The PASSION Blog

I was just preparing my last assignment and I came across this passage in Thomas Oden’s book “Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry”. Something about it resonated within me. I thought I would share it…

The Christian community is a covenant community bonded not by race or blood or kinship but by a covenant with God and spiritual relationship to Christ. Jesus regarded His disciples as sisters and brothers, the Christian community as a nurturing family, and the faithful as children of God. In a local congregation the Pastor is called to encourage and guide this family in spirit, to care for each member and to wisely parent this process, seeking to help each member of the family of faith grow to fuller maturity (p.188)

Last night I looked through all my notes from my pastoral care unit I did this semester. As I flicked through I re-read all the points that the lecturer really paid special attention to. I found it an interesting summary of some of the key points of the unit. Here they are…

Key #1 - We don’t follow Christ’s example in pastoral care. We don’t learn what He did and do it. We take on his yoke and partner in his work. He is already working in our midst. We just need to recognise it and join in.

Key #2 - Must approach all pastoral care from perspective of God working in the persons life. What is God doing or wanting to do? The Pastors role is to help facilitate this work.

Key #3 - Those doing the work of a Pastor are part of God’s putting people back together team at times. We come alongside people as equals and engage in what God is doing in the persons life.

Key #4 - Pastoral care works best in the context of genuine two ways relationships. When both parties are open to each other. ie Larry Crabb - both chairs facing each other.

Key #5 - Pastoral care works best in community of faith. We are all peices of a jigsaw and we need each other to find that answers to our problems. Some are holding a piece and some have the place for it to go.

Key #6 - Let Scripture speak to the person. Rather than quote Scripture at someone. Give them a passage to read for “homework” and allow God’s Spirit to speak to them as they read and reflect on it. Discuss at next meeting.

Key #7 - Never jump to conclusions. Always allow the person to speak fully and really listen to their story. Each person is unique and sees problems from different angles. There is no one size that fits all solution to pastoral care and counselling.

Key #8 - Remember to draw aside like Jesus did. You can’t solve all the problems of the world. Need to take time out to reflect and seek God. Answers and guidance comes during these times. You also learn what to be involved with. ie Jesus only doing what he saw the Father doing.

I just got the result of my last New Testament exam/quiz - 96%. I nearly fell off my chair when I logged into the Tabor website to get the result!

That is my best mark for the year. I previous got a 90% for an Old Testament quiz/assignment and 90% for a written assignment about God’s role and our role in finding salvation. You would hope I would do well at that one being evangelistically minded!

I found this one this morning and I thought I would share it. I could just imagine this one happening and the family members trying to hold back the giggles…

A golden anniversary party was thrown for an elderly couple. The husband was moved by the occasion and wanted to tell his wife just how he felt about her. She was very hard of hearing, however, and often misunderstood what he had to say. With many family members and friends gathered around, he toasted her: “My dear wife, after fifty years I’ve found you tried and true!” Everyone smiled approval, but his wife said, “Eh?” He repeated in a louder voice, “AFTER FIFTY YEARS I’VE FOUND YOU TRIED AND TRUE!” His wife harumphed and shot back, “Well, let me tell you something—after fifty years I’m tired of you, too!”

The other day I posted on “The inward call to pastoral ministry“. This was made with some observations and reflections from Thomas Oden’s book “Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry”. In it he asked a number of questions that someone should reflect on if they are considering entering Pastoral ministry. Today I will share some reflections on the outward call.

Oden shares that while the inward call is important for someone considering entering ministry, that this calling needs to be confirmed by the church.  He shares that the purpose of the outward or external call to pastoral ministry is to examine the reasons why they believe they are called to ministry and to test and assess the persons suitability to ministry in the church.

Initially Oden says that if someone who might feel called to ministry should speak to several mature Christian friends they trust and can give them honest feedback. If they are positive in there appraisals then he suggests it should go further to the leadership of the church to discuss the persons suitability.

I think this outward confirming is an important step. Of course it is not 100% guarenteed to be correct as we are asking imperfect human beings to make decisions who can get it wrong. However it can be a useful filtering process. A person may be recognised as suitable for pastoral ministry, but they may need more time before they are ready and may need to undertake some training first. They can also be given ministry responsibilites in a lesser area to develop and prepare them for the future opportunites.

As with all things I have found in ministry, time is usually a good test. If the person has a persistant call to pastoral ministry, the desire to serve, teach and care for others and they are displaying the fruit of this in their lives, then there is a good chance the people around them will recognise this and prayerfully give them an opportunity.

As I have mentioned a few times recently I am winding down for the year and deciding if I am going to continue with studies next year. While I am mulling this over I have noticed something starting to stir inside of me. The desire to be a Pastor again is rising to the surface.

In my heart the desire to care for people spiritually as well as the desire to preach, support, encourage and come along side people is returning.

It will be interesting to see where this goes and what comes of it over the next month or so and how it fits in with further studies?

was reading through Thomas Oden’s book “Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry” the other day. In it he says that if someone in considering going into full time pastoral ministry they need to have a persistant inward call over a period of time.

He also said that the person needs to honestly reflect on a number of questions. As the book is quite old I have paraphrased them.

• Have I learned to pray?
• Have I learned to worship?
• Have I learned to study the Bible and feed myself?
• Am I competant to lead a group of Christians?
• Do I feel a deep empathy towards others who are hurting?
• Am I prepared to give my life sacrificially for the service of others?
• Have I got a fair understanding of how I tick?
• Am I competant in interpreting and teaching the Scriptures?
• Have I learned to live inside a community of faith?
• Am I someone the community of faith can place their full trust?
• Can I live with intergrity and be accountable to the church?

By no means are they all the questions one needs to ask. However, I found these questions quite interesting and useful place to start if someone is interested in the area of pastoral ministry.

In the next few days I will share about what Oden says about “The outward call to ministry”.

The last few days I have felt the feeling of revival happening in my life. It was not that I was especially away from God, it was just that being in a busy period of studies you feel a bit less spiritual than usual.

The thing that has brought about this revival feeling is listening and worshipping to some of the older Hillsong songs. Although they are only about 14-15 years old, they are old considering I am only 19 years old as a Christian.

As I have been listening and being revived, I couldn’t help but think of some of the older people in our churches who long to hear some of the old hymns. For me the old Hillsongs songs are old, but for some of our seniors they are probably still newies!

The funny thing about music is just how powerful it is at taking you back to a time. For me those old Hillsongs take me back to a new and fresh time in my faith journey. When everything was new and exciting.

I wonder if this is how some of our seniors think in church when they hear some of the older hymns that were precious to them? I wonder if it takes them back to a time of new faith, when they made their significant connections with God and perhaps when they were in the primes of their life? I suspect that it does.

Not only has the older Hillsong music played a part in reviving me. But I think it has given me a glimpse into understanding how the older saints in our churches might long to hear a hymn or two in our services.

A friend emailed me and asked which units I have studied this year at Bible College. He asked because I have been talking about college and a few of the units I have done on this blog, but not listed them all. So I thought I would list them all.

Some of the units I have done before at other institutions, but because I did not complete a course I decided to start from scratch. Here you go…

1. Study skills - this is the basic that all students need to do to make sure you know what you are doing.

2. Old Testament Intro - This is the second time I have done this. This time I got to really look at God’s covenental relationship with mankind. As a result I gained a new appreciation of God’s commitment to us all.

3. Creative Living - I had done a similar unit to this before. This touched on Who God is, who we are and how we live our lives in light of that. This gave a me a deeper understanding of who I am in Christ. It was one of my favourite units this year.

4. Intro to Christian Belief - I had done this before, but again you can not do too much of the basics. It challenged me to really think about what I do believe in a couple of areas and update my theology.

5. Intro to Biblical Interpretation - this looks at how we read, interpret and apply the Bible to today. It reinforced the importance in being rigorous in my message preparation.

6. Leadership - this unit helped me to formulate some thoughts on leadership in life and the church. It was an area where I felt I was lacking going in. I really enjoyed it and I feel more prepared as a result.

7. New Testament Intro - third time I have done this, but still good to learn it from a different perspective. Focussed heavily on the context that Jesus lived and ministered amongst in NT times.

8. Ministry of the Spirit - this looks at Who the Holy Spirit is and how He works in the world, our lives and ministry. I gained a deeper understanding of how the Holy Spirit works in and through us as ministers.

9. Ethics - I really enjoyed looking at the big issues of life and working through some of the grey areas. Rather than telling us what to believe, it helped us to think through an issue ethically.

10. Pastoral Care - this looked at the aspects of pastoral care in the church and the community. Like the leadership unit, it helped to formulate some thoughts on caring for people in and outside the church.

11. Preaching and communicating - as the title suggests it is about preparing and preaching messages. I have done a reasonable amount of preaching in the past, but found this useful.

So there you have it, the units I did this year. As I said I have done a number of them before, but I wanted to do them again all in one place. The idea was to cover the basics and to put more tools in my ministry toolbox, so I could prepare for future opportunites to serve God in whatever context I find myself in.

I have a feeling this is only the beginning of the studies, but the rest will probably be part time while working part time…

Many years ago when I was searching for more to this life I began to read the Bible. As I did I began to find out about Jesus. Discovering who He is changed my life forever. Here are 15 truths I learned about Jesus - who He is and what He has done for us.

1. Jesus forgives sins (Mark 2:10)
2. Jesus is one with the Father (John 10:30)
3. Jesus performed miracles (John 10:32)
4. Jesus came from the Father (John 16:28)
5. Jesus is the Christ (Mark 14:61-62)
6. Jesus is the Messiah (John 4:25-26)
7. Jesus came to give spiritual life (John 10:10)
8. Jesus gives us the right to become God’s children (John 1:12)
9. Jesus bestows eternal life (John 10:28)
10. Jesus keeps us in eternal life (John 10:28)
11. Jesus is fully God (Philippians 2:5-11)
12. Jesus became fully man (Philippians 2:5-11)
13. Jesus’ death was a ransom for our sins (Matthew 20:28)
14. Jesus died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8)
15. Jesus rose from the dead (Acts 2:24)

As I said these truths changed my life forever. Since Saturday the 21st of July 1989 at 7.10pm things have not been the same…and they continue to get better and better each day. All because of who Jesus is and what He has done for us…what He has done for me.

If you would like to experience the same life changing moment that I did in 1989, you can visit my “Peace with God” page here.

God Bless,

Dave