Around camp, my teammates and I have enjoyed joking with one another by making humorous “ministry is _____” statements when our work seems ridiculous, obscure, or hard. Ministry here does not look like working at an orphanage, running a youth camp, or spending time with gypsies, like one might expect of a missionary in Romania. The reality is, in the last few days, my life at camp in Sistarovat has looked like a life of isolation, with long laborious days of cleaning everything in sight and few interactions with the people of the local community.
At least there is peanut butter and Happy Cows Milka chocolate here. Between those two things and long runs through the hills while listening to my playlist, aptly named, “Running With Jesus For Sanity”, I have somehow been able to find Him. And somehow I’ve been able to maintain sanity while doing ministry indoors, trading the fresh air & sunshine for scrubbing with powerful Hungarian chemicals that could probably kill your small child faster than you could call the Poison Control Center.
Ministry is…
acting like you are playing Need For Speed: Eastern Europe in order to get back as fast as you can to respond to your ministry contact’s requests.
Ministry is…
making sure you rinse a dish with both hands.
Ministry is…
sanding an entire log cabin with fine grit sandpaper.
Ministry is…
Playing soccer & volleyball as much as possible with the locals and shouting "OHPAH!" at every good thing, even though I'm 100% sure that's not a Romanian phrase at all. (But it just feels right!)
Ministry is…
cleaning a kitchen for a health inspection, with only water, not chemicals. Ministry is also being sure not to use chemicals because “I will smell them when you do.”
Honestly, I have struggled in this ministry, to find purpose and to feel like I am valued and needed here, but the other night tonight I decided that those things aren’t the point. The daily tasks are absolutely part of it, but I just don’t believe that it’s all about washing dishes for 8 hours a day. It can’t be, for any of us. If that’s all there is, then I’ll continue to live like I have for the past few days: wondering where I left my positive pants while thinking that I probably should find them soon because I need to be wearing them as soon as I get out of bed in the morning.
It could easily be a month of just feeling busy, but there’s more. There is more for us to walk into, to press into, to live up to, to respond to in light of who we are. Our ministry is to one another as well. Our ministry is to build one another up in Christ, to spur one another along, as the church was made to do. None of us can live well-occupied & missing the point. In every season there is something sacred and there is something sacred here about the position that we are in as a team to amp up for these next 10 months.
So, with that in mind, there is a lot that ministry is yet to be:
Ministry is yet to be…
what comes of our daily bible study through Ephesians with one of our Romania contacts, Michael, who lives next door.
Ministry is yet to be…
the conversations I plan to have with the two teenage girls I always see and say hello to on my evening runs.
Ministry is yet to be…
what comes from leading worship & sharing in local churches, like in the church of our friend Doru, who has welcomed us and already taught us a lot about the Church here in Arad.
Ministry is yet to be…
what comes from late night conversations, much like the ones I’ve had with Loren & Elizabeth while sitting on the bathroom floor.
Ministry is yet to be…
spending time playing with the two little boys and little girl that ran alongside with me and Elizabeth last night as we passed their playground.
Ministry is…what you make it.
