Counseling in the Local Church- Ministry Paper Instructions:The purpose of this paper is to help and encourage you to make changes in your relationships, in an

“everyday life” counseling context. Criteria for the paper include:  

1.  2100-3200 words in length, double-spaced; 12 pt font, 1” margins. 

2.  Paper should be organized in four sections, as follows:

a.  Your ministry/relationship setting overview (350-400 words)

b.  Description and analysis of the ministry/relationship(s) (350-600 words)

c.  Strategy plan for change (700-1100 words)

d.  Results and Re-evaluation plan (700-1100 words)

As this paper requires you to be intentionally working on it throughout the semester, you will want to

begin this assignment right away to ensure that you can effectively analyze the results of your strategy

for change and your re-evaluation plan.

Part 1: Ministry/Relationship overview:

CHOOSE a setting where you want to concentrate your attention:

  You could choose either formal or informal relationships. You could choose either a 1:1

relationship or a larger group of people.

  You could choose a setting whose conscious purpose is Christian nurture: a Sunday school class,

a Bible study group, a discipling or counseling relationship, a peer counseling ministry, or the

small group life of an entire church.

  You could choose the people you live with: your family or roommates.

  You could choose a more casual setting: a friendship; knots of conversation in the church foyer

or over coffee in the fellowship room; conversation at lunch or around the water fountain at

work; contacts in your neighborhood or at an athletic event.

  You could choose a work group: a board of elders or deacons, the choir, a missions or worship

committee, a team of Sunday school teachers, an evangelistic team, co-workers on a task force,

or a study group at school.

Whatever group or relationship you choose, attempt to become more biblically intentional in your

communication. In frankly Christian groups, attempt to help the entire group become more biblically

intentional.

Part 2: Describe and Analyze the Situation:

DESCRIBE and ANALYZE the people involved and the setting. Who are the members (generically or

specifically, including you!)? What actually happens when people get together? What are typical

communication patterns? What is the group’s history? What are its stated or assumed purposes?

What is the leadership structure, formal or informal? What roles do people fill? What agendas or

goals -- stated or unstated -- operate in each person involved and in the group as a whole? What are

the current strengths and weaknesses of the group from a biblical standpoint?

 

Part 3: Strategy for Change: 

STRATEGIZE. On the basis of what you have been studying and thinking, design a plan for ministry.

How will you bring about increasingly biblical peer counseling? How will you act and speak

differently from your current practices?

  What does the Bible say about and to you and your group?: e.g., along the lines of a Pauline

epistle or the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation. What Bible passages and biblical

themes illuminate the group’s needs and point the way forward? 

  Specify long-term and short-term plans for ways of interacting, content of teaching and

application, organization of meetings, activities to pursue, questions to discuss, changes you

must make, etc.

  Be concrete and specific!!!!! To say it a different way, push yourself to be specific and

concrete!!!!! It is here and in prayer where hand to hand combat takes place between the

kingdoms of light and darkness. If your analysis is specific, honest, & pointed, you should be

forced to propose specific solutions. This step is the key to actually implementing change. If

you stay even one notch too general and idealistic, you will be unable to significantly change

your relationships or small group, and inertia will prevail.

Part 4: Results and Re-evaluation:

Make a plan to REEVALUATE periodically. Self-critical feedback is crucial, though this course is too

short for much reevaluation. As you seek to implement your plan, keep a log of what happens, of

fruitful and unfruitful outcomes, of revisions of plan, pitfalls you encounter, further insights, new

plans and goals, etc. Who can help hold you accountable? With whom can you discuss matters?

Condense your observations periodically. Discuss plans and questions with the others involved (if

appropriate). Remember: your principles will always remain firm, but your applications will never be

written in stone. This lets you be free to fail, to change, to struggle, to try new things, to junk things

that once were helpful but now don’t work, to seek fresh wisdom from God and new models from

others.