“So, what’s your ministry?”
She asked me this as we got acquainted at a Christian writer’s weekend.
“I work in a store,” I said.
But as soon as I’d said it, I saw it was the wrong answer. I was supposed to have said I’m leading women’s groups, or mentoring teens, or writing music, or teaching mentally handicapped children or something else amazing and important. This country bumpkin just said what her job was. That’s not ministry.
Or is it?
That vignette often replays itself in my mind , even though it was years ago, and I still feel the tension of the lady’s unasked questions. I often feel the tug of war between doing what’s labelled as ministry and just doing the next thing that needs doing. The labels and expectations of public service for God countered with the hidden, thankless reality of service. The praise that’s poured out on numbers and responses, and the silence that accompanies faithfulness and setbacks.
Jesus saved us, Paul said, so that we wouldn’t live for ourselves but for Him. I suggest that, just as submission isn’t submission until we disagree, ministry isn’t ministry until it’s forgetful of self, or until it cuts across the grain of our bent to look out for me, me, me and keep ourselves comfy.
There might be a place for styled hair and sound amplifiers and whitened teeth and glossy posters and impressive numbers of followers. But it seems to me that Jesus’ kind of ministry has more to do with dusty feet and glasses of water and holding children. Or saying ‘hello’ and smiling at a bus driver. Or changing the trash cans at church.
Ministry isn’t reserved for the ones who have it all together, the ones who’ve built their platform, the ones who have a dramatic story to tell the world. Ministry is for every person who has walked across the line to the Kingdom of Light and wants to serve the King from sheer gratitude and awe at being rescued from the Dark Side.
Because Jesus the Servant is our hero, and this is the upside-down kingdom where the last becomes first. Where, with God’s mysterious exchange, the cracked ones are the healed ones, and the most light comes from those who are most broken.
I find this both convicting and comforting.
Tis a Gift to Receive 
I really liked this post. Everyday life can be a ministry. It’s living out your purpose.
“I find this both convicting and comforting.”
Yes, same for me! Thanks for sharing this. I need to be reminded often.
“Ministry is for every person who has walked across the line to the Kingdom of Light and wants to serve the King from sheer gratitude and awe at being rescued from the Dark Side.” This I like.
Gratitude to Jesus allows highly ambitious people to do the monotonous and menial with grace. Gratitude to Jesus also equips shy and ordinary people to do the public and superhuman with courage. I think both find the process equally painful.
For His glory!
This is one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve read recently – The tears are raining …a lump forms in my throat……. the cracked ones are the healed ones, and the most light comes from those who are most broken….. that is precious. Thank you so much.
“Ministry is for every person who has walked across the line to the Kingdom of Light and wants to serve the King from sheer gratitude and awe at being rescued from the Dark Side.’ Beautifully worded and so true. I love that sentence, and had planned to comment on it before I saw Shari’s comments.
Thanks so much for this!
Thank you for sharing this!!! As a mom with 3 young children, I sometimes feel like I don’t do much besides caring for my family. While I know this what I am called to, it was good to be reminded that “glasses of water and holding children” is valid ministry. Thank you for affirming the many angles of kingdom work.
Thanks Anita for your writting it has been my vew for many years and is one that is hard to communicate but you have done very well I often think of the words said of our Lord Jesus; “HE came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a RANSOM!!!!! for many”..I am in the middle of Radicals by David Pratt – If anyone should have been the head of a mega church it should have been Jesus, but he left this world and its ministry in the hands of 11 men here on earth, God wants us faithful where we are at as “store keepers.” who walk across the line Many Blessing to you
Thanks, Anita. This came at the time I was needing it. Lately I’ve asked God what ministry He has for me. How true it is that ministry is simply being faithful and serving in the moment by moment everyday opportunities God brings.
Right on. THIS is your writing voice, and it’s good to have it back.