Church Leaderhsip and Ministry Evaluation Paper Essay

1. Would you say that your congregation (or the people within your particular department or area of ministry) is â€Å"Living Out the Mind of Christ† (i.e. Unity, Humility, Selflessness) as they interact, serve, and minister to/with each other? How specifically do you as a ministry leader teach, cultivate, and maintain â€Å"The Mind of Christ† in your area of ministry? Taking a look at what Dr. Gutierrez tells us in his book. He breaks down each one of the three areas and gives some direction and a checklist on applying these elements to your message. In our Bible study and conversations that we have during our meetings, or get togethers. Someone is appointed each time to research and set up a game plan for us to discuss and have a meeting of the minds. Just as if Jesus was sitting in the room with His disciples. The speaker controls his/her format and gives a ten to fifteen minute summary of what they found interesting and gives us time to react in questions and opinions. This is a meaningful and responsive reaction towards the main source of the material that was presented. Each one gives their time and when there is two or three in the mist there will be a revival for which the word of God is proclaim. Dr. Gutierrez states: â€Å"With an open Bible and a willing spirit, you can begin an exciting spiritual journey that will not only instruct you in teachings of the Book of Phillippians but also equip you with wise counsel and guidance†.1 So in our meeting we have the spirit and devotion to be with the Mind of Christ. 2. Would you consider yourself a â€Å"Wounded Healer?† Also, would you please share an example where you have ministered to a person who is/was â€Å"wounded† in the same manner that you once were? (cf. II Corinthians 1:3-5) My son and his wife lost my eight month old grandson to drowing and we had a terrible time understading how God would take a precious baby boy so full of life and joy. We prayed and search for answers and found that sometimes bad things just happen to you in life. Job lost everything in being a servant to God, and the devil punish Job with pain and suffering but he never turn against the Father. Satan attached his character, health, property, and children, but Job fell down and whorshiped. So when this happen to us we reflected on Job story and prayed to the Father and in November they will be blessed with another son. God will never forsake thee and with this we are humble and stronger with faith and salvation in our hearts. 3. How specifically does the Holy Spirit help guide you as you lead/serve in your ministry? Also, can you give a specific example of how you were able to clearly recognize that the Holy Spirit was helping/guiding you in dealing with a particular situation and/or decision while in your ministry? What advice would you give me that, if I obeyed, would assure me that I would be able to be guided by the Holy Spirit in my life and/or ministry? The Holy Spirit will give you the right questions to asked and will lead you in the correct path to minister to the congregation. Everytime someone comes to the altar we all pray and the Holy Spirit is present and the feeling of fire is within all hearts and the joyful noise is released. The prayers and praises are given to the Lord and the church is in the mist of revival. Take heed to honor the Father in your life and humble yourself and seek Jesus to lead you in the direction that the Holy Spirit will take you. John 14:16-17; â€Å"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever†Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬Å"the Spirit of truth, whom the word cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you†.2 4. Do you have a personal philosophy (i.e. an agreed upon plan of action/policy/understood protocol) of how/when/where you confront sin in the lives of 1) co-ministers/co-leaders in your ministry, and 2) people to whom you minister? If so, what is it? How did you come to this philosophy? If not, do you see a need for such a philosophy? Why or Why not? Col: 2:2-3; â€Å"that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,†Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬Å"in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge†.3 These two verses will give you everything you need the knowledge, wisdom, and know that philosophy is the meaning of exsistence, reality, knowledge, and goodness in the world. The Bible with give you the knowledge as long as you read it, study it, and seek answers from God. He sent Jesus to be the great philosopher, teacher to the disciples, and all people that listen to Him. I try to set my standards of teaching to the policy of the Bible and seek answers from others that have devoted their life to understanding God’s word. This allows for a direct approach to the people I am talking too and allows them to asks questions and hopefully I can give them the correct answers. 5. Can I perform a little ministry quiz on you? (Remember: This question is taken from the section within chapter 25 entitled â€Å"Recalling Encounters with God!†) a. Can you recall for me what you specifically did (i.e. tasks performed, people you talked to, the number of hours of service) on any individual day in your ministry approximately six weeks ago? Yes I can because it was a time of joy and happiness I just finish my AA degree in religion and I wanted to tell everyone how excited I was that I accomplish a goal. It was a personal quest to get a degree in the field and thanks to Liberty University I applied myself and finish. Even though I am continuing on with my schooling I hope to get my BS next year about this same time. It has given me more of a understanding and also a guidance in certain material that gave me more opportunity to share with others. Seek and you shall find and with the help of the Father, and His Son I will be a better listener and teacher. b. Can you recall any time in the past that you were either so moved by hearing a sermon, reading a bible verse, hearing a testimony of a someone’s salvation that made such an impact upon your life that you still have a vivid recollection of the event today? How long ago did that spiritual event take place? It has been many years ago now that my mother passed away and I dearly love my Mom and when she died a part of me died with her. In June 1997 she gave up this life on this earth and Jesus took her away from us. I have always been someone that writes notes, poems and I wrote my Mother one and told her how much I love her and would missed her and during the funeral the preacher use it in his sermon. It was a joy inside and I knew that Jesus was with me and the Holy Spirit had carry my Mother to heaven. I could feel her presence on me as He read the letter and afterwards many people came to me and told me how wonderful it was to be so thankful in loving a person so much, but is this not what Jesus did for us as He was nailed on the cross and when He ask God to forgive us for our sins because we do not know what we do. Somewhere and sometime everyone will depart and hopefully there will be that special love one to remember them as Jesus remembers us on the cross. c. Could you briefly describe for me how your daily â€Å"Quiet time with God† or your â€Å"Communion time with God† or â€Å"Your Devotion time with God† usually goes? My time with God and Jesus is not nearly enough time to humble myself and bowed down and pray like I should. Always to busy to just give my time to just praying and praising the Father. I know that being selfishness is a sin and that I will have to answer to the reason I went to the game or play golf when I should been studing and preparing. I do pray and many times I am alone and just open my heart to Him and ask for forgiveness and through His precious Son Jesus to lead me in the straight path that He wants me to go. I would say I am a normal man and sometimes I fall short in honoring our Father and His Son. 6. As a minister, are you ever tempted to become competitive with either a fellow minister or a neighboring ministry or covet the â€Å"success† or resources of other ministers and/or ministries? How do you overcome this temptation in your life if/when it ever comes up in your heart? What advice would you give me to make sure I remain content with what God specifically has for me in my own life and/or ministry? Competing against someone else is not my idea of serving God and it is not a game of winning or losing. Jealousy is not a righteous trait to have and to let yourself overcome with jealousy will surely destroy your favor with God. For it is written that the Jews were jealous of Jesus and they crucified Him on a cross. Even though you might not crucified someone there are a lot of people that kill because of jealousy. In our lesson book â€Å"Ministry is† tells us that â€Å"To love is to stop comparing.† It is impossible to have a heart full of love for a Christian brother and still be envious or critical toward him at the same time.4 We only have to read in Genesis all the jealous hatred that occur from the very beginning with Cain and Abel, Joseph and His brothers, and Sarah and Hagar just to name a few these all ended up terrible and no one is ever a winner. Our God is a very Jealous God in Exodus 20:5 (one of the ten commandments) you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. â€Å"For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.†5 The chosen people paid a severe price by worshipping other god’s and suffer for forty years in the wilderness. So do not be jealous of any other ministry but rejoice that so many lives are being save. 7. Provide a summary of your interview. a. In what areas of leadership and/or ministry do you feel you need to improve? Personal behavior and spend more time in studying and preparing the materials. Reaching out to others, donating more time and energy towards building a better relationship with God and Jesus Chrsit. Set a personal mission in visitation and inviting outsiders to join in our worship service. Help with the youth in planning more activities and helping with the men’s club and women auxillary. But the most important will be to talk to God and seek better answers to the questions that people might ask of me. b. Develop a specific plan to improve in these areas. Organize my time, pray longer and often, study and do research, sat down with the elders and members of the council to set up more direct meetings and feedback. Take a look at the finances and see if there is a more productive way to assist and help others. c. How will you measure your progress? During the monthly meetings set aside a time for the members to ask me questions, and give me feedback on policies and do we need to update old standards and policies that might change with the new generation of the younger members. Get them involved and asked them to get active in planning new outreach programs and as well as visiting new people. Conclusion: It is without saying that we must have Jesus Christ in our lives, and as minister’s, preachers, or elders we should put forth extra effort in building a solid foundation in the church. Involvement will be the key and knocking on doors to get people interest in the church. Determine if our motives are still moving in the correct way and take the time to celebrate the joy of friendship. I can not say about how things will change because it is not a lot that I can do except present the message that I have already set in place. If I could have interview any other preacher I do not think that their answers would be to much different than mine. Because I believe if you are call to preach than the Lord our God has already given you a outline to follow. The reason I can say this is because if you go too ten churches they will have certain things they do differently but when it comes to celebrating and worshipping Jesus Christ our Savior most of them are on the same game plan. 1. Living Out the Mind of Christ, Copyright © 2011 by Ben Gutierrez. 2. The Holy Bible, New King James Version copyright ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. 3. Ministry Is,,,copyright © 2010 by Dave Earley and Ben Gutierrez. All rights reserved. 4. The Holy Bible, New King James Version copyright ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. 5. Ministry Is,,,copyright © 2010 by Dave Earley and Ben Gutierrez. All rights reserved. Total Word Count: 2,356