Considerate Ministry

This will help us to be more considerate ministering to the people of God and also to others who desire some type of ministry. Many times it is necessary to minister to others and also to be ministered to. As we are ministering and being ministered to, it is always more pleasant to be around someone who has developed certain considerations and habits towards others. Also, it's hard to bring God glory if we aren't considerate of others as we minister. We want to look at some of the more 'personal' ways to bring glory to God. The following are some guidelines for various forms of ministry.

1. Greetings in the name of the Lord!

   1. For anyone considering being an usher or anyone that has some type of ministry having to do with greeting of people at the doors of the church, you need to take into consideration a couple of very important things.

      1. Shaking hands

• The mans handshake – don't get into a 'let's see who's strongest' contest. You aren't going to glorify God by breaking someone's hand. Or by allowing someone else to break yours.

• Greeting a woman - Men should never shake hands with a woman like she is a man. To put it mildly, BE CAREFUL. Women are made slightly more fragile than we are so use caution when greeting a lady and be aware of how you grip her hand. Also, this most certainly applies to an older lady. This should also be a consideration when shaking hands with an older man as their bones may not be ready for the Mr. Universe grip. It's not good to send a person to the hospital from a church service before it even starts.

2. Prayer; this next section gives us an opportunity to look at several ways that we can keep our ministry to others a pleasant and meaningful part of another's life.

   1. “Let me pray for you.”

      1. The laying on of hands

         • Weight; if a person is kneeling at the altar or is in the prayer room on their knees before God, don't come up and press down on their shoulders so that they become uncomfortable (if they get up with much difficulty, it's a good indicator that you were 'resting' on them) It's not real easy to receive a blessing from God if you have to ask Him to please get this person off my shoulders!

         • Massaging; It is not necessary to massage someone's back for them as you're praying for them. Let God heal them if they have a sore back. It can be distracting to have someone massaging your back while you're trying to believe God for an answer to prayer. Also it may offend the person.

3. Halitosis – This is a fancy word for 'bad breath'. Not too many other things can distract a person from receiving a blessing from the brethern like being knocked over by someone's bad breath. If God wants to slay someone in the Spirit, He can handle it Himself. He does not need help from the saints. Many types of foods and drink can contribute to bad breath. Some folks naturally have breath that would slay a dragon so take care when ministering in close quarters. If you;

   1. Drink

      1. coffee

      2. soda

   2. Eat

      1. Spicy foods like

         • Onions

         • Garlic

         • Hot peppers

   3. Smoke or chew

   4. Eat most anything

4. Body odor

Having B.O. Doesn't bless anyone either. If you can't use deodorants then at take a shower a couple times a day. Again, we are to glorify God in our ministry to others so don't offend someone by some inconsiderate action.

There are some common remedies for bad breath, we do live in a time and culture that allows us to overcome some of life's 'human' problems.

1. Breath deodorants

   1. Clorets

   2. Mouthwash

2. Body Deodorants

To summarize: remember that in our ministry to others in the body of Christ or to the unsaved, let your relations with other be pleasant and memorable. God will get glory from your consideration for others.