No Ministry Too Small

“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38 ESV)

I founded a small ministry last year. We meet in a cracked parking lot. Meetings don’t follow a regular schedule. At last count our membership was four: my three children and me. Our annual budget totals around twelve dollars. We call it The Cart and Quarter Ministry.

Approximately once a week in an Aldi parking lot, you can find us passing our cart to another customer, waving them off with a smile and a blessing as they try to give us a quarter. On the rare occasion when no other person is present, we leave a quarter in the cart, so the next customer will have a surprise free cart and an extra quarter in their pocket.

At Aldi, carts are rented for a quarter that’s refunded when the carts are returned. I realized I could make a bright spot in someone’s day by giving up my cart and sacrificing a quarter each time I shopped there. It isn’t a significant, thrilling ministry, but it’s meaningful and personal. I get to look into a stranger’s eyes and perform a small act of kindness.

Some may think I’m silly for calling this a ministry, but I believe no act of love toward another person is too small in the eyes of God. The Lord sees our hearts. When we make a move in love toward someone, no matter how grand or minuscule, God pays attention.

Everything we do in life can be a ministry if we approach the task with creativity, kindness, and intention. Giving away my cart may be the act of kindness someone needs or the answer to a prayer.

I bless others with this small act of grace, but the biggest blessing has been my own. My heart leaps in making small connections with people who look much different than me or speak a language I don’t know. My kids get to see how this one simple change brings light to another person’s face.

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives a final command to his disciples before he leaves the earth. “‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’” he tells them (Matthew 28:19 ESV). Many Christians have taken this advice and made a difference for Christ in the far reaches of the world.

I am a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom by choice, and it’s been the best job I’ve ever had. Still, I can feel pressure over not being on overseas missions proclaiming Christ far and wide to unreached people groups. But although I may not travel far, I’m still obeying the command to go.

A church around the corner from my house has a sign posted where people exit the parking lot in their cars. It reads, “You are now entering the mission field.” Your day-to-day life is your unique mission field, created just for you to bring glory to the Father. Walking across the yard to serve your neighbor is just as important as flying to far off lands.

Wherever your life takes you, go! Go make disciples at the PTO meeting, at the gym, at the grocery store, or in line at the bank. Smile at a stranger, help someone lift a heavy object, or read a child that favorite book for the fifteenth time. When we give others our time and attention, we can do it either begrudgingly or as if we were interacting with Jesus himself. Where will your mission field take you today?

Do you view your daily work in your career and at home as service to the Lord? What would it look like to live that way? What would change in your attitude and the spaces you inhabit?

Are your eyes open to the needs around you? Pray to ask the Holy Spirit to make needs apparent to you and the boldness to meet needs in the name of Christ.

Lord, we are your humble and abiding servants. Helps us be willing workers in your kingdom, seeing the mission field you have set before us, and not envying the work you have for others. Remind us to do everything, big or small, for your glory. Give us the creativity to meet needs and bring others to you. Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23–24 ESV)

“Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do to me.’” (Matthew 25:44–45 ESV)

Reach for More

Do you have a personal mission or ministry? Can you think of a creative way to share the love of God with others in your everyday life? Share it with us on social media using the hashtag #tgtreachformore.

Lindsay Hufford is a writer, slow marathoner, home educator and mediocre knitter. Her favorite things include books, kombucha, kitchen dancing, natural wellness, Jesus, and nachos. She spends days with her handsome hubby, three adorable kids, a flock of hens, a runaway peahen, wandering barn cat, and rescue dog. Lindsay shares ways to live simply and love extravagantly at www.lindsayhufford.com.

Photograph © Ali Yahya, used with permission