Ministry Confessions

What are the barriers to engaging in ministry? This was the question we discussed one Monday morning during our weekly editorial meeting. Perhaps some don’t know what to do. And others are simply too afraid to step out and do what they know they ought to. There were times in my life that I resonated with many of the answers being shared around the table. But I waited in vain for someone else to share my current answer to the question. The greatest hurdle for me right now is time.

I felt defeated sharing that with the team, and I still blush as I admit it in writing, but feeling as though I don’t have the time to do ministry is currently the greatest obstacle I face. Work, family, and church fill my life with so much activity that there seems to be no room left for much of anything else, including “ministry.”

What Is Ministry?

How could someone such as I, who works for the church, struggle with time for ministry? Doesn’t being an editor at the flagship publication of the world church mean I’m already involved full-time? Don’t all the activities I participate in and help to lead out in my local church qualify as ministry? And doesn’t morning and evening family worship count as well?

My first hurdle was semantic. The moment a conversation about making time for ministry came up, I imagined knocking on doors to deliver GLOW tracts, share Spirit of Prophecy literature, or invite people to Bible studies. But is this all that counts as “ministry”? Moreover, is this its primary definition?

When we confine ministry to planned outreach activities that take us out of the daily cadence of our lives, then finding time to do ministry becomes overly restrictive. Remember, though, the classic definition found in The Ministry of Healing as Ellen White speaks of Christ’s ministry methodology: “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and wone their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’ ”[1]

Christ’s ministry was personal and personalized. We can apparently gain some measure of success through “hit-and-run” methods of ministry in which our goal is to disseminate sufficient information to convince people to join the church. But we don’t achieve true success until we’re connecting with people at a personal level, and investing in them one person at a time. I suppose that can make ministry seem even more out of reach, if it means finding random individuals to strain a connection with. Yet if we pause to notice the people we seem to encounter effortlessly in our daily lives, we’ll discover easy opportunities for ministry.

Please don’t misunderstand me as saying that ministry is easy. No, while ministry isn’t easy (because we have our own selfishness to contend with as we strive to genuinely care for the needs of others), the opportunities to “reach the people” abound. To find such opportunities, we need only ask ourselves when we last encountered another human being.

Check Your Motives

Well, that resolves the problem of semantics, but I may face a human encounter with all its opportunities for ministry and still feel as though there is not enough time to mingle with that individual “as one who desires their good.” The type of mingling—for the good of others—is important to note. The motivation behind how we interact with others matters.

The truth is that we’re not always looking out for the best interests of those we encounter. We could reflect on encounters at our places of work, or as we run errands, but let’s bring it closer to home. In the hustle and bustle of life, we may even find that the interactions in our own homes lack the thoughtfulness and consideration that this first step of ministry calls for. And if we’re struggling to live Philippians 2:3, 4 in our own homes, how much more challenging outside the home will it be to “let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

If I have not been drinking from the ever-springing well of Christ’s love, then what do I have to share with others in my so-called ministry?

There is clearly an internal transformation that needs to transpire in our hearts, that will orient our lives toward the good of others above ourselves. This is precisely the miraculous heart transformation God wants to perform in our lives: “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh” (Eze. 11:19). To seek this conversion is a daily work (see 1 Cor. 15:31), and it’s one of the reasons we start our day with a time of prayer and Bible study every morning.

It Starts in the Morning

When we begin each day with surrendering our own plans and choosing to submit to God’s will for our lives, we enter the day’s busyness with a fresh experience with God. And what is there to share with others as we minister if we have no testimony of our own experience with God? The fresher the experience, the more compelling the testimony: It is more compelling for those we’re sharing it with, and we are more compelled to share it.

To make time for ministry throughout the day, we must first make time for Jesus in the morning. And that means: make time to spend time with Jesus as the first order of business every day. Yes, listening to the audio version of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy as you prepare breakfast or on your commute to work is great, but it’s not as wonderful as removing every distraction to focus your thoughts on God’s Word, is it? This means waking up earlier than the anticipated business of our day demands. And the less rushed we hope our time with Jesus is, the earlier the wake-up needs to be.[2]

When you think about it: without a vibrant personal devotional life, making time for ministry can become legalistic. If I have not been drinking from the ever-springing well of Christ’s love, then what do I have to share with others in my so-called ministry? Not having been filled with the love of Jesus, I’ll have no love to share with others, my life will be selfishly oriented, and finding the time to share what I don’t possess will be the more arduous.

Manage Your Time

So let’s say I rightly understand ministry, I’m investing in my relationship with Jesus, and I really do want to live a life that seeks the good of others, but still find myself struggling to find the time . . . What am I to do?

This, now, may be an issue of time management. It can feel as though there are simply too many elements to fit into a measly 16 waking hours. Time is a limited resource, and efficient use of limited resources requires intentional management. “The value of time is beyond computation. Christ regarded every moment as precious, and it is thus that we should regard it. Life is too short to be trifled away. We have but a few days of probation in which to prepare for eternity. We have no time to waste, no time to devote to selfish pleasure, no time for the indulgence of sin.”[3]

The first principle of time management for a Christian is to acknowledge that all our time is a trust from God, of which we are but stewards. This is another reason for spending time in personal devotion as our first work every day: We stand a better chance of prioritizing God throughout the day when we prioritize Him first thing in the day.

Thereafter, we are to redeem the time (Eph. 5:16). How?

First, figure out if something is worth doing at all. In addition to filtering every activity through biblical principles, we have the privilege of asking God to help us determine our daily agenda. “The Son of God was surrendered to the Father’s will, and dependent upon His power. So utterly was Christ emptied of self that He made no plans for Himself. He accepted God’s plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will.”[4]

If something is worth doing, then we should do it well and do it quickly. This often requires strategizing for the most efficient way to work, then focusing on a task so as to complete it expeditiously. We are to be “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Rom. 12:11).

With these efficiencies built in, we’ll find freedom of time opening up to us throughout the day. During these open moments we may make a phone call to someone the Lord has impressed us to pray for; stop by a coworker’s cubicle to inquire about their beloved pet’s health; knock on a neighbor’s door to make a new friend; or simply linger a moment longer with our children as they enthusiastically demonstrate the mechanics of their newest Lego creation.

[1] Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1905), p. 143.

[2] Don MacLafferty wrote a helpful article about spending unrushed time with Jesus in January’s issue of the Review: https://adventistreview.org/theology/devotionals/unrushed.

[3] Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900, 1941), p. 342.

[4] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 208.