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Regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy, I love Celebration church’s response to this issue in our community. Firstly, there is the option to have a free scan done when you are pregnant. Research shows that a mom is less likely to abort a baby once she has heard the heartbeat and seen the baby on the scan. However, there is also counselling available for pregnant moms or moms who have chosen abortion and need counselling thereafter.
Secondly, there is a life group at the church specifically aimed at supporting single moms. In this way, pregnant adolescents can know that once they have the baby, they are not all on their own, but will have a support group around them. All these ways build effective bridges to assist these pregnant young moms and offer support.
Phillipians 2 offers such a great example to us of Jesus, being God, leaving heaven to come down to earth and all its sinful people. Jesus entered our messy lives and chose to lay down his own life to make a way for us to have relationship with Him and spend eternity with him.
Translating this example, into our own, begs the question…what can we lay down or give up in order to enter the lives of others on their terms, with humility to show love, compassion and through the Gospel, a way of being reconciled to Christ?
I offer a few examples. One way of showing humility is to make sure that our churches are accessible to people of all backgrounds and walks of life. This includes accessibility with ramps for the disabled, counselling and help for those in need and a welcoming atmosphere.
Another way would be to form relationships with various authorities, other churches and organisations in the community. It is often better to encourage and support those on the ground who have been helping for a long time than to reinvent the wheel. This would mean laying aside barriers like church dominations, race and specific ways of doing things for the sake of serving the bigger picture and community.
I read a comment this week in one of our family devotionals. It read, “Pride builds walls, humility builds bridges…” A prideful attitude shows that what we know or have to offer is the best. This attitude looks down on the effort of others. Humility realises that in the Body of Christ, we each play our part and no one part is greater than another. Humility builds bridges because it has a sincere desire to see how we can all work together for the greater good and the greater vision of seeing God’s Kingdom come in our community. Bridges built by humility may be slower at first, but accomplishes far greater and lasting fruit in the long run. As the African proverb states, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
We recently had the privilege of being a part of the City Wide Outreach, No More Shadows Campaign that was hosted by Reaching a Generation and Celebration Church. The outreach was aimed specifically at anti-bullying and anti-suicide in schools in the Mogalakwena and Mookgophong area.
It truly was amazing. Over 71 000 children were reached with a message of hope in Jesus Christ and many teachers and police officers were trained in the process. It was also amazing to see volunteers from various churches and organisations trained in the school program, but also in children’s and youth ministry training in general as we believed that this campaign would yield a harvest of souls that would need discipling thereafter.
The campaign was based on research done in the area, and very specifically targeted the most pressing needs in schools in our area. Training and programs were offered free of charge as a gift. It was truly inspiring to hear so testimonies of the impact of this campaign on the lives of young people and teachers alike.
Jesus was such a wonderful example of a humble presence in a community. Phillipians 2:5-7 states, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
The Lord has gifted His church with many different gifts and therefore also many different ways to serve the community. He has also placed members of the church in various positions and spheres of influence within the community. A humble, Christlike presence means that the church firstly takes time to build relationship with various leaders, organisations, schools etc in a community, as relationships form the basis of any future impact. It also means that the church submits to the various authorities and chooses to serve and respect these leaders. It also means that the church does thorough research of real needs (not only perceived needs) in a community and chooses to get to know all the various organisations already helping in these areas. In this way, the church can partner where this is a possibility or rather strengthen already existing sources of help (instead of re-inventing the wheel and starting their own programs).
A church’s main focus should always be to live out Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” Humility is shown in the fact that the church has no desire to build an image to be proud of. Rather, they would love to be know for their service in the community and their sincere love for God’s people.
Celebration church is a wonderful example of a church like this for me. A few practical examples include the fact that they offer office space free of charge to the SAVF to better serve families in the community. Another example includes outreaches to schools and training offered free of charge to teachers. Celebration church truly is known as a church humbly serving the community of Mokopane! True love, authentic relationship, kindness and generosity are sure ways of building bridges in the community and drawing people to Christ.
1. I appreciate Tan’s reminder that Christian counsellor’s should continually allow themselves to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit. True relationship with the Holy Spirit will bear fruit in the counsellor’s life eg. gifts of wisdom, exhortation, discernment and many more (a reminder that the counsellor has the aid of God available in every counselling setting). The Holy Spirit can lead the counsellor in all truth according to the Word of God so that counselling given is aligned with the Bible and does not contradict anything God says. It is interesting to not, once again, that the Holy Spirit’s power and God’s truth should be two sides of the same coin and work together in unity to bring renewal and revival in individual’s lives.
2. Again, I appreciate Tan’s reminder that Christian counsellors should constantly be training their hearts to yield to the Spirit’s power, cleansing and guidance in their own lives and not to quench or grieve the Spirit through continual sin or resisting the Word of God and truth. I also like the challenge and encouragement of viewing the gifts of the Spirit not merely as gifts, but as ministries. This removes the focus from merely seeking the gift and allowing God to use the gift through your life. As a Christian counsellor, one of our main objectives should always be to point people to Christ as the ultimate source of life and healing. The Holy Spirit aids this process in bringing true hope and a true sense of a spiritual self to clients choosing to put their hope in Christ. It is wonderful that agape love and true empathy through the Spirit from counsellor to client through the work of the Holy Spirit can bring so much healing.
1. Firstly, it is important to be available to children as children will often share with those they have a relationship with and that seem available when help is needed. This would include checking in on children’s ministry, camps or activities where children are involved and having conversations with them informally. Once entering a more formal counselling agreement, the counsellor should create a safe place where children are able to share without judgement and where a responsible, loving adult can help guide them towards the future, decisions etc. One example would be in grieving, to help children come to terms with the finality of death and allowing grieving to take place.
2. Play is such an important part of a child’s life and can be a useful tool in helping children to express their feelings in a non-pressured way. This also helps to build relationship between the counsellor and the child. Art is another way for children to express their emotions, desires, hopes and dreams. The counsellor can gain insight by asking children to explain their picture after drawing. Bible storytelling is another effective tool. Valuable insights and lessons can be learned from the lives of Bible characters that children can apply to their own lives. Written words eg. letters written to people that have hurt the child or a form of a diary entry can be powerful in helping the child express what is currently in their heart.
