As a family we are called by God to minister the Word of God through the lyrics of our songs, the words we say, the dramas we write, and the puppet shows we perform. Everything we say and do is centered around God's Word.

Peter and the other apostles came across similar problems in the early church. Their response was the same as mine: "We must obey God rather than human beings."

"'We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,' he said.

'Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching

and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.'

Peter and the other apostles replied:

'We must obey God rather than human beings.'"

Acts 5:28-29

I have found that, in North America, there are few signs and wonders of God. This is because here, money, numbers, and titles govern more than God!