Think back over your ministry and try to identify moments when you thought to yourself, wow, that is what it is all about or this is what makes ministry worth while. Our lists will be different depending on who we are because God has provided us different gifts and personalities that respond to differing situations. I, for example, get satisfaction from preaching but I have a friend that if he could avoid that, he would. Both of us have gifts for ministry, and we are able to do some of the things we don’t find especially satisfying because we accept that those things are part of ministry. As one author said it many years ago, there are some things we do in ministry that are part of paying the rent that allows us to also do those things that are satisfying.
Here is a brief list of some of the things that often remind me that being a ministry is both a privilege and profoundly satisfying.
1. Preaching: An opportunity to nurture my congregation in the nature of faith that can help us understand the world in which we live.
2. Bible Study: Helping people become familiar with the Bible in a manner that informs them about how to respond to our world.
3. Responding to the grief of a family, and a church, at the times of tragic death.
4. Being trusted by someone with their deepest secrets when they are trying to make sense out of their life.
5. Guiding a congregation in responding to the opportunities of inter-racial and inter-faith relationships.
6. Being consulted by a member when they are facing difficult professional choices.
7. Helping make connections between what one person or group needs and what another person or group has to offer.
8. Developing and leading a liturgy that integrates people’s personal experiences with the larger story of faith.
9. Spiritual counseling with a person who is growing in faith.
10. Participating in a person’s growth in faith as they confront difficult moments in their life.
11. The privilege of trying to wrestle publicly with how the faith helps us interpret and understand what is happening in the larger world.
These are some of what makes ministry fulfilling for me. What would be on your list?
