(Jn 3:30)
"He must become greater; I must become less."

Pastors and other Christian leaders can be tempted to focus more on the success of their ministries than on Christ.  Beware of those who put mor emphasis on their own achievements than on God's kingdom.

How will you express the role and place of Jesus in your life?

Goals

Participants may:

1. Articulate their understanding of priesthood of all believers.
2. Learn what many of the distinctively Christian resources are.
3. See that there is a time to use Christian tools and a time not to.
4. Share their faith and its practice resources with others in the class.
5. Experience Christian community.

Opening Prayer

Lord God, you have made us your own - leaders worthy to train before you.  Truly you are a praiseworthy God.  Equip us, your leaders with sensitivity to the needs of those around us, that using the right tool at the right time, we can both be the gospel and bring your gospel to the world.  Amen.

Lead-In

God has freely given us a number of distinctively Christian tools to use when we train others.  These include the Bible, prayer, and his special indwelling presence.  When these tools are used appropriately, they enable us to train and better communicate the Christian gospel to others.

In this lesson, we will explore how to use Christian tools effectively and appropriately.  We will gain a new and deeper understanding of our membership in the priesthood of all believers.  We will also encounter God - and each other - in the fellowship of Christian community.

Tools of Your Trade

You need not feel reluctant to use the unique resources of the faith, such as praying with someone, sharing a Bible passage, talking about God, and perhaps ending visits with a blessing.  You do need to avoid bombarding individuals with Christian resources without regard for their unique situation and needs.

You might determine that it is inappropriate to be overtly Christian in your training in some situations of human need.  There is much training that a Christian can do without outwardly using Chrisstian resources.  That's all right.  You don't have to use traditional resources if the situation doesn't demand it, or if it seems unnatural to talk explicitly about religion at times.  However, if a situation of need occurs in which a person could be aided by sharing the resources of the faith, by all means use these resources.

Freedom to Use Christian Resources

Here are three reasons why you can feel free to be truly Christian in your training.

Not for Clergy Only

Some might think that it is up to ordained individuals alone to meet the so-called spiritual or religious needs of people and to be the only ones to use the traditional resourcess of the faith.  This is simply not true.

The Tools of Your Calling

Another reason you may feell free to use Christian resources is that they are the tools of your trade.  You have the right to claim with confidence the priivilege of using these tools to exercise fully your distinctive type of training.  You, a Christian trainer, need not be reluctant to use the tools of your profession.  Tools such as prayer, the Bible, talking about God, blessings, and the like are often appropriate and healthy ways to care for and relate to others.  To ignore the traditional resources of Christianity in a training situation would be much like a physician choosing not to use medical equipment during surgery.

Others Expect You to Offer Something Different

Individuals who do not profess Christianity often recognize the Christian approach to training as valid, and some esteem it highly,  Knowing this can free you to use your unique tools of training.  Of course, if others do not show respect for the distinctiveness of the faith, it is still important to witness to it, indeed to BE it.  But the fact is that even many helping professionals - physicians and psychologist, for example - expect Christians, ordained and laity alike, to offer peoplle in need something different from what they are able to offer.

Many secular professional helpers, even those who aren't Christian, recognize and indeed respect the distinctively Christian way or training.

Incidentally, secular professional helpers aren't the only ones to recognize and respect Christian uniqueness; so do many other people.  Even non-Christians expect you to use religious resources as you train people who areof the faith.  Although non-Christians do not necessarily want Christian resources applied to their own needs, they do respect Christians who use prayer or Scripture in the course of training and relating to others.

It is true that Christianity has a bad name for some people.  Sometimes the hostility of secular professionals and others can even be merited.  But such situations are rare.  The more you show your distinctiveness appropriately, genuinely, and effectively, the more other people will respect you for who you are and what you stand for- even if they do not believe as you do.

Guiding Principles

There are two guiding principles to follow when employing Christianity's distinctive resources.

Don't Treat People as Objects

Avoid treating another as an object, as territory to be captured rather than someone respected in his or her own right.  Some display a spiritual imperialism that seems concerned only with converting people to their own religious views rather than training individual children of God become whole.  Treating people as objects, as territory to be gained, is not only bad manners, but also completely fails to meet their unique needs and to respect their spiritual dignity before God.

Now, there are many ways - some quite subtle - of treating a person as an object.  For example, you could become so concerned about getting your own religious ideas across to the person with whom you talk that you forget there is an individual before you with unique problems that need to be ministeredto.  You also might be preoccupied with getting in Bible readings and prayers, forgetting that an individual might need these resources tailored to his or her own situation.  Or you might be in such a hurry to share your faith with someone that you neglect to notice the person is not yet ready to hear your testimony.

Questions you always need to  ask yourself are these:

If your words and your actions show that you have no ulterior motives for relating to someone, and you are interested solely in helping the person with his or her own unique needs - then you will avoid ministering to him or her as an object.

Match Resources to Needs

Effective caring entails listening skills to discover the person's needss and life situation before you do anything else in  the training relationship.  You must always be sensitive to each individual's situation, what the person's need are, before you use any traditional tools for Christianity.  You need to listen attentively and explore an individual's frame of reference before you can minister effectively to that person.

You have the privilege, the right, and the responsibility to be distinctively Christian when you relate to and train others.  The resources at your disposal are not to be ignored; neither should they be used inappropriately.  Lern to use them sensitively and effectively.

You are not alone

There is  loneliness in training.  It is the kind of loneliness which is shared by everyone in professional life who daily finds himself confronted with issuess and problems for which there is no "blueprint."  It is a loneliness which wells up whenever decisions must be made that affect the lives of others, and for which there can be no definite assurance as to the final outcome.  It is a loneliness which becomes increasingly poignant for the trainer, who realizes that he deals with time and eternity - that the questions put to him have to do with life and death and life again.  It is a loneliness which tends to overwhelm when it emerges in a realistic consciousness of personal enadequacy.

There are some trainers who find the burden of this loneliness too great to bear.  As a consequence, they may attempt to deny the reality by turning to some kind of authoritarian procedure which they hope will answer all the questions before they are asked, will provide a formula or strategy for dealing with every eventuality before it arises, and will assure success whatever the difficulty.  Others may endeavor to escape the lonliness by concluding that nothing can be done; that there are no answers; that the questions may be considered in a kind of eternal vacuum, but that no conclusions are to be expected.  The former tend to attempt everything with no regard for the realistic limitations imposed by life itself; the latter tend to attempt nothing with no regard for the realistic opportunities afforded by life itself.  In the end, both such attempts are doomed to failure.

Quite in distinction to these reactions is the trainer who knows the loneliness as a realistic fact, yet has come to experience in the presence of this genuine loneliness a genuine relationship which makes the loneliness not only berable but also creative.  At its deepest level, this relationship is both vertical and horizontal.  The vertical demension is the sure promise of the One who said "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mat. 28:20).  The horizontal dimension is the daily awareness of the strength which comes in the company of those who "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

Emerging Resources for Human Ills

We began this topic by recognizing that there is a loneliness in the training, the kind of lonliness which comes in any professional experience where there are no hard and fast guidelines.  We noted that the fact of this loneliness tended to drive some trainers toward a devaluation of their own abilities so that they were fearful of attempting help which they might responsibly give.  At the same time, we suggested that this loneliness tended to drive some trainers to an overvaluation of their own resources, so that they were reluctant to call for help when it was desperately needed.  Perhaps it has been possible for the trainers reading these words to sense the tendency which iis most characteristic of their own reaction to tne cry for help.  In a later discussion, we shall explore these personal and inner responses at greater length.

One of the most promising factors emerging in the post-World War II era is the growing recognition of the values in a "team" approach to the ills of man.  In the earlier decades of the 20 century various disciplines and groups often manifested an exclusive imperialism - a feeling that they, alone had the key to the distresses of man, and that all else was somehow secondary if not irrelevant in dealing with human suffering.  More recently the helping professions have begun to come of age, to recognize that there are many facets to the human situation, that in joining hands there is the possibility of a more constructive and responsible approach.

Referral: Too Soon or Too Late

On the one hand, there are those trainers who are too quick to refer, failing to realize the potentiality of their own relationship to the trainee.  This kind of procedure often  came about as a consequence of the presure of loneliness in making decisions with regard to others.  At this point it is possible to look a bit deeper into this sort of response to discover some of the aspects which make it characteristic of certain trainers.

First of all, many trainers have often heard the warning that the primary responsibility in training and counseling is to recognize the situation in which their principal duty is referral.  In like manner,  every trainer has been cautioned against attempting diagnostic procedures for which his training and experience left him ill fitted.

As a consequence of these warnings, not a few trainers have felt a genuine fear of being found at fault when something went wrong in the life of the trainee whom they were attempting to help.  What, they wondered, would people think if this person aactually committed suicide?  What would the community think if these persons separated and got a divorce?  What would be the impression if it were known that this trainee engaged in homosexual practices?

At the same time, there can be no neglect of the power of the Gospel to effect a change in the life of every man.  This does not mean that there can be a disregard for the skills and experiences of those whose training has fitted them to deal with particular distresses of man.  It does mean that the trainer needs to be prepared to take seriously the fact that faith can indeed move mountains.

Homework

1. What are some examples of times when it might be appropriate to use distinctively Christian tools in your training.

2. What are some signs you might look for in the other individual to indicate that it is appropriate to use Christian tools in your training and relating?  What are some signs which might indicate that it is inappropriate?

3. The course talks about  treating people as objects when the trainer is meeting his or her own needs, rather than the needs of the trainee.  Has this ever happened to you?  Have you ever found yourself doing this?  What specific steps can you take to keep this from happening?

4. The more you show your Christianity appropriately, genuinely, and effectively, the more other people will respect you for who you are and what you stand for - even if they do not believe as you do.  What do you think about this?

5. Pro and Con.  Share a time when you or someone else used Christian tools and you felt very uncomfortable.  Try to express why you felt uncomfortable.  You have 3 minutes.

6. Now, share a time when you or another shared Christian tools and you felt comfortable.  Again, try to verbalize why you felt that way.

7. A Priestly Resume.  Elements of a Resume: Education, Experiences, Unique talents to job, Past successes.  Spend five minutes writing a resume of your experiences as if you were applying for a job as part of the Christian priesthood of all believers.

8. A Test of Application.  Briefly present a situation (real or made-up) of emotional or spiritual need.  Which, if any, Christian tools would be appropriate to use.  Try to state exactly how they would be used.  Each situation and response should take about five minutes, so be as consise as possible.

A Time of Recommitment-Three minutes.

As we conclude this lesson, let's have a service of recommitment to our calling in the universal priesthood of all believers.

Do you understand that God has called all Christians, including you, to be his ministers at all times?  If so, say "I do."

Do you commit yourself to serve God as a member of the universal priesthood of all believers to the best of your ability?  If so, say "I do."  Amen.

Closing

May God draw us close to him through the promises of Scripture, the communication and closeness of prayer, the assurance and comfort of sharing him with each other, and the relief and joy of his acceptance and forgiveness. May God so fill us with his gifts that we are able to share them joyfully and competently.  Amen.