Serving Those Who Have No One to Remember Them (Service Preparation)
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III clarifies that the heart of the Church’s ministry must turn to those “who have no one to remember them”; that is, the forgotten and marginalized groups materially and spiritually. The goal is to call the Church to practical awareness and to organize specialized services that do not suffice with the outward appearances of ministry.
Groups in need of special ministry
The lecture lists various groups: new neighborhoods and cities, the quarters and alleys of Cairo, street children, garbage collectors, beggars, addicts, the delinquent, the elderly and the disabled, the deaf and mute, prisoners and their families, girls working in factories, young divorced women, and also people of position and wealth who are ashamed to approach spiritually.
The nature of required ministry
Material aid or formal meetings are not enough; what is required are specialized services: household visitation and spiritual visits, follow-up for absent youth, preventive programs in factories and foreign schools, committees to seek those who have become disconnected or left service, and rehabilitation services for ex-prisoners to find work and spiritual and psychological rehabilitation.
Ministry of difficult cases and the spiritual art of ministry
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III emphasizes that true ministry requires patience, wisdom, and special psychological and spiritual skills to deal with complex cases: those who reject ministry, the stubborn, addicts, and the socially neglected. Christ is the model who entered their houses and saved the lost.
Conclusion and practical direction
The call is to organize qualified servants in every church whose work is to seek the forgotten groups, and that these services be placed alongside Sunday school servants. The harder the service, the greater its reward; and the Church is invited to expand the concept of ministry beyond the beloved and the easy groups.
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