We usually think of the word “ministry” in religious terms, or, if you’re accustomed to European politics, you might think of a person who leads a government division. The word actually comes from the Latin for servant, and this is the sense I’m discussing here: how do you use your skills along the lines of excellence, to serve others, in a way that brings you satisfaction?
The other night I helped a friend work through the process of making some decisions about adding the right car to her family fleet. She apologized for spending so much time after-hours talking about work stuff. I guess it was technically work related, but it hardly felt like work at all, because helping people solve their transportation problems is one of my ministries. As a child, when adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I certainly didn’t tell anyone that I wanted to help people make intelligent decisions about automobile ownership, but life is funny like that. Sometimes you wake up one day and realize that you’re an expert in some arcane skill set that you never would have predicted.
One of the ways you identify a ministry in you life is observing when a particular form of serrvice to others gives you more energy than it consumes. Another way is find the intersection of these three activities:
—Something you like to do.
—Something you’re good at.
—Something that has value to others.
There’s another Latinate word that crosses religious and professional boundaries: vocation, from the root vocatio, to be called. We know vocation as a calling to the priesthood, or secularly as a trade, profession or occupation. How fortunate you are if you think of your career as a calling and not just a job.
What is your ministry or ministry? How are you called to this service?