Week Four -- Biblical Ministry

Before I get into the teaching of this week, I want to talk about something YWAM Denver did last weekend. We had a 24 hour prayer room with live worship, which we called "Dwell." It was an amazing time spent with the Lord, where we got to soak in the Spirit-led worship led by different musicians part of YWAM Denver. Also last Friday night, two of my friends were healed! They received prayer because each of them had one leg shorter than the other, which was causing back pain, and the Lord grew their legs to the same length!!! Praise Jesus!

A collage of pictures my friend Sarah took from Dwell

So, I was especially excited for this week because our speaker was Donna MacGowan. Her husband Mark directed my Young People's Discipleship Training School last fall, and she is incredibly wise. So, I'm a huge fan. :) I love her practical teaching so much. I hope to apply everything she taught to my life!

The point of this week was to teach us how to do ministry well; how to minister to someone directly and by the Word of God. She shared life lessons and experiences that she learned the hard way, which I'm so thankful she was willing to share with us. How wonderful for my class to have the opportunity to glean from someone who has been in ministry for decades!

Here are some things I am taking away from this week :)

Tips in ministry:
   Listen more than you speak
   Open your heart to hurt with the person
   Voice your love for them
   Entreat the Lord together (pray)

"The process of change does not always look like progress." -Duffy Robbins
     This is important to remember, especially because the enemy so loves to attack us with discouragement and lies when we are in fact changing.

This is a really powerful video on how knowing Jesus reverses our thinking!
---> Reverse Thinking

Something Donna taught that relieved my heart a lot was that in ministry, it is not my job to:
-Heal the wound lightly     ~Jeremiah 6:14 & 8:6
-Set them free     ~John 8:32
-Convict of sin     ~John 16:8
-Judge (in a bad way)     ~Matt 7:1 & 7:16
      In judging a person, it is so important to NOT assume motives. "Just Ask" is something we say a lot at YWAM because so many conflicts can be resolved immediately by simply asking the person about it! If a person does or says something that offends you, the best way to deal with it is by the conflict resolution process set before us in Matthew 18:15-17. If we follow this simple process, most conflict will be resolved in that first step! :)

We looked a lot at the way Jesus did ministry because He is our ultimate model.
One thing we learned by doing this, is that it is vital to only do what the Father is doing. To be sensitive to what He is speaking to us. To not try to do things out of our own strength. I'm reading a book called Leadership Paradox, and I love this quote from it:

One principle alone guided Jesus' response to any situation: "The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him." By putting the Father's will above his own, Jesus dwelt in that serene place where ego, prestige, and position had no dominion (55).

"You cannot place the divine truths directly in someone else's heart. All that you can do is place them on the heart, so when the heart breaks, they will drop in." -Hasidic Proverb

In the same way that it's important for me to know what isn't my job, it is just as important to know what my job is:

-Know the Word     ~Hebrews 4:12 & 2 Timothy 3:16

-Lead the person back to God for counsel     ~John 14:16 & 26

-Help them in the job of sanctification     ~1 John 3:2-3

-Listen     ~Romans 10:8

-Invite them to see truth     ~John 8:31-32

-Pray for revelation     ~Ephesians 1:17-19

-Speak truth in love     ~Ephesians 4:15

-Ask God for wisdom     ~James 1:5

-Encourage     ~Hebrews 10:24

-Pray     ~James 5:16

In talking about God physically healing people, we don't want to miss emotional healing that needs to take place, too! We should be seeking the FACE of God more than the HAND of God.

There was much, much more that we learned on identifying problems often encountered in people's lives, and what the symptoms, origins, and solutions are. It was an incredible teaching, but too much to blog about! ;)

We finished the week with talking about boundaries in ministry. This teaching specifically was SO good to me because I've grown up in a ministry-oriented family and church. We identified that fear is actually what keeps us from setting boundaries. But we have to set them because it is what is most loving for us and the person we are ministering to.

Types of boundaries to set:

-Dependency boundaries--Be careful of needing to be needed and thinking that you're the only one who can help someone.

-Time boundaries--Don't tell people you're always available to them. That teaches them to depend on you instead of God. And, set a time boundary for how long you have a conversation.

-Place boundaries--Be wise! Think about the level of privacy, lighting, and the time of day.

-Topic Boundaries--Be wise about how much you share about your past/sin; our focus should be more on JESUS. Be willing to say something when the conversation becomes too intimate. Remember: intimacy is not always physical. It's okay to say, "I don't think I'm the person for you to be sharing this with."

A key to setting boundaries is setting them before you need them. :)

Thankful for a great week of learning about ministry and the opportunity to immediately put it to practice!