pastoral care

I'm attending the 'Recognised Ministers' course in Sydney. Currently on train to Blaxland, so thought maybe I'd post a series on what I'm learning- to consolidate, honestly evaluate, and share anything of value.

We started off with a reminder from John the Baptist- regarding his pointing to Jesus, and that he was aware of his own limitations, and his role as one pointing to the Messiah. As 1Peter5 calls Christ the 'Chief Shepherd', so pastors are 'undershepherds', and always the point is to exalt Christ. There is a great temptation to be focused on the wrong things.

Then we looked at Spirit Empowered ministry. Jesus promises the power of His Spirit for the work of ministry. The analogy I remember best is that of a parents response to a kid who wants to grow a vege patch. One response is to think of reasons why not. This is like those who keep the HS at arms length, with some suspicion and unbelief. Other parents put it off- good idea about the garden, and open to the idea, but today it's raining (etc). This is like those who say that they are open to the idea of God showing up, but not really expecting it or relying on God. The final option is the parent who gets out the tools, digs a bed, buys some seed. This is those who cultivate and sow seeds in terms of cultivating relationship with God, not as those who call him in for some elements, but who rely on His power at every step of the way, not just at certain moments.

Overall, the message was to maintain personal relationship with God, and rather than seeing ministry as God filling the voids where we think we need him because can't do it ourselves like filling up a half empty bottle-(prayers like 'be with me' turn to 'thankyou that you are here')- we see ministry as the overflow of a full bottle- as those who are giving from fulness.

We looked at church governance- that will be a whole series, but I was encouraged by the methodology.

We had a great session on avoiding burnout- I'll post the '10 tips' later.

Then we looked at conflict management- some really great stuff, again- worth posting later.

Not Unconditional Love: Rather Undeserved

I've been watching Professor John Barclay interviewed on CPX about the idea of 'grace' or 'gift' in Western Thought. This has helped me clarify my thoughts on the common, but unhelpful expression 'unconditional love' (describing God).

One reason that this is unsatisfactory is that there was a condition (in a sense)- Jesus died for us, and bore our sins, which were causing offence to God. Forgiveness and friendship with God are not cheap as might be suggested by 'unconditional'.

Another reason is that 'unconditional' tends to suggest that there is no ongoing responsibility or obligation following faith- as if faith in Christ connects us to his work without any expected transformation. That we can carry on as we were. Zacchaeus is one of many examples where this is not so.

I have been training myself to use 'undeserved' when speaking of God's love for us.

Barclay discusses how in the world of Jesus (and Paul) a 'gift' or 'grace' had strings attached- it was given because it was deserved.

Jesus shattered expectations by giving gifts to the 'undeserving'.