Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit across the lunch table from a man who knows that God is calling him into vocational ministry. We talked about what ministry on a full time basis looked like. At one point he told me that he was ready to get away from his current job so that he could do ministry all of the time. I asked him to define this and he said that his job did not allow him to share Jesus with others. He went on to say, however, that he meets on a regular basis with his co-workers after hours in order to talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He also told me of how he was able to share the truth of Jesus with the president of the organization.
I followed his stories with, "at times I wish I could get out of the day to day grind of church work in order to share Jesus in the way that you get to." I think my statement shocked him a little. I tried to encourage him that he is in ministry, no matter where he gets a pay check from. I tried to show him examples of this from the stories that he had just shared. He responded with, "I never thought of it that way."
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you engage people, then you are involved in ministry. Please hear me, ministry is not about programs and where you get a paycheck from. Ministry is about people. Don't get me wrong, God can use the programs of a church in order to engage people in ministry. I have attended a host of ministry programs and seen the value that they can add. But, at the end of the day, it is still about people.
Jesus Christ came to this earth in order to die for you and me so that we might have a relationship with Him. This shows that He valued and still values people. Let's all strive to value people in the same manner that He values people.
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