Source: The Orthodox Church, Volume 46, Spring/Summer 2010

The mandate for Christian ministry is one and the same as the mandate for mission: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [Matthew 28:19-20]. Christ Himself, then, is the model for His followers’ ministry, based at once on His life, example, and teaching.

Doing God’s will. The first principle guiding Christian ministry is summed up in Saint Paul’s words to the Collosians [3:3]: “For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The Christian dies to the self and lives in Christ, no longer seeking to do his or her own will, but to be the instrument by which the will of God will be done on earth. Whatever type of ministry we offer within the Church, we are to do it, not for our own satisfaction, but for the glory of God, living His life in this world while sharing in His ministry to the world.

We are appointed – we could even say ordained – inasmuch as each one of us has been set apart through Chrismation to be stewards and ministers of God’s grace and truth. As Saint Peter says, we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, [called to] declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light” [1 Peter 2:9]. Christ’s desire is to save the world through us, His Church and His People, by dying to ourselves and becoming the vessels of His love and mercy to those around us. This is the ministry of the Church to the world, and each of us participates in it in our own particular way.

Serving others. The second point to be learned is found in Christ’s parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25. In no uncertain terms Christ identifies Himself with the suffering, the sick, the imprisoned, the naked, and the hungry. He regards as true disciples those who minister to Him by ministering to “the least of these, My brethren.” When asked, “Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did minister to Thee?” He answers, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to me.”

Ministry isn’t just for adults! There are countless ways children and teens can minister. Church school students at St. Christina Mission, Fremont, CA – the parish recently completed an OCA Planting Grant – collect and distribute gifts annually for Raphael House, a San Francisco homeless shelter, and students families at St. Herman’s Seminary, Kodiak, AK.

One cannot serve God in the abstract. Above all, serving God means seeing Christ in the other, responding to the other out of love and reverence for Christ. The stark clarity of the story always amazes me. According to Christ, we will not be asked whether we went to church on Sunday, whether we fasted, or whether we served on the parish council or put in time at the annual festival. In no way do I mean that these are unimportant, but they sidestep the crux of Christ’s saving message – that He loves the person, saves the person, and dies for the person that He calls our neighbor, the brother or sister next to us. Clearly, if we wish to serve Him, we must address ourselves to the needs of our neighbor; Christ is not content to hear us say, “But Lord, I wrote a check for the needy and asked our priest to visit the sick.”

Unique ministries. This brings me to my third point, the distinction between the priestly and lay ministries. The clergy have a unique ministry, one for which they have received special grace through the laying on of hands. The priest presents Christ, and his vocation is none other than to lead the world toward salvation and away from deception and evil.

But what is a head without its body, as Saint Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 12? The active ministry of the laity complements the priest’s ministry. Similar to the relationship between the male and the female in Christ, there is no competition, contradiction, duplication, or value judgment implied in making this distinction between the priestly and lay ministries. All too often we hear people say, “That’s what we pay the priest to do; it’s his job!” Wrong! His job is to lead, to present Christ, to keep reminding his flock of the Christian vision of life and death, to guide them to see Christ working in their daily lives, to push back the boundaries of the chaos by extending the love of Christ to those both inside and outside of the parish community.

It is lay men and women, however, who work to realize the victory of Christ over death and sin and evil in a particular place – in their neighborhoods, workplaces, families, schools, PTAs, polling places, and whatever circumstances they find themselves. Specifically, their work is to visit the sick, to minister to the bereaved or discouraged, to counsel the alcoholic, to welcome the stranger, to fight oppression and poverty in all its material and spiritual forms, to see and serve Christ daily. This is the type of ministry that glorifies God the Father.

Being and Doing. My fourth point is that ministry has just as much to do with who we are as what we do. Any Christian work, in order to be truly in the service of Christ, is grounded in faith, prayer, and love. In fact, prayer itself is an active ministry. This is what distinguishes Christian service and ministry from secular social work. When we advocate lay ministry, we are not advocating the frenetic, often self-serving activity of do-gooders who feel justified by their sacrifice of time as the pharisee felt justified by his adherence to the law.

We must resist the temptation to equate sanctity with religious observance, or faith with involvement, or salvation with good works alone. It is not only the morsel of bread we give that nourishes the hungry man – man does not live by bread alone,” and man is more than his stomach – but it is the love of Christ manifested by the act of feeding that man which indeed nourishes his weary soul and may bring him to repentance and salvation.

We do not believe that if it were possible to eradicate poverty on this earth, the result would be the Kingdom of God. It is extremely important to remember that while we do the works of mercy that Christ commanded to us to do, our primary vocation is to proclaim that, while His Kingdom of not of this world, we are indeed called to testify in this world. In concrete terms, for example, the mother who is raising a child to know and love God is serving Christ, only by what she is doing – the precise number of Bible stories she teaches her child is quite unimportant – but how she manifests Christ in her daily interactions with her child, so that the child, in knowing and loving his mother, learns to recognize and love Christ. Sometimes the most profound and meaningful lay ministries are done anonymously, quietly, and over the period of a lifetime.

A diversity of talents. And this leads me to my fifth point in terms of our understanding of Christian ministry – that God, in His mercy, has endowed each of us with different gifts, calling us to serve Him in different ways. One result of this is that we are “members of one another.” We need each other, just as all the parts of the human body need each other if they are to perform their unique functions properly [Romans 12:4-8].

God has given us a great diversity of gifts for a good reason, and it is crucial to understand the tremendous scope of responsibilities and ministries that, working in harmony, make the Church whole, complete, and lacking in nothing. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them,” Saint Paul wrote in Romans 12:6. He goes on to observe that it is not so much what particular work we do that is important, but in what spirit we offer ourselves to God and to one another – “he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” Whatever our unique talents and gifts, we are called to invest them for the glory of God, as good and faithful stewards.

The laity is the Church’s “natural resource,” waiting to be tapped. But the community that persists in limiting the role of the laity in the Church’s ministries, viewing everything as “the priest’s job,” will slowly die through passivity and inertia. Once we change our vision of the Church’s mission, the possibilities for ministry are endless, and the entire body of the Church will not only function properly but, as Saint Paul writes, upbuild itself in love.

Complimentary roles. A sixth element of lay ministry is that both men and women share the task in a complementary manner. Although Saint Paul is frequently accused of limiting the role that women can play in the Church, he in fact was ministered to by women throughout his apostolate and thanked God for them, in full recognition of their significant role in the life of the early church. By understanding the cultural context of his ministry and discerning the principles behind his injunctions, we can say without hesitation that, when we speak of the ministry of the laity, there is no distinction between what men and women are called to do. Christian ministry is not characterized by a spirit of competition, much less and “equal rights,” but by mutual love and concern for building up the body of Christ.

Six principles for Christian ministry 1. As Christians, we are dead to the world and we live in Christ. Our entire life and activity must be dedicated to accomplishing His mission to save the world by our becoming the instruments of His love and power. 2. We serve Christ by serving one another, particularly those among us who are needy and suffering, because He Himself identifies Himself with the poor and the oppressed. 3. The laity have a special and distinct ministry that complements the ordained ministry by extending the love of Christ to all those with whom we come into contact in the course of our daily lives and in our families. 4. This goal is not realized only by doing good works – putting our faith into action – but also by living according to our faith, so that through our lives the light of Christ is apparent to those in darkness. 5. We are richly endowed by God with talents and gifts that fulfill different functions, much as the human body. Every Christian is called to invest his or her unique talents to bear fruit for the glory of God. 6. Men and women together are responsible for the ministry of the laity and complement one another in the use of their special gifts. Ministry is not driven by a spirit of competition or “equal rights,” but by mutual love and commitment to building up the Church.

Denise Jillions is a member of Annunciation Cathedral, Ottawa, ON, Canada, to which her husband, Father John, is attached.