The Best Guidance I Received in Ministry

What is the best guidance you received on how to minister to others?

Along the way there are many good exhortations and helpful advice I have gratefully received. Some of the most obvious ones are theological: show people how every text points to Christ, always give people the gospel, the gospel is for both Christians and non-Christians. Some of the most obvious ones are ministerial: listen to people, be present with people in need, listen for the facts and the feelings, etc.

There are many other indispensable points of guidance I have been given over the years but in the end I still think of the advice Pastor Ken gave... LOVE YOUR PEOPLE.

Ken was right, you have to love your people. It can be easy to not see the depth of this truth. At first this truth helped me immensely because it got my thoughts and focus off of the content, programs, and product of ministry and onto the people I was ministering to. Ministry is about the people, and you have to love your people.

As I kept reflecting on the truth I needed to love my people I saw this truth was much deeper than I initially recognized. The fact I am so often confronted with is that I don't love people. If I am honest, I can't really love people as I should. And when I realize this the Gospel really does begin to work in me. I see just how great Jesus was, and still is, as he intercedes for us. I see just how desperate my condition as a sinner is. I see just how dependent I am on God moment by moment. I see just how prideful I can be and how humiliating my condition really is. I am humbled by God's greatness and my weakness.

And it is when I begin to see these things I can be freed from being so focused on myself in all the wrong ways. I can be freed from caring about my ministry, my image, my desires, my thoughts, my feelings, and my (insert practically anything here). This exhortation to love your people ends up helping me kill off the part of me that is consumed with building the kingdom of me rather than the kingdom of God.

As I am freed from the vice grip of self-centeredness that my sinful nature produces in my life then, and only then, am I able to truly love anyone. LOVE YOUR PEOPLE is some of the most helpful advice, practical advice, theologically rich advice, and soul saving advice I ever heard. Its a deep truth. Whether you are a pastor, lay minister, church member, or brand new Christian heed these words which Jesus gave LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

I (We) Wrote a Catechism!

Recently myself and two other great gents from Crossing Church endeavored to write a catechism for distribution in our church. A catechism simply put is a tool to help people learn the basics of the Christian faith. Its a very helpful tool despite the fact its not something the average American evangelical Christian is familiar with. Check this out. Send your thoughts. Its helpful to use and mediate on as an adult as well, I know from my own work of writing this!

http://crossingkidcity.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kidcity-catechism.pdf

You can find other resources on the children's ministry blog for our church here:
http://crossingkidcity.wordpress.com/

Spiritual Questions

Often one of the hardest things to do in evangelism is to turn the conversation from non-spiritual topics to spiritual conversation. As a hospital chaplain my job was to talk to people, having these conversations for at least 8 hours a day. During that time I came up with some go-to questions that helped me turn the conversation from non-spiritual topics to spiritual matters. The following are the top 10 questions I ask people to turn the conversation to spiritual matters. Each of the questions listed below has some alterations listed so you can see ways to change them up so they don't start to become formulaic.

Additionally, you will find once you start asking these questions in your conversations they are pretty easy and natural to ask people. Most people I talked to, out of the hundreds of conversations I had, had no problem being asked these questions and talking openly about their beliefs. Further, any personal anxiety I felt, or tension in the conversation was eased by simply asking "hey can I ask you a spiritual question?" Asking for permission shows respect and concern for the individual. It shows the individual they are not just a project to you, but that you actually care about what they want, think, and feel. 

Do you have other questions you would add to the list? What do you think of these questions?

TOP 10 QUESTIONS:
1- What are your religious beliefs?
2- What do you believe about God/Jesus/Christianity?
3- Do you go to church? / whats your church like?/ have you had good
experiences with churches before?
4- Is there anything you want me to pray for you about? / Can I pray for you?
5- Can I tell you what I believe?/ Can I tell you what my faith teaches?
6- What do you believe about the Bible? / What do you think the Bible
teaches about that? / Can I tell you what the Bible says about that?
7- How do you see God at work in all of this (the situation)? / How
does your faith effect this situation? / How has God been working in
your life lately?
8- Do you have a relationship with God? Is that relationship important
to you? What does your relationship with God look like?
9- How do you think God feels about that?
10- Hey I think I have sinned against you and I want to confess that
and ask for your forgiveness, can we talk about that?

What Not to Say to Those Who are Suffering

Today I found these blog posts by Ed Welch titled "What Not to Say to Those Who are Suffering". These posts are helpful and give some good guidance in knowing what to avoid saying to sufferers and why to avoid saying those things.

http://www.ccef.org/what-not-say-those-who-are-suffering
http://www.ccef.org/more-things-not-say-those-who-are-suffering

There is some especially helpful information about a better way to approach wanting to help sufferers than saying "if you need anything, call me". Check it out.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my new blog! I'm glad you found it. My goal here is to post thoughts that I hope can help you as you try to follow and glorify God in all of your life. This blog is titled after Hebrews 12:1-2 which says  "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Throughout this life we will face many challenges, sin, and suffering. My hope is that this can help you follow Jesus faithfully in the midst of life.