The Spirit of God
“Communitized” refers to the transfer of responsibility (for something) to the community, based on common objectives and shared interest with the intent to pool resources for the common good. When engaged in the work of Kingdom building, we have a covenant promise of God communitizing work we do for His glory. A divine agreement exists as we partner with God to give us full access to all of Heaven’s resources for the good of all. The agreement is surety the Holy Spirit will be with us as we engage in God’s work.
Every day, what we do and how we do it gets noticed. John tells us that there are three that bear witness, and they are all one in agreement (1 John 1:7, 8). The Holy Spirit is said to witness in both heaven and earth. He who witnesses our work on earth stands ready to support us in community engagement. This witness invites us to be active participants to affect change in our environment.
This ever-present Spirit of God in our ministry is an invitation to partner with Heaven’s communitizing initiative and to recognize positive outcomes in our local and global community as a collective effort. As a staff chaplain at a faith-based hospital, I accept this invitation by engaging in health care ministry that impacts my community. Our hospital’s mission presents an open-door invitation to our community to be the hospital of choice for health care regardless of race, religion, economic status or other social identifiers. What keeps me engaged in our mission is that I want to impact these diverse communities facing disparities of healthcare by providing spiritual care to patients, family, and staff.
My journey from ministry and academic preparation to actual “boots on the ground” ministry in the community owes to heeding the Spirit’s call to follow in the footsteps of Christ. It was in the marketplace of common people who needed both physical and spiritual healing that Christ made Himself available to be reached by broken humanity. I want to make myself available, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to impact my community based on common objectives and shared interest. My spiritual connections draw upon the Holy Spirit for strength and wisdom as we participate in our Community Impact Leadership Council helping local communities develop programs, and investing in community health improvement through meaningful partnerships.
God moves in different ways to encourage us in the work of impacting our communities by providing resources for the common good. Our takeaway is to move boldly in God’s promise that God’s Spirit is with us, and He bears witness and supports our ministry.
By Ronnie Joseph Hobson, Sr., Staff Chaplain at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and All Nations Faith Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church Pastor in Arlington, Texas.
