by Scott Basham, BibleSteak Contributor

Hebrews 10:24-25 says "let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." This implies that love and good deeds should be so overflowing in your life that you are actually challenging others to do the same!

God has ministries for every person. Here are some suggestions on how to minister. Use this to allow God to stimulate you to know what it is He has for you to do. Discover both what He would have for you to do, and when.

• Deliver food to someone else, impromptu, no reason.


• Concerned about someone? Call them! Try to get past the casual stuff to find out how they are doing, and let them talk.


• Smile, be enthusiastic. Be filled with the Spirit. God is a God of joy and peace.


• Buy something for someone else. No special occasion.


• Get together with another family. Especially ones you don't know well. (A couple once shared they were in a large class for 2 years and knew only a few people's names.)


• Offer to do nursery for someone scheduled to -- let them go to church.


• For those in service, offer to teach their class, and let them attend Sunday School for a change.


• Write a note to someone, telling them something you appreciate about them. Big gains on this one.


• Pay attention to what God is saying to you in your time with Him. Share it with others, to encourage them.


• Pray, and allow God to answer. Share answered prayers with others.


• Come to church prepared to worship. We can minister to God (and others) through worship.


• Come to Sunday School prepared. Be ready to minister in class, not just attend.


• Start your own study group, maybe in your home. Buy material where you just have to answer questions, and discuss them together. Pray for one another.


• Share your faith with those without faith. The harvest is plentiful. There are people that want to hear about Jesus.


• Tell someone you will pray for them. Do it regularly. Expect great things. Check up with them to see what God is doing in their life.


• Start a small mens/ladies group. You initiate it.


• Babysit for other families. Call them, tell them to pick an evening. Do it also for a weekend!


• Write a note to a servant in the church (kid's teacher, usher, deacon, pastor, etc.), telling them what you appreciate about their ministry.


• Pay attention to the "blips" that the Holy Spirit sends you. We are rushing around, yet God is sending us blips, like help this person, offer a kind word, ask for forgiveness when you've wronged someone, don't say something the wrong way, let an insult or pain slide by without retaliation, etc. You know -- you are the one God is speaking to. Slow down, and obey the "blips".


• Ask another family to lunch after church.


• Pray, pray, pray. Pray for others.


• Bring food to the church's food pantry. And not just stuff you don't like.


• Have your own VBS. Plan an afternoon, invite kids over, and do crafts which teach lessons about God.


• Hold an evangelistic Bible study. Invite neighbors who don't attend church. Get material with questions to help you.


• Hold a children's evangelistic Bible study. Invite neighbor children.


• Someone in the hospital? Visit them. Someone on bed rest? Visit them. Someone stuck at home? Visit them.


• When a spouse has to go out of town, invite the family over for dinner, even during the week. It doesn't have to last late.


• Know a single-parent family? Spend time with the children, showing them God, filling some of their gap.


• Be a person of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, so others can see Jesus Christ.


• Befriend your neighbors. Show them Jesus Christ by your example.


• Someone's car broke down? Lend them yours, even if it's inconvenient for you.


• Bring bagels by someone's house early in the morning.


• Give your spouse an evening out, either by themself, or with friends.


• Pay attention to who hasn't been to church or Sunday School in a few weeks, and call them.


• When you hear of a project, offer your help, e.g. preparing a shower for someone, moving, painting, cleaning up the yard, etc.


• Have an impromptu social -- just call a bunch of people to get together.


• Hold a time of prayer in your house, and invite others to join you.


• Pray for others' marriages. Prayer enables great things.


• Befriend others in the church outside of your peers -- singles, elderly, teens, etc.


• Spend time with God -- this ministers to Him (Acts 13:2, Deuteronomy 10:8).


• Greet and get to know others in the worship that you don't know. Get their name, and write it down.


• Counsel/reprove those who are struggling spiritually, after praying about it.


• Regularly attend church services. This ministers both to those attending and also to those leading it.


• Become a teacher of a children's class. There is a great need. Remember Ray Boltz' song "Thank You".


• Weekly (or daily) consider how you can minister to others.


• Consider how to can encourage others to minister (Hebrews 10:24-25).


• Remember not to compartmentalize church activities vs. outside activities. This isn't church -- this is life. This should be a part of everything you do.

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

Luke 10:2 Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Hebrews 6:9-10 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister