Sometime prior to your time together, reach out to your church leadership to collaborate on a list of needs within the church. Shelter-in-place options might include a family posting a puppet show on a social media platform such as YouTube depicting a Bible story that could give the younger kids in the church an engaging way to encounter the message. The church could print up postcard greetings to all members, and middle schoolers could use the church directory to address them and/or add a message of encouragement. Making and sending cards of encouragement to elderly shut-ins might be an option. If their local safer-in-place rules allow, their family might want to go pick up litter and/or pull weeds on the church grounds.

We saw how the early church was quick to divide up the tasks of ministry and service between all the different people. The apostles knew that God had entrusted to them a specific job—preaching and praying—and the men like Stephen and the others gladly took on their (less glamorous!) role in distributing the food to the other believers. When everyone was eagerly serving where they were needed, the wonderful result was that the church actually grew and expanded!

God calls every one of His people to a unique role within His church. And not all of them are necessarily very glamorous. Remembering how God blessed the eagerness of Stephen in his new role, now it is your turn to discern God’s will for where you can serve.

Share any needs your church has that your students can perform in their current situation. Walk them through each item, describing and commenting on why the role is important within the life of the church.

• Do any of these jobs appeal to you? Or more importantly, are there any that don’t appeal? (Encourage the students to be honest. There may be some jobs that no one wants to fill—emphasize that this is a place the students can best serve. Really encourage a lively discussion about where they can best serve. Throw out ideas where a small group might serve, such as a family, or where individual students can fill needs.)
• What would happen if nobody ever filled one or more of these needs? (Accept all reasonable answers. Demonstrate how even seemingly small jobs can make or break a church—like picking up trash, etc.)

We are all called to serve. It may not always be in the ways we want or imagined, but every little job is important in God’s church. Remember the many moving parts hidden away inside a watch; remember the engineers, scientists, data entry employees, and janitors that got human beings to the moon! Little jobs matter everywhere especially in the church. God will bless you as you eagerly pursue Him and seek to serve His people. Challenge your students to pick at least one “small job” they will do for God’s people this week. Encourage the students to always be looking for ways to fill needs in the church, even after this lesson. Don’t let the momentum fade!

Close with prayer as a group or with individual students.