I wonder if my blog yesterday raised any questions in your mind…did any of you relate to the questions I mentioned I was struggling with?
[ Am I narcissistic?
Am I just lazy?
How is something ministry when it’s just ‘me’ time?
If I’m not always with people am I even being a missionary? ]
It’s honestly ok if you did…I hope to bring a little more clarity into the some of the things I’ve learned about MINISTRY in this blog since being on the race.
Since October, my teams and I have worked with so many different ministry partners.
- Colombia: a church, evangelism, home visits, kids ministry.
- Ecuador: building a wall
- Peru: an orphanage, helping restore the home of some friends, loving on our hosts, learning about a personality test.
- Bolivia: preparing the Samaritans Purse boat, the Ruth Bell, for the medical trips it would take AFTER we left to reach remote villages, and kids ministry.
- Argentina: we lived at the home of a family that helped rescue children and young people out of dangerous or unhealthy homes, just loving them!
- India: a home for disabled children who we got to love on, my mom came and we went to villages, did kids ministry in the church and made home visits.
- Nepal: a little bit of everything, lots of prayer walks, a rehab center, a leper colony, a school, trekking in the Himalayas to remote villages to share the Gospel and more!
None of these ministries were the same…actually I don’t think any of them were even remotely similar. They were all different and unique…so then can ministry be defined?
Well, let’s think about Jesus’s ministry. He did a lot of the things we have done on the race…obviously to different capacities but the same idea, right? He spent time with the sick and broken, He loved the little children, He went out and discipled others, He evangelized, He spoke truth. He also spent time alone with His Father. He NEEDED that time with His Father and so do we.
Ministry.
I believe ministry is simply loving God and letting your every day actions reflect His deep love for mankind.
If that means the growth He has to do in you while you’re alone with Him so you can step out and love others well, then that’s what it is!
If ministry is sitting in a coffee shop painting and starting a conversation with the person sitting next to you, then that’s your ministry that day.
If ministry is smiling at someone who looks sad on the street, then there’s your ministry opportunity!
I may be considered a missionary this year on the race, but let’s be real, I want to be a missionary for the rest of my life. That would mean that my life reflects the reckless, insane love Jesus has for every human…even those who don’t love Him back.
If you love Jesus, you’re a missionary. You have an automatic invitation to love others the way Jesus loves us!
AHH that gets me so hyped!!
Ministry doesn’t have to be in another country or doing something ‘radical’, it can be something so simple that could change the trajectory of someone’s life because you were obedient in something small.
It’s simple. Ministry is life. Life is ministry.
