When we think about ministry, it’s easy to picture the people out front: pastors preaching, teachers teaching, worship leaders leading, or missionaries serving.
But Scripture gives us a much bigger picture of ministry.
Nehemiah 3 tells the story of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. It’s an unusual chapter, filled mostly with names and assignments. One person repaired a gate. Another rebuilt the section next to it. Families worked near their homes. Priests, craftsmen and merchants all took responsibility for a piece of the work.
No one person rebuilt the wall. And no one section could simply be left undone. The work was accomplished because many people faithfully took care of what had been entrusted to them.
Paul describes something similar in 1 Corinthians 12 when he compares God’s people to a body made up of many different parts. Each has a different function, yet each is necessary. In fact, Paul calls some of the parts that may seem less prominent “indispensable.”
There is ministry in following through.
For those of you who administer your organization’s retirement plan, that ministry may look surprisingly ordinary. You make sure contributions are submitted. You help a new employee get enrolled. You answer questions, update information, track down a form, or connect someone with Servant Solutions.
Those responsibilities may happen far from a platform, but they are part of caring for people. A contribution you submit today can become part of someone’s financial security decades from now. Helping a young employee begin saving may start a habit that lasts throughout a career. The retirement plan you faithfully administer helps people who have spent their careers serving others prepare for the years ahead.
At Servant Solutions, our mission is to improve the financial security of those who serve the Church. We don’t accomplish that mission alone. The administrators who faithfully handle the details are not standing outside the ministry supporting it from a distance. You are participating in it.
Some are called to preach. Some teach. Some lead. Some organize, administer and make sure what needs to happen actually happens. Different assignments. One body. One Kingdom.
So, to those faithfully tending the section of the wall entrusted to you: thank you. Your work is part of the ministry.