A Ministry of Presence

    I remember the late October night, not too many years ago, when the pastor told me that during the baptismal covenant a United Methodist promises to give the church prayers, presence, service, gifts, and witness.   At that time I thought how are your presents and gifts different. It only took my brain a few seconds to come up with the difference between presence and  presents, but still it is funny.

When I applied for the US-2 program, one of the essay questions was "What does ministry with mean to you?"  That was the only question I had left, and I spent two to three days thinking about a good answer.  Luckily enough I had taken Mr. Pascoe's exposition class, so I was able to write a good essay answer.  However, also in said exposition class I learned that works of writing may never be fully finished, works can and should continually be revised.  So today I have a revised answer for what ministry with means to me.

Ministry with is a ministry of presence.  I have continuously been passionate about ministry with children and youth.  So outside of my actual job, I have continued my ministry with children and youth, by being present.  I like to say hi to as many children as I can when I see them in worship on Sunday mornings, and I am an assistant to Sunday school teachers about once a month.  Today I went to children's choir practice.  (With my joy for singing and lack of tonal awareness, children's choir is the place to start right?)  I had fun singing with the children.  Notice I did not sing to the children or for the children, I sang with them.  By participating in choir I bonded with those children in a way that I could not have done any other way.  

That afternoon as I was leaving the church, one of the boys from choir who was busy playing with other boys, stopped and waved shouting, "Bye Cindy!"  Right then I knew I had been in ministry with the children, and that ministry had a far greater impact on the children than a ministry to or for.