Have a Ministry of Small Things

It has attained the status of a Christian motto: “Attempt great things for God.” Some people are surprised to learn that these words aren’t in the Bible but were spoken by the pioneering missionary William Carey. As disciples of Christ, we’re encouraged to aim high. We should be ambitious builders of God’s kingdom and bold wreckers of Satan’s strongholds. Go on a mission trip. Give away your fortune. Become a street evangelist.

There can be something commendable about desiring to rise above the ordinary and comfortable: “I want to do something big for God.” Certainly this is better than making an idol of our comfort and ease. But we don’t have to be notable and do notable things. In the pursuit of meaningful service for the Lord, we should remind ourselves that oftentimes the little things are the big things.

I have seen this in my own ministry. My wife and I and our family have had the burden of saying farewell to three congregations over the past twenty years. After we had worked for some time among the believers in one place or another, God led our path somewhere new. The many joys of the bond between a pastor (and his family) and a congregation were replaced by the sharp pains of parting: tears, hugs, sadness, but also words of mutual love and appreciation.

When I remember what gets said during these poignant farewells, it strikes me that for many people, it’s the little things that stand out. The congregation wants to say thank you for the work that has been done the past five or eight years. So what are things that they mention in these final conversations?

• “Thanks for checking in on me.”

• “Thanks for always remembering my birthday.”

• “I liked how you took me out for coffee.”

• “You took the time to answer our questions in catechism class.”

• “Thank you for baptizing our boys.”

• “You preached for us, week after week.”

• “We appreciated that you listened.”

Most of these things are neither exciting nor extraordinary. In my estimation, most of these things aren’t that hard to do. Not that I did them flawlessly, of course, or always cheerfully, but by God’s grace, I tried to do them consistently. Even so, shouldn’t I be remembered for more? Maybe we would like to be appreciated for more impressive accomplishments:

• “Thank you for that brilliant sermon series on Ephesians—I’ll remember those messages for the rest of my life.”
• “It was your article on evangelism that inspired me to go to seminary and become a missionary.”

It is humbling, but it turns out that it’s not always these kinds of works that have the greatest impact. It is often the other works, the more ordinary ones, that really endure. You could call it “the ministry of small things.” The pastor’s insignificant acts of care and his relatively minor moments of service—these are what Christ loves to use to bless and to help his church.

• You open Scripture and read a short passage with someone in order to counsel them: It seems like a small thing, but it’s not.

• You spend time with someone as they pour out their sorrows, mostly just listening and offering a few gentle words to encourage: It seems like a small thing, but it’s not.

• You pray with someone, bringing tears and worries and confessions before the throne of God: It seems like a small thing, but it’s not.

• You reach out to say hello to a lonely brother, to assure him that you’re praying for him: It seems like a small thing, but it’s not.

This is what has a great impact: the faithful ministering of Christ’s love and Christ’s Word to his people. And in fact it’s how Scripture teaches us to think about the work in God’s kingdom, where he has always been accomplishing a lot with very little. For instance, in his parable of the yeast, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like something as modest as a dash of leaven. Yeast is practically invisible, and you don’t see it working, yet it has a formidable impact as it slowly permeates the dough (Matt. 13:33). In the same way, God can use our little works, patiently and consistently done, to bring about something weighty and good for his glory.

Even Jesus didn’t look like much (Isa. 53:2), and his gospel sounds foolish (1 Cor. 1:18), and most of his people aren’t remarkable by worldly standards (1 Cor. 1:26). Yet God was pleased to change the course of world history through the person and work of his Son and through the words and deeds of his blood-bought church.

This biblical pattern can change our outlook on the work we do in the church. God calls us to faithfulness in whatever labors he has assigned, whether they are apparently significant or seemingly small. In fact, it is a person’s diligence in the small things that indicates how he might be ready to take on something more; Jesus said, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).

Sometimes pastoral ministry is marked by profound joy and satisfaction, while other times the work seems to be nothing but stress, frustration, and sadness. You don’t know what message to bring in this visit, the next step isn’t at all clear, and you feel utterly inadequate for the task that God has placed on you. But instead of feeling the pressure to say it perfectly, or instead of trying to meet a person’s deepest needs, be sure that God can definitely use something little here, employ someone weak.

You might only drop in for a half-hour visit, read a short passage, offer a halting prayer, but you can have confidence that God can use this. If it is the Word of Christ, shared with the love of Christ, something good can happen. This is what Eugene Peterson observed too: “The ‘unimportant’ parts of ministry might be the most important. The things that we do when we don’t think we are doing anything significant might make the most difference.”

In ministry, our calling is to love God with our whole heart and to love other people sincerely and actively. So show up. Take the time to listen. Share God’s truth. Keep going. Keep praying. It’s a lot of little things, but these are what God has assigned us to do today. So be faithful “in a very little.” Doing ministry with all our heart, we show that it is the Lord Christ we are serving (Col. 3:23–24). It’s an act of faith, believing that he can use our time and love and service for a purpose that is far bigger than us.

Don’t be ashamed to have a ministry of small things.

Reflection: How have you seen God powerfully use the little things in your ministry?

* Eugene H. Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (1987; repr., Eerdmans, 1993), 161.

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Excerpt taken from The Ministry of Small Things by Reuben Bredenhof, pages 13-17, P&R Publishing.