While I was in Australia, God began to challenge me on my view of what ministry looked like. Ministry is not the same every time, and it’s not always the big event we can sometimes make it out to be. When thinking of Evangelism, our mind automatically goes to those who are called to go out and tell people about God. And we assume that they have the mindset, “I am going to minister today and that is all I am going to do”. But really, it’s just living your everyday life and being aware of the people around you. Right before leaving on the trip they told us this quote, “life is ministry and ministry is life”, there really is no separation of the two. Our everyday life is a ministry to the people around us; we need to stop limiting it to specific times and mindsets, and just make it a part of our daily lives. I started to adopt this mindset and made the choice to incorporate it into my daily life.
Seeing ministry in this way really opened the door to building relationships with shop owners around us which eventually led to conversations about God. I learned how easy this is to take and apply to my everyday life with people I meet at a coffee shop, a grocery store, or even the beach. It was as easy as smiling at someone, taking the time to listen to someone who just needs to talk, or starting a conversation with the person making your coffee. I also learned to listen to what the Lord was saying, whether it was loving them, telling them about who God was, or just taking the time to notice them, these are all chances to share God’s love. We are so quick to limit what God can do when we just show His love. We feel like ministry is only when we tell someone about God, which is important, but it’s not limited to that. Ministry can be showing God’s love though actions and words, telling people about God, or though prayer, it comes in so many different forms but don’t limit what God can do with a 2 second conversation. God reminded me it’s not about the amount of people you talked to but how intentional you are to pour into those who are around you.
Who is someone that you run into daily, weekly, or monthly that you can share the love of God with? It could be as easy as a smile! This first month has changed how I view my daily life and my ministry. Everywhere I go and each person I encounter is my ministry.
