Ushering In His Presence by Olanrewaju (Lanre) Asiru

Author:Olanrewaju (Lanre) Asiru
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HigherLife Publishing
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOUR

USHERS AS WATCHMEN

There is no doubt that the current state of affairs worldwide makes it indispensable for an usher’s role to include the overall safety and well-being of not only members and guests alike, but also the safety of church property. For a countless number, the church was always a safe haven, where you could let your guard down, so to speak. Focus during services and other church programs wasn’t hindered by distractions such as worrying whether or not an intruder would barge in with a gun intent on murdering members for absolutely no justifiable reason. Unfortunate and repeated occurrences of churches and other places of worship being invaded by gunmen who senselessly kill innocent and unarmed individuals is an all too familiar story in recent times.

Churches and other places of worship now find themselves faced with difficult decisions concerning how to protect their members and buildings from such attacks. This is easier said than done because some of the decisions to be made are uncomfortable ones. The sad reality is regardless of how uncomfortable these decisions may be, they must be made as part of an evolving process in the day to day functionality of a church, and other places of worship.

Churches and other places of worship are also not exempt from theft, both externally and internally. There are cases of burglaries when these buildings are unoccupied and there are cases of theft even during services—purses are stolen, for example, and cars are broken into. Part of ushering protocol may necessitate patrolling the parking lot periodically. This could be done in turns, between ushers or through the use of a schedule, so no single usher is inundated with the task of being solely responsible for the “Parking Lot Duty.”

While on this point, it is important for me to state that my keen observation after all these years of ushering is that most ushers will not decline a role, especially if that role request comes from the pastor. Sadly, rather than that usher speaking up and explaining that he has gotten more than his fair share of a sun tan from being constantly outside throughout the duration of every service, not to mention the crucial fact that such an usher is not being spiritually fed, since they never hear the message, such an usher or volunteer simply stops coming to church at some point. When called to inquire about their well-being, they still refrain from saying how they feel, and give convenient excuses or reasons why they no longer attend church.

Typically, the word gets out soon thereafter that they’re attending another church with their family. Such an usher or volunteer cannot be deemed to have backslidden, as one will typically hear, whenever a member leaves a church. The point is thoughtful and sensitive consideration must be given to assigning roles, so no one gets overwhelmed or feels taken for granted. If in a bid to be of service to the church, an usher or volunteer is not being spiritually

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.