More Than This: Doing Ministry Like Jesus
There is a moment many of us have experienced, sitting in the middle of an ordinary day, surrounded by the familiar rhythms of life, and feeling a quiet but persistent longing for something deeper. Something more meaningful. Something that actually matters.
That longing is not a sign of ingratitude. It may actually be one of the most spiritually significant feelings you will ever have.
The animated film Beauty and the Beast opens with its central character, Belle, singing about her desire for more than the small, predictable world she inhabits. She calls it her "provincial life," and the word provincial is worth sitting with for a moment. It describes something narrow, limited, and confined to the familiar. Belle was not ungrateful. She simply sensed that life held more than what she could see in front of her.
Many followers of Jesus quietly carry that same feeling about their faith. About their church. About the way they are living. And the question worth asking is this: if there is something more, what is it?
The answer, as straightforward as it may sound, is Jesus. Not a program. Not an event. Not a calendar full of church activities. Jesus himself, and a life genuinely shaped by the way he lived, loved, and served.
That longing is not a sign of ingratitude. It may actually be one of the most spiritually significant feelings you will ever have.
The animated film Beauty and the Beast opens with its central character, Belle, singing about her desire for more than the small, predictable world she inhabits. She calls it her "provincial life," and the word provincial is worth sitting with for a moment. It describes something narrow, limited, and confined to the familiar. Belle was not ungrateful. She simply sensed that life held more than what she could see in front of her.
Many followers of Jesus quietly carry that same feeling about their faith. About their church. About the way they are living. And the question worth asking is this: if there is something more, what is it?
The answer, as straightforward as it may sound, is Jesus. Not a program. Not an event. Not a calendar full of church activities. Jesus himself, and a life genuinely shaped by the way he lived, loved, and served.
The Church as a Body
In Ephesians 4:15-16, the apostle Paul describes the church using the image of a human body. Every part is connected. Every part contributes. And the whole body grows and builds itself up in love through the proper working of each individual part. Jesus is the head, meaning the church does not belong to any pastor, leader, or longtime member. It belongs to him. And if the church belongs to Jesus, then the most natural question is: how did Jesus do ministry?
When you look closely at the life of Christ in the Gospels, three distinct qualities emerge in the way he engaged with people. These three qualities are not just historical observations. They are a blueprint for what ministry, and really what the Christian life, is meant to look like.
When you look closely at the life of Christ in the Gospels, three distinct qualities emerge in the way he engaged with people. These three qualities are not just historical observations. They are a blueprint for what ministry, and really what the Christian life, is meant to look like.
Ministry that is Relational
Jesus was always with people. He walked with his disciples, sat with the sick, ate with sinners, and welcomed crowds that followed him from town to town. He made everyone feel important, valued, and loved. For Jesus, people were never projects. They were the priority.
In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus identifies the two greatest commandments: loving God with everything you have, and loving your neighbor as yourself. He then says that everything else in scripture hangs on these two commands. In other words, relationship is not a footnote to the Christian life. It is the foundation.
Relational ministry means doing life together. It means showing up consistently, not just at scheduled events, but in the ongoing, sometimes messy, always worthwhile work of genuine human connection. The early church described in Acts 2:42-47 did exactly this. They shared meals, prayed together, met in homes, and cared for one another's needs. The result was a community that grew because people could see something real happening among them.
Discipleship does not happen in a moment. It happens over time, in relationship, as people walk together through the ordinary and extraordinary seasons of life.
In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus identifies the two greatest commandments: loving God with everything you have, and loving your neighbor as yourself. He then says that everything else in scripture hangs on these two commands. In other words, relationship is not a footnote to the Christian life. It is the foundation.
Relational ministry means doing life together. It means showing up consistently, not just at scheduled events, but in the ongoing, sometimes messy, always worthwhile work of genuine human connection. The early church described in Acts 2:42-47 did exactly this. They shared meals, prayed together, met in homes, and cared for one another's needs. The result was a community that grew because people could see something real happening among them.
Discipleship does not happen in a moment. It happens over time, in relationship, as people walk together through the ordinary and extraordinary seasons of life.
Ministry that is Personal
Relational ministry builds the foundation. Personal ministry goes deeper.
In John 10:14-15, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd and says he knows his sheep just as the Father knows him. In the ancient world, a shepherd spent every hour of every day with his flock. He knew each animal individually. He understood their particular needs and tendencies. That kind of knowledge only comes through sustained, close, attentive presence.
Personal ministry is ministry that meets an individual's need, and you cannot know someone's need without knowing the person. This is why serving others is one of the most powerful tools for breaking down walls and building genuine trust. When you serve someone, you communicate that they matter to you. When people feel that, they begin to open up.
Jesus demonstrated this beautifully in his encounter with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. He engaged her personally, spoke directly to her deepest need, and offered her something no one else could. Matthew 20:28 captures his entire posture: he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for many.
Personal ministry asks us to die to our own preferences and comfort so that others may find life. That is a costly call. But it is the call of Christ.
In John 10:14-15, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd and says he knows his sheep just as the Father knows him. In the ancient world, a shepherd spent every hour of every day with his flock. He knew each animal individually. He understood their particular needs and tendencies. That kind of knowledge only comes through sustained, close, attentive presence.
Personal ministry is ministry that meets an individual's need, and you cannot know someone's need without knowing the person. This is why serving others is one of the most powerful tools for breaking down walls and building genuine trust. When you serve someone, you communicate that they matter to you. When people feel that, they begin to open up.
Jesus demonstrated this beautifully in his encounter with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. He engaged her personally, spoke directly to her deepest need, and offered her something no one else could. Matthew 20:28 captures his entire posture: he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for many.
Personal ministry asks us to die to our own preferences and comfort so that others may find life. That is a costly call. But it is the call of Christ.
Ministry that is Intentional
Jesus never did anything simply to fill time. His public ministry lasted only three years, and he moved through every moment of it with purpose and urgency. In Mark 3:14-15, he appointed his disciples with clear intention: to be with him, to preach, and to have authority over darkness. Every action had a why behind it.
Luke 19:10 gives us the clearest statement of Jesus's purpose: he came to seek and to save the lost. That mission drove everything he did, all the way to the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane, when the moment of greatest pressure arrived, he did not retreat. He drank the cup the Father had given him because he cared more about God's vision than his own comfort.
Intentional ministry means knowing why you do what you do. It means understanding the mission, which is how you live out your purpose, and holding on to the vision, which is the future you are working toward. Without that clarity, ministry becomes activity without meaning. And activity without meaning is just another version of the provincial life.
Luke 19:10 gives us the clearest statement of Jesus's purpose: he came to seek and to save the lost. That mission drove everything he did, all the way to the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane, when the moment of greatest pressure arrived, he did not retreat. He drank the cup the Father had given him because he cared more about God's vision than his own comfort.
Intentional ministry means knowing why you do what you do. It means understanding the mission, which is how you live out your purpose, and holding on to the vision, which is the future you are working toward. Without that clarity, ministry becomes activity without meaning. And activity without meaning is just another version of the provincial life.
The Crossroads
Every follower of Jesus eventually arrives at a crossroads. One direction is self. The other is Christ. The Sunday school answer is easy. Living it out is not.
Jesus himself said in Matthew 7:13-14 that the road leading to life is narrow and difficult, and few find it. Doing ministry like Jesus, and living life like Jesus, is the harder road. But it is the road that leads somewhere worth going.
The question is not whether you believe that. The question is whether you will actually walk it.
So consider today: in what you are doing, in how you are spending your time and your energy and your words, are you pointing people toward Jesus? Because that is what it is all about. Relational, personal, and intentional ministry all converge on one destination, an eternal relationship between people and God, made possible through Jesus Christ.
That is the more. And it has been there all along.
Jesus himself said in Matthew 7:13-14 that the road leading to life is narrow and difficult, and few find it. Doing ministry like Jesus, and living life like Jesus, is the harder road. But it is the road that leads somewhere worth going.
The question is not whether you believe that. The question is whether you will actually walk it.
So consider today: in what you are doing, in how you are spending your time and your energy and your words, are you pointing people toward Jesus? Because that is what it is all about. Relational, personal, and intentional ministry all converge on one destination, an eternal relationship between people and God, made possible through Jesus Christ.
That is the more. And it has been there all along.
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