I have a weird relationship with ordination. On one hand, I was ordained into the ministry seven years ago and it was one of the most meaningful days of my life. It was a moment where a calling, passion, and years of work came into bloom. I truly hope to find my way to a place where I can serve in a church again because there is so much that I love about it.
On the other hand, I have this very stubborn, very Baptist conviction that every Christian is a minister and that creating a separate class of “professional ministers” is antithetical to what Jesus taught. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that anyone who walks off the street should start running a church. The education and testing that occurs in seminary, ordination councils, and ongoing accountability are critical to the health of a minister and the communities they lead.
Yet the idea when you go into a church that one person is a minister and one person isn’t creates what I believe is a false dichotomy that one person’s vocation is sacred while the other person’s is not. For me to serve as a youth minister is no more “holy” than another person serving as a teacher, accountant, nurse, caregiver, artist, or whatever else. We often refer to it as the Priesthood of All Believers. If you are trying to follow Jesus and want to see me get animated quickly, tell me you are not a minister. Every interaction that we have with others in this world has the potential to give the ministry of love, grace, joy, light to the world around us.
Relationships are a very obvious place that we witness this ministry. Throughout this last week, I witnessed EA sitting vigil with her sick grandmother. Even though her grandmother did not always know my wife was there, EA believed that people shouldn’t have to be alone in those moments. So even though she had some long days teaching and being a parent, EA would go to the nursing home and sit with her after our boys went to bed.
Working a different job has also reinforced this belief. Watching middle school teachers and administrators do their thing day in and day out affirms that they are doing some of the most vital ministry in the world. The educational, emotional, and relational help that they are providing to kids is incalculable. It is mind-boggling to me how difficult we make life for public school teachers but I digress.
Now you may be saying to yourself, as I am sure I would have at one time, that not all of these teachers are Christians. So can we really define what they are doing as ministry? I think we can. A very helpful idea that I came across in college was “All truth is God’s truth.” It is basically the idea that it does not have to come in obviously religious packaging to be of God. Some of it is to help evangelical Christians not to be so scared of science. But it extends beyond those conversations. Is it true? Is it good? Does it point people to a more compassionate and loving existence? Then it is of God.
If all truth is God’s truth then all care is God’s care. If it is something that heals, educates, cleans up, lifts up, inspires, leads to flourishing, and so forth then it is of God regardless of where it comes from. All of us, regardless of faith, are intertwined in this sacred web of being human in this one place. Virtually everything we do touches the physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and relational health of the people around us. What would the world look like if more of us saw our work and our relationships as genuine ministry? What could happen if all of us understood the weighty yet beautiful responsibility we have in this place? If even our smallest interactions in which we show respect and compassion could make a world of difference?
I love the church. I miss teaching about the life of Jesus and planning worship services. And sometimes I get sad about that. But I have to remind myself that ministry is not confined to a building. It is not even confined to a faith. Everyone of us has the sacred calling of being human and whatever we do is ministry.