Set at the top of a mountain in Swaziland, one hour from the capital Mbabane is El Shaddai.
A place I had prayed about and dreamt about visiting before I came on the race.
A ministry which is a World Race favourite.
I fully expected my days to be full of children. But I was wrong.
Yes there was a lot of time with the children but between 8am – 1pm whilst the children were in school we had different ministries. These included clearing pig poop, tutoring home school children, gardening, teaching in the El Shaddai school, sorting receipts, organising the library, helping in the clinic and my own ministry – social media.
Yup, you read right, this month my morning ministry was doing social media. This included editing the El Shaddai website, setting up a blog, creating a twitter account and tweeting, updating their Facebook page, working on their new Instagram account and setting up MailChimp templates.
If you didn’t know, everything mentioned above is what I used to do for an NHS hospital in the UK for 20 months before I left for the race in January. Before it was my job and this month it was my ministry.
Does updating a website, changing a Facebook status, uploading a picture to Instagram, adding a signature to an email address really count as ministry? Yes!
Why, because ministry comes in all shapes and sizes. Ministry can, and should, include ministering to the physical, emotional, mental, vocational, and financial needs of others. Jesus did, and so should we!
“Ministry” is from the Greek word diakoneo, meaning “to serve” or douleuo, meaning “to serve as a slave.” In the New Testament, ministry is seen as service to God and to other people in His name. Jesus provided the pattern for Christian ministry. He came, not to receive service, but to give it.
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
In my case ministry meant providing a way for more people to hear about the work that El Shaddai. By updating their website and posting on Facebook I helped to raise an awareness about El Shaddai to people who might not have known otherwise.
Over the course of the month I slowly began to realise that ministry looks different in every country and for every team. Ministry can’t really be defined, except for being said when you are serving to the best of your ability.
Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God
1 Corinthians 10:31
What I learnt this month is that we are in ministry whatever it is we are doing, whether it is labelled ministry or not, we should strive to do everything for God’s glory.
We are his slaves — full-time ministers in his service. in the home, in the store, in the car and in the office — is an act of worship to God.
Follow El Shaddai on Instagram
