I had an opportunity to be a part of something special the other night. It was a women’s ministry event at a church in the DFW area, called Gateway. Now, I’ve been part of many a women’s ministry gathering over the years. Conferences and retreats and girls’ nights out. Bible studies, small groups, and volunteering together. I’ve done it all, and led it all, and, truthfully, I thought this would likely be just another event, on a slightly larger scale.

But, no.

This was an event orchestrated by a ministry team who considers every minute detail. Everything, from what is typically considered important, like pre-training meetings for strategically placed women whose sole purpose is to seek out the lonely, redirect the lost, or pray for the broken, to what is typically considered less important, like the specific type of drink to serve, and what type of background music (or nature sounds) will best enhance a theme. This was a team whose deepest desire is to be for women, making sure they speak the love language of every individual lady who walks through their doors.

And why?

Because the way each of us feels safe is different. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to bringing hearts to a place of relaxing and receiving, and each woman – each drastically unique female – requires something different to soften at the touch of a Savior…to know they are deeply valued…to embrace that they are supremely loved.

Beyond the event itself, that night, I saw something else that impacted: the ministry’s leaders singling out the behind-the-scenes people to honor their work. They stopped with each person serving, and shored them up with thanks and praise, for their job well done. They ministered not only to the women in attendance, but to those who were serving them. Again, attention to the singular woman.

So often, in ministry, our view of it gets skewed by what can be streamlined to fit the most people with the least work. The very definition of “ministry,” however, is simply this: attending to the needs of another.

Another.

It doesn’t say others, plural. It’s singular. It’s about the one; always the one. Whether we are involved with a ministry whose reach is tens, hundreds, or thousands, it should always be about that one person, and when ministry works, it’s because every one of the many feel as if they are that one.

All of us, if we are Jesus-followers, are to live our lives as ministers. We don’t necessarily have to be a part of an organized ministry, within the church walls, or without, but the circles in which we move in our daily lives are filled with individual souls whose needs vary like wildflowers on a Texas highway. Seek them out. Learn their language of the heart and go the extra mile to speak it.

Because when one attends to the needs of another? That’s when ministry works.

Thank you Gateway Church for your excellence in ministry…and a darn good time!

“Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.” Luke 15:4-7 MSG