I wanted you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but have thus far been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

   - Romans 1.13

But you have long known my purpose of instilling character; if you see some progress of souls with you, stay there...

   - Columbanus, Letter to His Disciples, Irish, 7th century

I have often been asked by people how to determine where God wants them to serve in the His Kingdom. My answer is always the same: wherever you can bear fruit, beginning right where you are.

God has given us gifts for ministry by His indwelling Spirit so that we may be fruitfully employed in building others up in the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 12.7-11). Every believer is gifted, and every believer has opportunities, every day, to see the Spirit work with those gifts to touch the lives of others with the grace of God.

Imagine: God at work in and through you, by His love, for His honor, for the edification of others!

Our gifts may be large and varied, or they may be small and but a few. No matter their number and no matter their strength, God wants us to be about the work of serving others with all the gifts He has given us. 

The proper focus for determining the ministry God has for us is not on where we or someone else thinks we should, be but where we are most likely to bear fruit. Ministry, after all, is not an end in itself. We should not teach just to teach, care for the poor just to meet their physical needs, or work in the nursery just to fill a slot. Whatever we do in ministry must concentrate on bringing others to a higher stage of Christ-likeness, or Christ-awareness, helping them to become more like Jesus and better fitted for serving or coming to know Him.

Wherever you choose to serve the Lord in His Church, make sure that your ministry is focused on bearing fruit in others. Look around you, right where you are. You see people every day, throughout the week. These are the folks to whom God has sent you for Jesus’ sake. You’ll never grow weary of serving, or resent the time and energy invested therein, as long as you can see that people are growing in or closer to the Lord. You may have to undergo some “trial and error” in order to find your best ways of serving the Lord, but by all means, seek His place of ministry for you.

You’ll know it when you find it, because the Lord will bring forth fruit from your labors.

Psalm 51.10-13 (Passion Chorale: “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”)
Create in me a clean heart, renew me from within!
Take not Your Spirit from me because of all my sin.
Salvation’s joy restore, Lord, and keep me in Your hand;
Thus shall I tell Your strong Word to sinners in the land.

Lord, let my purpose be to minister grace and instill Christ-like character in others, as often as I may, beginning right where I am today.

Here, at the beginning of a new year, would be an excellent time to map out or review your own Personal Mission Field. Click here and download the worksheet that could change your life by bringing the work of ministry more vitally into your everyday walk with the Lord.