In my devotional reading this morning there was a story of an associate pastor who expressed her thanks that the senior pastor understood the importance of a broader view of ministry. She related how when her child was sick she was allowed to work from home some days and never had a problem leaving to take the child to the doctor. Her pastor understood that ministry occurs in many places and in different ways. Contrast that story with a pastor friend of mine who drove a church family to another state to visit their son who was in prison there. The parents had no way to visit their son until the pastor offered to drive them. When they returned three days later the deacons insisted he take those three days as vacation because he wasn't "at the church."
We need to come to the realization that ministry doesn't just happen within the four walls of a building we call the church. Ministry happens whenever we are among people, or at least it should be happening. Jesus taught that even giving a cup of cold water in His name was ministry and He would be present in even that simple act.
A woman was attending an auction with her husband when he had to leave for work. They have a number of booths in various antique malls so she bought a number of items. When the auction was over an individual saw that she had a lot of merchandise that needed loaded so he offered to help. She did not know this individual but had seen him and her husband talking and felt safe allowing him to assist. Besides, there were still a number of other people loading their vehicles. She doubted that everything would fit in her car, but they managed to load everything but three items. The individual offered to take them to one of the malls where they had a booth. It wasn't until she went to the mall to stock her shelves that she learned his name and the fact that he was a minister. This simple act of kindness was ministry, and despite what some deacons in a particular church might think, this type of ministry has the potential to impact people's lives.
Encourage your people to view everything they do as ministry. The person teaching an ESL class is doing ministry. Individuals working on a Habitat for Humanity house are doing ministry. A family accepting a foster child is doing ministry. Volunteers helping clean up a city park after an event are doing ministry. Virtually anything a person does to assist another individual in Jesus' name is ministry. How many people attend your church on Sunday morning? That's how many ministers you should release at the end of your services to go out into their communities to impact others for Christ. If we can learn to take this broader view of ministry it will change the way we approach all we do in life.
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