Judy Box – Membership and Serving
What does the role of Deacon for Membership and Serving entail and how are you helping people to progress from first time attender to active church member of BSBC?
In principle, Deacon for Membership simply means maintaining an accurate list of members. In reality, it is much more than that – it is nurturing a sense of belonging: spotting those who are coming into the Church family and helping them to get involved in Church life, as well as encouraging them to think about membership. It also involves looking out for those who have maybe not been quite so involved as usual, making sure they are ok and trying to support them and help them to come back into family life.
God has also given me a real passion for helping new people to feel at home in the Church – gradually progressing from their very first visit, to settling, getting involved, and hopefully committing to the Church in membership. My interest in this comes mainly I think from having moved areas so many times with my husband’s work - I know how it feels to arrive in a new place and church, to not know anyone, and to feel quite lost and unsettled in a place where everyone else appears to be best friends with each other! I have learned from experience that the quickest way of feeling at home in a Church is to get stuck in and serve alongside others, and I want to help people do that.
These verses have been really helpful to me in exploring what my role looks like…
‘Each one of us has one body, and that body has many parts. These parts don't all do the same thing. In the same way, we are many people, but in Christ we are all one body. We are the parts of that body, and each part belongs to all the others. We all have different gifts. Each gift came because of the grace God gave us.’ – Romans 12:4–8 (ERV)
‘Christ gave these gifts to people: He made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to care for and teach God’s people (and some to look after the garden or make cups of tea – my addition!) Christ gave these gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. This work must continue until we are all joined together in what we believe and in what we know about the Son of God. We will grow to be like Christ in every way. He is the head, and the whole body depends on Him. All the parts of the body are joined and held together, with each part doing its own work. This causes the whole body to grow and to be stronger in love.’ – Ephesians 4:11–13, 15–16 (ERV)
From them I see that everyone has a part to play in the life of the Church and we have each been given gifts by God that we should use to build up other people. We should be one unified team, with one purpose - to help each other to get to know God better and to become more like Jesus.
How long have you been in the role of Membership and Serving Deacon?
Whilst I have been a deacon since 2011 (in Worship) I moved over to Membership and Serving in March 2020. It was quite a challenging time to start this role, because – due to lockdown – no-one was able to even go to church, never mind serve! This period did however give me the space to ask God what the role looked like, and it also gave us all as individuals an amazing opportunity to ask God where he wanted us all to serve next.
How long have you been at BSBC and what was your church background before coming to BSBC?
My family – husband Simon and twin adult daughters Molly and Anna – started coming to BSBC in 2005 and Simon and I became members in March 2006. I grew up in the Church of England, where my parents were very involved. Dad is an organist and sang in the choir and Mum was a Sunday School leader, so I always understood what it meant to be part of a church family and that you served wherever you were. I started going to a Baptist church when I was 17 and was baptised at 18.
I graduated as a teacher at 22, moved to St Albans and on my 3rd visit to my new church, the lady who sang and played keys in the worship band came up to me just before the service and said, "I heard that you play the piano. Could you play for the service today please, because our keyboardist hasn't turned up." I have no idea how she knew I played piano, because I was so new that I hadn't really talked to anyone!! It must have been God who told her, but I obeyed His calling and that's how I joined my first worship band. From there, I've been in worship bands wherever I’ve lived, and took a role as leader of the worship team for the first time in 1997.
How does it feel to be a woman in church leadership and what characteristics do you need to be a leader?
Interesting questions! I actually feel very honoured and excited to be a female voice in church leadership. There is no doubt that men and women bring very different skills and gifts to leadership, and in my view there is a valid place for both.
There are some amazingly strong women in the Bible and they have been instrumental in seeing God's work done - Miriam, Ruth, Esther, Abigail, Rahab, Deborah...the list goes on. They were fearless and strong in a world where women were insignificant and silenced. Whilst women have much more equality today, being a woman in leadership is not without its challenges and I am very pleased to be bringing a female influence to the leadership team!
The characteristics of a leader…hmm…I think the moment I knew God wanted me to be a leader was when I realised He was taking me on an exciting journey in worship, and that He had given me the desire and skills to take others with me on that journey. He has done the same with my current role. The great Christian leaders all say that the primary characteristic of a leader is 'influence'. A leader needs to be a catalyst for positive change and to have the gift of being able to encourage and inspire others to come with them. In fact, one of my favourite quotes is from John C Maxwell: ‘He that thinketh he leadeth, and hath no one following, is only taking a walk.’ Being a leader doesn’t mean you personally have to have all the answers, nor that you have to always be right, nor does it mean you have to do all the work yourself. On the contrary, you need good people around you to offer suggestions, to be able to arrive at the best outcome - not necessarily your own, to discern where you need help, and to then find the right people to fill those gaps.
When and how did you become a Christian?
I was 11 and at a Children’s Christian Crusade at my church. I knew that God was calling me to have a personal relationship with him, so I said “yes”. My testimony was actually quite boring at that point and there was no big change of direction that day, however God gave me a really exciting testimony much later on - involving some really challenging life events, the realisation that God was in them with me, and that without a doubt, it was He who had brought me through them, with a much better understanding of who He is and the relationship He wanted with me.
What is your vision for Membership?
Becoming a church member is someone’s way of saying, “This is my church family. I want to commit myself to, and be involved in the life of this family, for this season of my life.” Being a member means that people can come to church meetings, to discern together where God is leading us and to have influence in how this church looks in the future! My vision is that everyone who comes to our Church would want to belong here and to commit to us, even if they’re only here for a short time. Also, that they would want to get stuck into something, whether that means being part of a team doing stuff, or coming to social events. If you are wanting to become a little more involved, please come and talk to me – I’d love to talk to you about what we do and how you could help!
Tell us a few interesting things about you…hobbies? Other paid or volunteer roles outside the church?
Ahhhh. Well, my paid work is as a piano teacher and an accompanist for instrumental exams. I LOVE my job! I trained as a music specialist primary teacher, so what I do now combines my love of music and my ability to teach. Interesting things…. I have lived in 18 houses, my furniture has moved 8 times and I have lived in three different countries! In terms of hobbies…I love going for walks with my husband, sewing, pottering in the garden and baking!
Is there anything we can pray about for you and/or your role?
That people would feel a sense of belonging to our Church family
That as a church, we are open and welcoming to new people and can help them to get involved.
I’d love people to pray for those they know, that have drifted – that they would return to church life, and that we would be sensitive to their situation and support them in the right way.
