Ministry of the Mundane

"For he who is least among you all-- he is the greatest."
(Luke 9:48 NIV)

“Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet,
what you need is not a scepter but a hoe.”
(Benard of Clairvaux)

“Jesus took a little child in his arms and said, in effect, ‘Here’s your ministry. Give yourselves to those who can bring you no status or clout. Just help people. You need this little child. You need to help this little child, not just for her sake, but more for your sake. For if you don’t, your whole life will be thrown away on an idiotic contest to see who is the greatest. But if you serve her – often and well and cheerfully and out of the limelight – then the day may come when you do it without thinking, ‘What a wonderful thing I’ve done.’ Then you will begin serving naturally, effortlessly, for the joy of it. Then you will begin to understand how life in the kingdom works,’” writes John Ortberg in his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted. He continues,

This might be called “the ministry of the mundane.” The opportunity is offered to us countless times a day. A colleague asks for help with a project at work. Someone’s car stalls by the side of the road. This ministry can happen at home, in the middle of the night when one of the children cries. I could fake being asleep and then, as my wife is leaving the room, say a few words very groggily, as if I would have tended to the child but I’m just a heavier sleeper so it’s too late now. This way I get both the credit for wanting to help and the luxury of staying in bed.

Let me issue one note of caution: It is generally easier to hear about serving than to actually serve. I know of a woman who, when she was facing an important operation, asked her husband to look after the children over the weekend. He said no, he was going to attend a huge rally for men that would teach them how to live as Christian husbands and fathers. He refused to serve his wife on the grounds that he had to attend a conference where he would be taught and inspired to serve his wife!

Authentic community is characterized perhaps more than anything else by mutual servanthood and submission. When Jesus said the last shall be first, and the least shall be great, and the slave the greatest of all, he wasn’t giving orders. He was simply describing the truth about God’s kind of community and how different it looks from the way things generally work in our world.[i]

A businessman once asked,
“How can you tell if you have a servant attitude?”
The reply came,
“By the way you react when you are treated like one,”[ii]

Think about it...

Who are some people in your life that can typically bring you no status or clout? (i.e. gas station coffee attendant, waiters, waitress, store clerks, custodians, etc., etc.) How can you begin serving them?




What are some areas of your life where you can participate in the ministry of the mundane?

“The measure of a man is not the number of his servants,
but the number of people he serves.”
D. L. Moody



”There are many of us that are willing to do great things
For the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.”
D. L. Moody

[i] John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: ZondervanPublishing House, 1997), 109-111.
[ii] Lorne Sanny, Daily Walk, April 1982.