What does it mean to be in ministry.
I learned this month that it doesnt always have to look the same. You don’t always have to be engrossed in sharing the literal stories of the gospel, evangelizing, preaching, praying, teaching, building, playing, or with a group to be considered doing ministry.
This month my vision of ministry shifted. I no longer put it in this box of what it’s supposed to look like and now see it as an abundance of opportunities to just love on other people well! I was blessed with opportunities through out the month that I never would have considered ministry until I had this heart change. I was asked to clean classrooms, bake cakes for a birthday party, do laundry, and teach an old lady to sew.
All of these things stand out drastically when you add them to the scheme of ministry we have done throughout the year! Such as door to door evangelizing which consisted of preaching the gospel, searching for salvation of those who don’t know Jesus, teaching English to the underprivileged kids in the streets of Cambodia, working with ex cons transitioning their lives from sin to Jesus in the mountains of Thailand, as well as teaching teenagers English, one 14 year old expecting a baby and another fighting for safety from her drunken grandfather, partnering with orphanages and churches to teach and encourage, hiking the Himalayas to preach to the unreached people of Nepal and have fellowship, journeying around villages of India preaching, praying and encouraging the community to throw fear of prosecution down at the feet of Jesus!
This month could be looked at like a let down, a month of relaxation and fun, a month of little to no ministry if you look at it with the wrong heart posture. This month was filled with SO MUCH MINISTRY. Literally everything we did this month was to glorify the kingdom, help the community and show Gods love through our actions, not just our words. We got to literally be His hands and feet by using our hands to create beautiful things.
We started by painting at the school down the street. All 15 of us piled in the small room, took up our paint brushes and had so much fun! We helped build an overlay outside the door of the kitchen area, painted a couple classrooms, got to be creative and painted picnic tables with beautiful artwork, helped clean up and set up for the new school year. We also partnered with a church and helped with his development of a new program called Hedges which is going to be a rehab center and transitional home for people who are just out of jail and looking to change their lives and learn about Jesus in the process. We painted, did the tedious work of cleaning every panel of these crazy windows and anything else they needed along the way. We visited a girls home and helped throw a first ever birthday party for a 10 year old girl! We organized a kids program in the park! We helped our host around her campground, and building a cinder block fense out front of her home. We also got to do an impromotu sewing class for a 76 year old lady looking to pursue a dream of making baby clothes for her neighborhood.
Some might think this is just busy work or silly little side jobs, but these are all things that this community needed help with. What better way to show our love, dedication and hearts for the Lord than to get up, go out and do something wonderful for a community that could result in removin burdens or hassle that could be there if we hadn’t been there to help.
THAT IS MINISTRY GUYS!
This is ministry everyone can be doing, anywhere and everywhere!
You don’t have to be over seas doing all the big things, you can do it all in your neighborhood, town, city, state or anywhere you are. this month showed me all the potential ministry I can be involved in when i get home just by asking if anyone needs help. All month our host Miss Mona would just ask around who needed help! My church at home has this movement of FOR OUR COMMUNUTY where they do just that! I never fully understood the importance of it until now. The importance of just showing you care and love through the simple acts of kindness and time given!
I believe this month showed F Squad what life could look like when we go home. Definitely kick started my thought process of transitioning home since we only have
3 MONTHS LEFT!
It helped me see What life could look like if we take our expectations of what ministry is supposed to look like, and keep ministry outside of the tiny box people tend to put it into!
What have you done this month to help your community? What can you do to show your love for your neighbor and love for Jesus all in one simple act?!
