When Does Ministry Start?

I communicate with special needs ministries around the country.  We have a variety of conversations on numerous topics.  We talk about why we should serve the special needs community, models of ministry, concerns in ministry, how to get the leadership and congregation on board, and the first steps to getting started.

The conversations over the last two weeks prompt me to answer the question, "When Does Ministry Start?"  I want to think it is a fairly simple question with a simple answer but I don't think it is to everyone.

I have had people share they have 10 to 20 people in their congregation with a special need but they don't have a special needs ministry.  They wonder if they should start one.  Actually, they already have a special needs ministry in the best form possible.  In some ways, this is the goal a number of large structured ministries are trying to reach.    

If there are people in your congregation, awesome!  You have a ministry!  If there are people in your congregation that have challenges, awesome!  You have people...people that you are ministering to.  If we get to the place where everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, is welcomed, valued, and serving in ministry, fabulous!  You have an amazing church!

Ministry starts the moment we are welcoming people into the church.  Facilities, structure, volunteers, and even money help in ministry for sure.  But when I picture Jesus on the hillside with children gathered around Him, that is ministry in its truest form.  No buddies, no walls, no rules...just sitting at the feet of Jesus, serving and loving one another.

Now, I am also a realist.  Sometimes structure helps us to minister to more people more effectively.  We need to remember that is not when ministry starts, however.  Open the doors to the church,  open the doors to your heart, and that is when it starts.