What is ministry? This is a question I have been grappling with ever since we arrived in Guatemala. Our time here has been like night and day compared to our time in Mexico. We have had some great opportunities to teach English in a Christian elementary school. We have also been partnering with the church here in San Juan a bit and the church in San Pablo. But our team has had the overwhelming sense that we are not really needed here. Although I am sure they appreciate all the help they can get, these churches are solid, Bible teaching churches. And this school we are working with is just bursting with love from the teachers. The kids are healthy and growing and learning. We really enjoy working in this city and love the people to death. But the question keeps popping in my mind…”Where is our place?”
I am confident the Lord sent us to San Juan for a purpose. I think what I struggle with is a cookie cutter view of what ministry looks like. And I grew up with such an idea of what a missionary does and what they are supposed to do in order to have an effective ministry. As I was praying about this the other day, I was struck by this passage in Scripture…
2 Corinthians 3:3-6
“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
This is what I wrote in my journal after meditating on this passage:
“So what is ministry? I believe it is the carrying of the Spirit- being a giver of life. It is hard to sit here feeling like I have to constantly be active in doing what I have been trained to think a missionary does. But I don’t want to miss this lesson. The other night at church I was playing with a girls hair in front of me. After service, she and her friends ganged up on me and tickled me until I fell to the floor laughing. I swung them around a few times, had a race down the hill and let them chase me around the poles holding the church up. As I climbed into the truck to go home, the girl reached her arms up. I grabbed them, lifting her to me. We kissed eachother on the cheek and I let her back down.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on ministry. But I imagine it has to start there. I am reminded today that “ministry” doesn’t always have to consist of a three point sermon, a hot tiring day building houses or converting thousands. But it can be as simple as picking up a child to give them a kiss, letting them know that they are loved by me and by their creator.”
One of the things that makes me so excited about this year is the chance to understand different forms of ministry. I have been studying the life of Christ in Matthew and much of what we have recorded of his life consisted of a traveling ministry. But the main theme I have seen throughout is that he LOVED the people he was with and breathed life into them. He layed hands, healed the sick and loved on people. What an awesome example we get to live by this year.
