Dietrich Bonhoeffer on “The Ministry of Helpfulness” (Part One)

German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Life Together that each follower of Jesus is to develop and embrace a ministry of helpfulness to fellow believers in the context of the church.

…one should perform for another in a Christian community…that of active helpfulness. This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters. There is a multitude of these things wherever people live together.

Nobody is too good for the meanest service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his own career too solemnly (99).