I have spent more than five of the last six years serving in a ministry that serves a very marginalized portion of our city – women who have been sexually exploited, enslaved, demeaned and demoralized, coerced into drug addiction – all to maintain the balance of power by their abusers. We went out onto the streets of Gainesville and to motel parking lots late at night in search of our Father’s daughters, because He wanted them found. We found them at St. Francis House, befriended them at strip clubs, met them on their own ground, without judgment. We prayed for them, if desired, and offered them a way out of “the life” if/when they were ready. Seldom was prayer rejected. We searched through posted jail photos and began visiting them there. Eventually we started Oasis, sharing a meal, sharing God’s love for them through ourselves, His Word and prayer, and worshiped Him together in song. We often supported our sisters at court hearings and spoke out in their support. That is a quick, though very incomplete, synopsis of what Created is all about.

 

Ministries in the Church can be divided in many ways. I see two divisions and believe that we have a responsibility to participate in both of these: to edify and build up the body of Christ locally and to grow the Kingdom by sharing the Gospel of our Jesus.

 

As a member of our church family, we have similar responsibilities to each other as we have in our personal families. We can love one another through our talents and abilities but also by servanthood: taking a meal, visiting the sick, and helping before and after church events, praying for one another, encouraging and uplifting one another.

 

The second kind of ministry is to those who do not know our Jesus. It is a call to mission. It isn’t a suggestion made by Jesus but appears as an authoritative command at the end of the book of Matthew: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me: go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” In Romans 12:1, Paul urges us “to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” I love the notion that spending ourselves for others sacrificially is an act of worship. I struggled so much with trying to balance my time serving others in ministry with making time for prayer and worship throughout the day, and all along I was worshiping my Lord in action. What a comfort and blessing to know it was one and the same and the struggle unnecessary.

 

Being obedient does not require joining an organized ministry but it might. It could be as simple as praying daily for the Lord to send divine appointments and to fill you with His Spirit to boldly share your life in Christ and His Gospel in those situations as the Spirit leads. Parenting can be mission – sharing Jesus with our children, serving them, modeling “living in Christ.” How we respond to Jesus’s call is not so important. That we respond is essential.

 

The blessings that came with serving in ministry were many. Intimacy with the Lord grew and I found myself in prayer more frequently: while driving, at the gym, making supper, lifting women up in all their need, myself for strength and endurance and for those on our prayer chain. I kept lists of those prayed for and loved checking off answered prayers. It all built my faith and my reliance on the Lord. Using my talents to fundraise for Created through the many sales events in the ministry blessed me as well. It brought great joy and helped me to further develop these God-given gifts. I also observed miracles happening – God coming through again and again for the women and all of it grew my faith.

 

We are the redeemed in a fallen world. Our gratitude to our Jesus for what He did for us on the cross should be so great that it drives us to most willingly spend ourselves sacrificially in any way that we can. Blessed to be a blessing; saved to show others the way to salvation.

 

Consider serving in ministry as mission. Take 15 minutes twice a week to be in His presence, simply to listen to His heart for you and for His world. I dare you!  And I dare you to pray this prayer that I prayed for the better part of one year while in discernment for missions: “Break my heart, Lord, for what breaks yours!”* I assure you He will show you exactly that corner of His heart that aches for a specific group of His people and He will lead the way for you to join or start that very ministry.

 

 

Nan Szypulski-Lewis