#30
You will find this book to be reservoir of tried-and true principles, usable ideas, plans, suggestions,
biblical teachings and helps of all kinds.
You should be able to find yourself in the following list:
1 Pastors and/or lay leaders concerned about the care of their members and searching for a working model;
2 Churches that have a lay pastoral care ministry and to see the need to “beef it up”;
3 Pastors and church officers who want to raise the “one another” caring level of their congregations;
4 Seminary professors, particularly those in the pastoral care department;
5 Pastors who want to ignite their people with a vision for authentic and effective lay ministry;
6 Small Group leaders or administrators looking for training and encouragement in caring for the members of their groups;
7 Sunday School or Adult Bible Class (“Learning Communities” is what we call ours) leaders and teachers desiring help in caring for the individual members of their classes;
8 People who want vital up-to-date information about what is happening in today’s church regarding lay ministry;
9 “Ordinary people” who want to use their spiritual gifts in ministry;
10 Continuing education or Doctor of Ministry candidates working on studies, papers or projects in any area of lay ministry.●
(Audio/Byeong) Dr. Melvin said wherever you are in, you maybe need this ministry, for instance: -Pastors or lay leaders who need a lay pastoral care ministry; -who want to raise the “one another” caring level of their congregations; -seminary professors who is looking for resources, -who want to ignite their people with a vision for authentic and effective lay ministry; -small Group leaders; -ordinary people who want to use their spiritual gifts in ministry; -who are studying for a Doctor of Ministry degree, so on. Personally, I found this ministry helped my ministry direction, ministry effectiveness, and helped my leadership growth. And I found from churches that it gave them hope to revitalize for abundant spirituality, also helped to change their culture and ministry direction.
COMMENTS
in relation to Where are you in?
Thomas Parrish, USA, says:
An Historic Leap for Lay Pastors Ministry, Inc. Thomas Parrish, as of June 19, 2000, is LPMI’s full-time Executive Director. This means that he succeeds Mel Steinbron, the Founder and President of LPMI, to lead the Lay Pastors Ministry into the future. Mel “passed the mantle” to Tom during the Ministry Celebration Banquet at Conference 2000 in St. Louis on April 29, following Board of Directors action two days earlier.
Tom has been involved in the Lay Pastors Ministry for 18 of its 22-year history. He started the LPM in his first parish, Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bellbrook, Ohio, in 1982. He learned about Lay Pastors Ministry from Mel, who at that time was on the pastoral staff of College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tom wrote the last chapter of Can The Pastor Do It Alone? (45,000 in print) to show that the LPM works in smaller churches as well as in larger churches.
He resigned as senior pastor of rapidly-growing Vision of Glory Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Minnesota (a suburb of Minneapolis), effective June 18, 2000, to lead LPMI’s growing global ministry. Between VOG Church and Bethel, he was senior pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. In all three pastorates, Tom had a hands-on experience with the Lay Pastors Ministry.
Rev. Parrish’s first major activity as Executive Director was to address a conference on lay ministry June 26-30 in Seoul, Korea (over 1,000 participants) and meet with Rev. Byeong Chea, Dr. David Kim and others who launched the Lay Pastors Ministry in Korea on July 1, 1999.
Dr. Steinbron has wanted to “pass the mantle” to someone of God’s choosing for the past five years. He has lived 78 Spirit-blessed years and will now be free of the day-by-day responsibilities of LPMI. This will enable him to spend more time with his wife, Char, and his family, to have for writing he has longed for, and to do a limited amount of speaking. Mel will continue as President of LPMI, at the request of the
board.■
Byeong, Melvin University, says:
Can you find where you are in the lists above, and why do you interested in this ministry? Write a work plan that includes your favorable one between no. 1-10, desired your personal results in your ministry philosophy.
PACE Training Manual : This manual –12 chapters — derived from the first book, Can the Pastor Do It Alone? Dr. Melvin has launched this ministry at College Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC) in Cincinnati Ohio, and through this ministry he wrote book, later it became his doctoral dissertation and finally published as a formal book, so he got 12 important points from the book and made PACE Training Manual which were used for 35 years in States, 15 years in Korea, and now began to use at school in Nagaland India.
Chapter one is CONCEPT & THEOLOGY. It says about Biblical references and some opinions from experts in these areas. We will catch up “what the Lay Pastors Ministry is” from this unit.
Chapter two focus on caring, WHO NEEDS IT? The answer is everyone needs caring. Caring is the heart of this ministry.
Chapter three: What’s our job description? It talks about PACE itself and also additional commitments are explained. Through this unit, Lay Pastors will embrace their responsibility.
Chapter four: It’s about CALLING. It stressed as important as pastor’s calling, laity also called by God, I mean calling consciousness is important to them. I found that whether laity has this concept or not, it effects to their ministry directly. Through this unit, they will have stronger concept of their callingness.
Chapter five: RELATIONSHIP. This is important element in caring ministry. Church tends to ignore this aspect, so now evoke them to think of this issue seriously.
Chapter six: on LISTENING. Focused on listening, especially this training should be continued to discipline all the way of ministry. I mean we may deal with this at reequipping session.
Chapter seven: BEING & DOING. Yes, this ministry is doing PACE but if we want to be more effective at it, we need to prepare ourselves inwardly, inner matured.
Chapter eight: How can we have healthy SPIRITUALITY, all the churches are doing okay for this, but just double check again here?
Chapter nine: About VISITATION. It’s easy topic to some, but for others, a little afraid to visit people’s home especially those who are not acquaintance well, so deal with at this chapter.
Chapter ten: Being PROFESSIONAL. Who is professional? Generally we think those who have degree or certificate in special areas, but here Lay Pastors can be a professional without getting any degrees, certificates or credentials. Rev. David Kim, pastor of Hallelujah Church says Lay Pastors are professional on the PACE Ministry.
Chapter eleven: CONFIDENTIALITY. This is another issue on caring ministry, and we know what that mean! How important it is. I heard many times this critical issue from my CPE supervisors in Canada, so now it comes up again at this ministry.
Chapter twelve: Deal with DIFFICULTIES in this ministry. There are many, for instance some might think they do not need Lay Pastors; people are busy to visit; some Lay pastors are lazy; some has problem that we couldn’t solve, so on but if we deal with them nicely, it give us many benefits and also make us to grow..
ADDITIONAL COMMENT
by BYEONG
The bigger the goal, the better: Some people are more interested in bigger projects, bigger missions. I think there are two ministries in the world: big and small. Both are equally important. For example, in my case, [Institute and University]. The Institute began in 1999. The University began in 2021. Through the past 15 years of Institute ministry, I have met many people and have grown enough personally. However, when I founded the University, I met people at a different level, and I grew up to a different level from the Institute.
Those who were less interested in the Institute’s ministry and operation were more interested in making and running the university. Why? Maybe they think the university ministry is higher than the Institute ministry. Of course, it is true, and they were proud while working at the Institute. What needs to be considered is why big tasks are more challenges than small ones. That is because it is definitely for ourselves. Once we have a goal bigger than our current capabilities, we are challenged more, so the bigger goal is much better for our personal growth.
There are some of the most difficult jobs in the world: the first is to make a country; the second is to establish a university; the third is to establish a hospital. In other words, I challenged the second difficult task. Even now, it is not completely finished yet. Because it has only been a year since it opened, so there are still difficulties in the stage of laying the foundation.
There is a saying that our perspective should be globally, but the real work should be done locally to suit the region. I think it’s the same expression to have a big dream. Rev. Melvin, the founder of the LPMI USA, also said SIB/KIS, which means “See It Big,” and “Keep It Simple,” in the same concept.
Why should we set a big goal anyway? There may be many reasons, but I think it should be done for our personal growth. Everyone wants to grow and develop. When does this happen! It’s time to do something hard and difficult.
I think it’s different between to live a difficult life and to try a difficult ministry. I’m talking about the latter. I think it is necessary to experience going up to the critical point. I think God also helps us when we reach the critical point. Forty years of Israeli life in the wilderness also means to go up to the critical point. Only then they can properly recognize God and taste human limitations.
삶의 철학과 목적
사람들은 지도자의 ‘삶의 철학’을 보고 모인다는 얘기가 있다. 그러나 모여서 협력하거나 돕는것은 다른 얘기인데, 그것은 바로 분명한 목적이 있어야 한다는 것이다.
예를들어, 많은 사람들이 빌리그래함 목사님께 모여들었다. 그분의 삶에 대한 얘기를 들었기 때문일 것이다. 그런데 와서 보니, 만약에 분명한 목적이 없다면 어떻게 될것인가? 그들은 다시 흩어지고 말 것이다.
모여서 헌신하고, 희생까지 하면서 함께 하는 이유는 무엇인가! 그것은 목적이 분명하기 때문이다.
모여들때 힘이 생기는 것이다. 혼자서는 안된다. 혼자 갖고 있는 에너지와 모여서 함께 만들어 내는 에너지에는 많은 차이가 있다. 사역에서 큰 일을 해낸 사람들을 보면 소위 이 협력적인 에너지가 힘으로 바뀐 경우이다. 그런 에너지와 힘을 집결시키는 것이 필요하겠다.
교회안이나 바깥의 사역에는 이런 두가지가 항상 있어야 할 것이다. 목회자/지도자의 삶의 철학이 많은 사람들께 인정받고 또 좋게 알려져있는가? 그리고 막상 가까이 가보니 목적도 분명한가? 그 교회만의 독특한 목적, 즉 하나님께서 그곳 만에 주신 목적이 분명한가?
미국 옥사노(Auxano) 연구소가 있는데 달라스신학교 출신의 젊은 목회자로서 목회를 하면서 연구하여 쓴 책, CHURCH UNIQUE (by Willis Mancini)이 있다. 그 책의 핵심은 교회마다 하나님께서 주신 분명한 목적이 있는데 그것을 발견하고 갈고 닦아서 극대화 시켜야 한다는 것이다.
목적을 정한다는 것은 단순하고 쉬운 문제는 아니겠다. 자신의 인생에서 가장 중요한 한가지 목적을 정하는 것이라서 그렇다고 본다. 아무튼 아무리 훌륭한 인격자라고 해도 분명한 목적이 없다면 협력자가 생기기 어려울것이다. 또한 그 목적은 결과가 눈에 보이는 것이어야 할 것이다. 협력하여 돕는자들은 무한대로 영원히 함께 하기는 어렵다. 그러나 장기적으로 함께 하기위해서는 눈에 보이고 손에 잡히는 결과는 필수적이다.
목적을 이렇게 표현한 사람도 있다. 그것은 볼록렌즈로 비유하는데 우리가 어릴때 다 해본 경험이 있다. 태양 빛을 볼록렌즈로 통과하면 뜨거운 열이 한곳으로 모아져 종이가 타게 된다.
목적이라는 것은 이런 볼록렌즈의 역할과 같다는 것이다. 목적이 분명할때는 사람들이 힘을 합하고 또 헌신한다는 것이다. 그러나 목적이 분명하지 않으면, 마치 볼록렌즈를 치우면 열이 안 모아지듯이, 사람들이 흩어져 버린다는 것이다.
주의 일은, 더구나 큰 일은 혼자서는 안되니 모아져야하고, 모여서 만들어진 에너지와 힘은 목적이 있을때 발휘되어 극대화를 이루면서 시너지를 만들어 낼 것이다. 즉, 좋은 삶의 철학을 갖는 것은 필수적이며, 또한 목적을 분명히 해야함은 지도자의 몫이다.●