What Now?Sample

Start Where You Are

We tend to have this idea that, in order to really follow God, like really really follow Him, we need to be in “ministry.” You know — be a pastor, go on a mission trip, sing on the worship team or in the choir — stuff like that. ‘Cause that’s the only true way to live out your faith. Right?

Nope. Look in Acts 16, where we meet a woman named Lydia. 

“One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”

If this was a movie or Netflix special, the next thing we would see is Lydia dropping everything to start a church or preach to a crowd, or at least start traveling with Paul as a missionary! But that’s not at all what happened. In fact, nothing following that verse even suggests that she stopped selling her purple clothes. The Bible just says that after she accepted Christ, she offered up her home as a meeting place for other believers. It seems small, but at the end of the chapter, Lydia’s house is the first place Paul and Silas go after they are released from prison. Lydia’s house was “where they met with the brothers and encouraged them.”

Lydia might not have gone on to lead a major revival or even her church’s worship team, but what she did was just as valuable. She served right where she was with what she already had. What would it look like for you to do the same? Whether you’re at home, in school, at practice, or somewhere else, it might look like staying a little longer to help clean up after an event, or being respectful to your coach or teacher. It could even be as simple as showing up with a good attitude. Ministry or following God isn’t limited to being a pastor or a full-time missionary overseas. Actual ministry is letting God’s glory shine through the regular stuff you do, no matter how small it seems at the time. 

How can you start doing ministry where you already are?