by: Katja Bruyninckx
On Sundays I used to hear about 'bringing the Kingdom into your day-to-day life' and I would be all excited.
Then I would think about my job.
My admin job.
Where I sit behind a desk. I answer phone calls & emails, write up policies & procedures, print stuff, work on the website... I really struggled with the question "How on earth am I supposed to bring the Kingdom HERE?"
For a while I was convinced that the only way for me to 'help with the Kingdom' was to start volunteering in a 'real' ministry, like kids work. And to be honest: our kid's ministry scares me to bits! I've served there for a while, but afterwards I just felt completely drained (please hear me right: I love what the kids ministry is about! but a room full of balls flying around is just not for me...).
But... when I organise, bring structure, make an Excel sheet.... that is when I come to LIFE. And I really, really felt like I was a 'freak'.
About two years ago, I was having one of those 'feeling-like-a-freak-moments' and that's when this Bible verse hit me:
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed (...) those with gifts of administration (...) (1 Corinthians 12:27-28 NIV).
It felt like I was struck by thunder: did the Bible really speak about administration? What was that all about?
That's when God started to take me on an exciting journey. He showed me that He's not interested in 'ticking-lists-for-ticking-sake' administration. It doesn't excite Him (or me!) in the least. Instead, God is interested in Administrators who join Him in creating the structures which are vital to enable and to protect life.
I think this is beautifully illustrated in the Creation story where there is a mixture of creation of new, alternated by the creation of structure (which is Administration to me). Through these verses, other Bible passages and teachings by very clever people, God showed me that He wants Administrators to be realised: they are creators. Creators of structure, but creators all the same.
God wants His Administrators to take their place in the 'dance' between them creating structure so others can create new so that Administrators can create structure and others can create new again. It is absolutely beautiful and exciting when you become part of this, because:
Printing a document transforms into releasing a teacher to teach.
Writing up a website changes into connecting a need with a solution.
Answering a phone call becomes an opportunity for a prophetic encounter.
I now realise that Administration and the Holy Spirit: it's a match made in Heaven which we get to bring into this earth! That is the kind of Administration that gets me excited. And if you're at all administratively active: that is what you called to do!
I can already hear some of you saying 'no way, I'm not doing that, in my case I'm really just entering information or making copies'. And that's exactly what the enemy wants you to think. Because the moment you start to realise the POWER of the spiritual gifting of Administration you're operating in, the enemy is in BIG TROUBLE!
I could go on for another two pages about why I believe this and what it looks like... but I won't do that here. Instead, I would like to encourage you with this: God wants us to desire all the Gifts of the Spirit. This includes Administration. So are there areas of administration in your life that could be used for His kingdom?
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