And ministry is??????

I have been thinking a lot bout ministry this past week as the EfM [Education for Ministry] year draws to a close. As the Program Overview in the Reading and Reflection Guide given to participants in the program states “The Education for Ministry [EfM] is a four-year study and group reflection process for the formation of Christian ministry through the development of knowledge, attitude, skill, and identity as Christians.” And so I found myself asking myself, just how well this process had gone …which led inevitably to the question “Just WHAT is ministry?”

If you look at the Merriam Webster online dictionary you will find as #4, after ministration, the office, duties, or functions of a minister, the body of ministers of religion, … a person or thing through which something is accomplished which I guess is where this falls in.

I’m sure many of us remember sermons we have heard exhorting us to use our gifts, probably based on Romans 12.6-8. “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” I remember coming away from such sermons feeling disconsolate, sure that I had NONE of those gifts, and hence had no ministry, or if I did it was in doing something for which I had no talent and no passion.

This past week, I happened upon a true story of someone who took one day out of their week and went into a nearby metropolis where they spent the day helping people however they were needed. What they did might range from walking a tourist to their destination, helping someone move into an apartment, sitting and talking to a homeless person, or playing with a child in a park. Each time was different, each time was unplanned, taking whatever opportunity presented itself. AHHA, I thought to myself, this sounds like ministry in action to me!

In order for something to be a ministry, one must be passionate about it. It is something that [to quote the words Martin Luther never actually used!] one can do no other. However I also believe that the end goal of ministry has to be to enable another person to become the best that they can be in some way, to help them achieve their potential be it as a pianist, an artist, a mother or a theologian. It is simply following the 'golden rule', helping others achieve what we want for ourselves, wholeness and meaning in life.

We all have that area in our life that we are passionate about. Ministry is recognizing what it is and then channeling it to benefit others. The spiritual benefit of ministry is to the one doing the ministry, not to the recipient. The job of EfM is in fact, not to necessarily get people to select new ministries, but in most cases to help them recognize that ministry that they are already doing.

I love this definition of ministry from Richard Rohr's blog, May 20, 2016:
"Discover and say yes to your unique way of participating in God's love and healing, which is already working in every life, in every place, and simply asks for you to join."

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