At Crossroads, we’re asking God to help us to put a face on our ministry. We’ve discovered that we talk a lot about people who receive Christ through our church, people who’s marriages are saved, people who are healed in some way, but what does that ministry really look like?
In Acts 16, The Apostle Paul, after looking into someone’s face, launched perhaps the greatest ministry in the history of the church. That face belonged to a man from Macedonia who, in a dream asked Paul to come and preach the Word of God to him. If you think about it, the entire Bible is really a book of stories about individuals. The Bible isn’t just a book about courage; it’s a book about the courage of a little boy named David who God used to slay a giant. It’s not just a book about obedience; it’s a book about the obedience of a man named Noah who was willing to build an ark. The Bible isn’t just a book about opportunities; it’s a book about a beautiful young girl named Esther who made the most of the opportunity she was given to save her people. We’ve started asking, “Who are the David(s), the Noah(s) and the Esther(s) of Crossroads Church? They will put a face on our ministry!
The reason it’s so important that we place a face on our ministry is because God is interested in individuals, not just crowds. He certainly can move on crowds, like He did on the day of Pentecost when His followers were filled with the Holy Spirit, empowering them for ministry! However, that move of God wasn’t about a crowd. It was about the individuals in that crowd. Their stories make up the remainder of the New Testament. If we aren’t interested in putting a face on our ministry, perhaps it’s because we don’t really love individuals like God does: We just love crowds!
The most important reason to ask God to put a face on our ministry is because, when we do, people get to see Jesus. Remember what He said when he was asked by those who stood before Him in judgment to explain to them when they may have fed the hungry, clothed the naked or visited those sick and in prison? He said, “When you’ve done it to the least of these my brothers, you’ve done it unto me.” When we put a face on ministry, it’s the face of Christ!
Every occasion in the Bible when people looked into the face of the resurrected Christ, they were filled with worship, wonder and humility! That’s why we want to put a face on our ministry. So people will be filled with that wonder, that worship and that humility that only comes about by looking into the face of Jesus Himself.
