Sometimes smaller churches, including mine, maintain a tradition that has lasted through generations: the church potluck. These dinners started out with each family bringing its “house specialty,” a dish nobody else could make quite as well—or so the compliments shared at the meal would have it. What ended up comprising the meal was the “luck of the pot.”
That original concept of the church potluck is a good illustration of mutual ministry among believers. Each person brings his or her specialty, a combination of abilities and experiences that nobody else quite duplicates.
The gifts the Holy Spirit gives come together in a wonderful array of specialties all designed to minister. Usually, some degree of organization is needed, as with the potluck dinner, so that there will be balance. But the Lord who has planned it all is creating a feast of gifts so that His people are reached, ministered to, and nourished in ways we never could have dreamed up ourselves. And in His providence, there is no “luck” involved at all!