When you hear the word “Ministry” what do you think of?

I know for myself, ministry used to mean telling other people about what I believed. In my early understanding, ministry was informational - it was leading Bible studies and passing out literature and preaching sermons. Ministry meant defending my faith well and having better arguments about topics like creation, lifestyle choices, and salvation than the other people around me. What I didn’t learn until later is that perhaps the most powerful form of ministry isn’t informational - it’s incarnational. We learn a whole lot more from watching how other people live their lives than we do from what they say to us. It’s how we learn whether to trust someone. It’s how we decide whether we want to listen to the things they say in the first place. Incarnational ministry is all about embodying the character of Jesus and introducing the world to Him through our actions.

As a former local church pastor who now works as a hospital chaplain, Emily Cortez has been learning incarnational ministry for the past several years. When people are experiencing some of the most vulnerable parts of their lives in the hospital, what does it mean to minister to them?