“What defines
ministry?” This question has been rolling around in my head off and on over the last year or so, but particularly so during the last few weeks while I was on choir tour. Is ministry always about being in some kind of position of leadership? Is it just about having an organized program that takes place on a regular basis? Is it just for those who go into “full-time ministry”? I don’t think so.
As I already mentioned, choir tour brought this question to the forefront of my mind. Travelling to almost twenty churches scattered throughout four different states with twenty-three other people to sing and share the Word is ultimately about ministry, is it not? But while we were on tour, was the ministry of the team only through song and preaching? What about the time spent visiting with host families after the service? What about those times of simply being polite and making conversation with person standing all alone in the back of the church? Is it really just about being polite?
I struggled with wanting to be sincere and genuinely interested when asking a complete stranger about her grandchildren or career, yet at the same time, knowing that I probably wouldn’t ever see her again after I left a few hours later. “What is the point in it all if it is so ‘short-term’?” “Is it really worth it?” ”I’m here to minister, not just to have fun.” These statements bounced around in my head like a tennis ball on a tennis court.
I’m thankful, however, that I to see a little glimpse of the reality of the potential for ministry beyond the “planned program.” I never would have imagined that simply introducing myself to a retirement-aged couple sitting in the sanctuary, and then talking with them for less than ten minutes, would result in that same couple then expressing several times how much they appreciated my coming to talk with them! I was taken aback and inwardly astounded. Here I thought I was just being polite.
Little by little, I am beginning to see and perhaps, slowly understand, that life is about people, and people equal ministry. The possibilities of how that specifically plays out are endless. Yes, “ministry” does include the formal aspect that is often thought of when the very word is mentioned, but it also consists of what we might call the “mundane” things as well. God can use the simplest actions to be a blessing and encouragement to others in ways that we’ll probably never know until we all get to heaven.
Don’t pass up opportunities to be a blessing to someone in your life. God may use even though you yourself don’t realize it!
