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I loved your approach of looking at the spiritual leader’s home life. By starting at home and establishing a relationship with God as a family, the leader and his/her family can make an impact on the rest of the community.
I agree with the statement of having a spiritual leader’s children learn about what it means to give from a very young age. As a spiritual leader it is important to teach their kids what it is to live like Christ.
The explanation of leaders having a big responsibility made me reconsider my perspective on spiritual leaders. They are only human, but still the way they love and lead has a big impact. As you said, it is very important for leaders to have a spiritually healthy life.
[reply to Jade Julius]
DISCUSSION 1
A leader should spiritually transform his/her own family by nurturing his/her own spiritual disciplines. The leader should discover him/herself as a person of Christian virtue and character. Good leaders must first lead themselves to Christ before being able to transform his/her family spiritually. The leader should help improve each family member’s mental, emotional and spiritual health.
Strategies that a spiritual leader can use to help his/her family grow includes: having prayer sessions together daily to communicate with God and to ask for spiritual growth or any other situation that the family has to work through together. The leader could urge his/her family to go to church together, study scripture together and even actively talking about spiritual matters. Spiritually should be made apart of daily family life. Families could also fast together to keep each other accountable and to encourage each other. A lot of valuable spiritual conversations could arise by doing these things.
The dangers for families that are led by spiritual leaders and vocational ministers could include: stress/burnout due to different responsibilities and schedules that they might have to face. This is a danger because the well-being of the spiritual leader/vocational minister affects the well-being of those around them [family]. These leaders might also experience difficulty when dealing with their work-life balance, in other words they will struggle to give equal attention to both their families and their congregation. Thus the spiritual formation of the family will be negatively affcted because of the fact that balance has been broken.
A spiritual leader’s care for his/her family has a significant impact on the families in the congregation. The care acts as a visual example of how one should care for family. The spiritual leader acts as a role model as he/she is in contact with all the members of the congregation. A good example of care and help with spiritual formation towards his/her family shown by the spiritual leader will enable the motivation for spiritual growth within a lot of different families in the congregation. It could also build trust and spirituality within the community.
Yache Calitz: Discussion 1
A leader should spiritually transform his/her own family by nurturing his/her own spiritual disciplines. The leader should discover him/herself as a person of Christian virtue and character. Good leaders must first lead themselves to Christ before being able to transform his/her family spiritually. The leader should help improve each family member’s mental, emotional and spiritual health.
Strategies that a spiritual leader can use to help his/her family grow includes: having prayer sessions together daily to communicate with God and to ask for spiritual growth or any other situation that the family has to work through together. The leader could urge his/her family to go to church together, study scripture together and even actively talking about spiritual matters. Spiritually should be made apart of daily family life. Families could also fast together to keep each other accountable and to encourage each other. A lot of valuable spiritual conversations could arise by doing these things.
The dangers for families that are led by spiritual leaders and vocational ministers could include: stress/burnout due to different responsibilities and schedules that they might have to face. This is a danger because the well-being of the spiritual leader/vocational minister affects the well-being of those around them [family]. These leaders might also experience difficulty when dealing with their work-life balance, in other words they will struggle to give equal attention to both their families and their congregation. Thus the spiritual formation of the family will be negatively affected because of the fact that balance has been broken.
A spiritual leader’s care for his/her family has a significant impact on the families in the congregation. The care acts as a visual example of how one should care for family. The spiritual leader acts as a role model as he/she is in contact with all the members of the congregation. A good example of care and help with spiritual formation towards his/her family shown by the spiritual leader will enable the motivation for spiritual growth within a lot of different families in the congregation. It could also build trust and spirituality within the community.
Authenticity is the ability to live your life according to your true goals and values while disregarding what others might do otherwise. To be true to your spirit. Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of he mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
People often get wrapped up in the idea that they were put on this earth to go to drastic measures in order to discover their one true calling in life to find their purpose. I was one of these people. From a very young age living a difficult life was a normality. I’ve been surrounded by negativity for most of my childhood, where the thought of an authentic calling to my purpose in life seemed impossible. I have always strived for perfection. I have a hunger to improve myself every single day of my life. My values are strong. Honesty, integrity, compassion, loyalty, dependability, adaptability and kindness.
Looking back on my life, God has always been present. I was born into a strong Christian family, regardless of their own faults. I have always had a wonderful church community. God spoke to me through the church without me knowing. I was given the opportunity to go on my first outreach in 2020. After that outreach my whole life changed. Suddenly the hunger I had for finding my true purpose in life changed to a hunger to serve God, know God, love God, and to be His child. Matthew 19:14 “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” I no longer needed to discover my purpose because God IS my purpose. I went on several more outreaches with God always roaming in my heart.
On my most recent outreach I was given the task of praying for many members of the youth in Victoria-Wes. There was about 25 individuals who came to me one-by-one for me to pray for them. I have never been the person to do tasks like this. I am not a person who usually leads others or even talks much, so being given this task came to a big shock. I did not think that I would ever be able to do it. As I sat in the prayer room, individuals appeared one after the other. God breathed his word into my heart, he led me through the storms of these peoples stories and allowed me to open up to them, praying for them. I realized that God is calling me to be apart of the service to His kingdom. I gave my life to Him and allowed him to be the puppet master of the strings of my heart, leading me to the place I am meant to be.
A minister’s authentic calling therefore enables an authentic flow of ministry. God speaks to others through your authentic way of living, through your life and the way God moves through you. This will allow them to learn from your way of living and will then discover that their true calling is in fact to be apart of God’s kingdom.
