This year’s mentoring group was outstanding. Thanks to Shane, Benjamin, Shannon, Doug, Scott, Jason, and Ernie for blessing me with a great year in 2012. Am I ever impressed with these guys! All of them are ministers and are blessing churches.
This group met one full day per month for the last 12 months. During these times together, we talked about life, Jesus, ministry, and the church. Of course, as a part of any discussion regarding life, we talked about our relationships, including our spouses, children, and friends. We remembered our calling and the meaning of our vocation.
Much of our time was spent focusing on building our interior lives. We also talked about skills and good practices for doing our work and functioning better in our congregations.
A group such as this provides a safe environment, an atmosphere of encouragement and affirmation. Last evening, hours after this group came to a close, I thought about the following:
1. We are blessed when we are surrounded with encouragers. One way this happens is to be a part of a group, like this one, of mutual encouragers.
2. We are blessed when we are a part of a group of people who are committed to growing and learning. Far too many people are content to lower the bar and just get by. I loved being around a group of people for a year who were not afraid to raise the bar.
3. We are blessed when we meet regularly with a group of people to talk honestly about our lives. Far too many people feel isolated and cut off, in part because they have no one with whom they can talk openly and candidly.
Question:
What do you believe contributes to the isolation and sense of aloneness that so many people feel?
It was such a blessing to spend a year with you and the rest of the guys. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to minister to other ministers. What we did together this year will stick with me for years to come.
Scott, thanks so much for your kind words. You added so much to this group, Scott. I appreciate who you are and the kind of ministry you do.
Thank you, Jim, for your continued investment into the Kingdom. And thank you for continually ministering to the minister.
To answer your question: I believe both pride and apathy both greatly contribute to the isolation we so often experience (ministers included). We were created to exist in community, with God and with one another. Only when we engage in Christian community at its deepest levels will we begin to live up to and in to the full-life that Jesus offers.
Jason,
Thanks for your kind words. You have a good point. Pride and apathy are often great contributors to a sense of isolation that some feel. These two factors plus a number of others only contribute to the sense of being alone and cut off.
Thanks so much, Jason.