Effective Ministry Calls for Engagement

   One of the first priorities I had to learn as a crisis hot line counselor was how to listen.  Listening to what the person is saying and even what they aren’t saying but you hear it through the details they give you, along with using spiritual discernment through the Holy Spirit. 

   As a Crisis Counselor your need to listen intensifies because you only have a few crucial minutes to talk to that person and help them bring some type of resolution and hope for their situation before you hang up the phone.  The lessons I gained through that experience has helped me today to be a more effective listener and minister for Christ.

   One of the problems I see today is that we live in a tyranny of the urgent society.  Unless we are dealing with a crisis life or death situation, we can sometimes fail to react or make it a priority.  We will try to resolve a person’s problem quickly by cutting to the chase with a solution before they have a chance to finish what they were trying to say; just so we can go home.  Or worse, we may give them a pat biblical answer or Christian cliché and send them on their way. 

   One of the best lessons I have learned as a woman’s pastoral counselor, is to view people the way Jesus did.  He loves people - He died for people and now lives for people.  A good example of this is the story when Jesus saw the woman at the well; he not only took the time to talk to her but stopped and ministered to her. 

   The woman was a local outcast in her town, so much so she had to gather water in the afternoons at a different time apart from the rest of the women who normally went in the mornings.  Perhaps to avoid the snickering and local town talk, regarding her reputation with men.  Never the less, Jesus didn’t seem to let that bother Him.  He didn’t view her as a lost cause or a low life problem and ignore her as He walked by; but saw her as a person who needed Jesus. 

   He took time out to engage her, talk to her and even asked her to give Him some water.  There’s more to this one act that meets the eye.  Besides being a town outcast her people were considered unclean gentiles to the Jewish people of Israel.  To accept water from a person that was considered unclean was to say that they were accepting that person as an equal and anyone caught interacting with an unclean person was considered unclean also. 

   Understanding this, Jesus purposely asks for the cup of water in order to meet her right where she was at in spite of what people might have thought; including His disciples. In fact Jesus tells His disciples that ministering to her was His food and this food was to do the will of Him who sent Him and finish His work.(John 14;34) That's how important the ministry of reconciliation is to God.

   He engaged her in conversation, meaning that he talked with her and also listened.  I love this story because it shows the heart of Jesus. To read the whole story you can read (John 14:14-38). Jesus knew what she needed and took the time to share with her about Himself.

   I hope this story has encourages you as it does me.   The important lesson here is, If you want to become a more spiritual and effective minister, you can start by valuing people the way Jesus did and be willing take active steps to learn how to engage them in conversation, especially people who others would normally walk around or away from and be more like Christ; Who although He was God, He humbled Himself and became a Servant and reached out to people who were in need.  

   Take some time out to find out what their need is by being a good listener and as you listen intently and pray silently for wisdom from above, you will be able to minister to them according to their needs through the Holy Spirit. I guarantee that God will use you beyond what you can imagine or think.

   The woman at the well was so excited at what just happened that she couldn't wait to tell the entire village about Jesus.  Remember that she was a woman who avoided people for fear of talk and snicker; but now she had a message and wasn't ashamed to tell the whole world that she met Jesus.

   It's amazing what God can do in a person's life when we stop and give them a few minutes of our time to love them, engage them and share the hope that we have within us which is Christ in us, the hope of glory.