What classifies as ministry?
When I and many others applied for the World Race, we often pictured the small village in the bush of Africa where we would be doing tons of chores, evangelism, preaching, and teaching. That’s a very real possibility on the Race.
However, what you don’t picture usually is a month where your schedule is kind of a day to day kind of thing and the “ministry” that you will be participating in is largely just hanging out with the locals and building relationships. Is this ministry? Can this have any benefit if we are only going to be there for a month and will likely never see any of them again?
This is the situation we were placed in at the beginning of our very first month on the Race. What is really cool though is that this has transformed the definition of ministry in my mind. Zoli, our ministry host, has given us a great example of what I am talking about. He has an extremely long term vision for his ministry here in Sombor. In fact it is such a long term plan, that he said if his vision were a clock, the time we spend here is just a tick of the second hand. It is extremely important, and without it, there is no progression, but the ultimate vision he has is so much bigger.
So we embraced it. We began to just pour into the locals, getting to know them, developing new friendships, showing them love and serving them as best we can. We have had events such as game nights and tutoring and english clubs where the main focus has not been necessarily bringing up God in every conversation, or even at all sometimes. Instead, it has been focused on just serving the people and growing their relationships with us and through us, Zoli. What is amazing is that God has worked incredibly in these situations. Let me give you a few examples:
Last night we had an English Club, an event that is hosted by the church but is not a church event. It is open to anybody and everybody who wants to come. In this event, people come and we just practice speaking english with them. We ask questions about them, their lives, their hopes, their dreams and though answering these questions they are able to practice. We also answer the questions, so for example, when the question is what gives you peace in times of worry, we can say something like “Reading the Bible and praying gives me peace.” This is not directly throwing it in their face when they came for english practice, not church, but allows them the opportunity to ask questions about something they have never really been very interested in.
One of the girls who sat I my table was a local teenager who dreams one day of moving to another country to become a teacher. She also, just happened to like a lot of the same kinds of things as I do. She reads a lot of the same kinds of books I read when I was her age and so I was immediately able to connect with her and her friend. Because of this, she paid close attention when I spoke about the hope I have because of God and the passion I have for His Word. There was nothing direct, but by the end you could see interest in her eyes. She didn’t pray right then and there. She did, however, make plans to return and maybe learned that his church place isn’t that scary after all.
The other night when taking a cab back to the church, our driver just happened to recognize the name of the church and it turns out he went there many many years ago before Zoli took over but hadn’t been for quite a while. We told about English Club and invited him to come. Immediately he said no and that he didn’t have time. He drives away as we begin to walk up to the church door. We hear a noise and turn around to see him backing down the street. He said he can’t explain it but talking to us just made him really excited and he was going to make time to come to the English Club. It was great. He came and had a great time. He was the first one there and the last one to leave. On his way out the door, he turned and said, “I don’t know how to say this. When I talk to you guys, I just sense this kind of happiness and warmth coming from inside you. I like it. When I am around you, I feel happy. I feel home, like we have known each other for years. I can’t wait to hang out with you again.” He was feeling the Holy Spirit in us and God was working on his heart right then and there. He is coming again tonight and I can’t wait to see what happens.
***On a side note, one of the women who came couldn’t believe I had never had pig brain before and is cooking up some for us tonight. Yummm. I’ll let you know how it tastes.
Maybe ministry isn’t always getting someone to pray a prayer, or even talking about God. Maybe ministry can be any number of things.
I think ministry is when a Christian serves, loves, and impacts the life of another human being. Don’t place God in a box. Have faith in what He can do in and with any situation and be faithful to the ministry He has called you to in this moment, trusting that He will cause good fruit to come from it.
More to come,
Blessings
