You are a busy person. You don’t have a lot of time to devote to formal ministry. Or maybe you are a little afraid to commit to a special ministry that may require more than you are prepared to give. You can start small and find ways to minister to others even without joining an organization.
Pay Attention
If you really want to be more involved in caring for others as Jesus commanded, pay attention. Get the focus off yourself and look at the world around you. This is where it starts. Ask God to show you ways you can serve Him and then see who He puts in your path.
Maybe it’s the young neighbor with a baby who can’t afford child care. Maybe it’s the single mother with three kids who are often left alone after school until she gets home from work. What about the elderly person who lives down the street and never gets out of the house? All of these people could use a helping hand.
Play It Safe
One of the reasons people hesitate to get involved in ministry is because it sounds dangerous. Working with hardened criminals, prisoners, or those who have been toughened by the street can seem scary to someone who has lived a relatively safe life. God calls a lot of people to get out of their comfort zone and minister to these people, but He may not be calling you to this kind of ministry – at least not yet.
Being afraid is a poor excuse for not getting involved. Ministering to seniors or young children is a safe way to start helping out and they are two groups who often need the help.
- Go to a nursing home and visit with the residents
- Visit the local senior center or talk to local churches to find seniors who are home bound
- Ask your friends if they know a senior who needs help with yard work or running errands
- Ask your kids if they have friends who need extra tutoring or someone who spends a lot of time alone and invite them to your house for a play date
- Offer to take the kids of an acquaintance to the library or to the park for a Saturday morning
Ministry doesn’t have to be big to be effective. In fact, some people would never do anything if they had to commit to a specific number of hours or to a formal ministry.
Hurting, lonely, frustrated people are everywhere. You can show God’s love in little ways by doing practical things to help them.
The easiest way to begin in ministry is looking around your own world and helping people you already know. If you truly want to get involved, you will see the needs. If you pray, God will open your eyes to those who need your help. Then, it is up to you to act.
Do you have other suggestions for people who want to get involved in ministry?
It’s true…all you need to do is ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you when you should act on a need. I have been prompted to do small things, like when a young man carrying a sign on the intersection caught my attention, but I didn’t have any money or food to share with him. At first I resisted, but I felt the Holy Spirit ask me to just speak to him anyway. The kids and I were in a running car at a stop light, so there was no chance for a long conversation, but the interchange that took place in those 1-2 minutes was priceless. I told him that I was sorry that I didn’t have anything to share with him and he replied that he was just happy that I even made eye contact with him! Eye contact!!! He needed to be acknowledged. We said a few more words to each other, I told him God loves him and then we pulled away…..I don’t know how that effected this man, but it changed my life. And it influenced my children as well, instigating interesting conversation and showing them how without love our works mean nothing.