MinistrySample

Me, a minister?

A few years ago, I had the privilege of participating in a working group at a conference with Christians from many different countries. One of the topics for discussion was related to this very question of what it means to be a minister of the Christian faith.

We realised that ‘professionalising’ ministering had led people with other jobs in society to believe that it was best to leave sharing the Gospel and caring for others, in a church and beyond, to the employed ministers. We all agreed that limiting ministry to professionals seems such a backward step from the life Jesus invited us all into.

The word ‘minister’ was originally used to describe the action of caring for or serving others, which is exactly what the Bible tells us that all God’s people can do. Our working group started to put some thoughts together on how we could encourage all believers to become ministers. We talked about using language that communicated every member ministry, that everyone gets to play, that we can all be equipped as saints to serve others. At some point, a wise woman from a country where people often suffer for their faith in Jesus said this: ‘I must simply ask another, do you believe in Jesus? If the answer is yes, then I must ask, do you have a pulse? If the answer is yes, then I must tell them, go quickly now and minister in whatever way you can with kindness and tell whoever you can about our Jesus.’

If you answer yes to these questions, then let us both go quickly and minister the love and life of Jesus to others.

Written by KATH HENRY