BARNABAS MINISTRY - the church program: Barnabas Ministry through the local church is an exciting and dynamic one year encouragement-leadership program (consisting of two twelve week courses plus ongoing participation in ministry) that equips leaders AND caring and obedient people to understand and help wounded individuals or people experiencing wounding life circumstances. It teaches how to effectively reach these wounded people who comprise most of today's culture both outside and inside the church. In fact, it is not at all going too far to state that, short of God's direct intervention, without such a modern, psychological and spiritual understanding of ministry, no effective, lasting ministry will likely occur (although it may deceptively look like it is). 

Just as Wycliffe learns the language and culture in order to minister to various peoples therein, so must ALL Christians learn the language of woundedness to minister effectively to individuals in today's world. WHAT we have to say about God's grace does not change but HOW we say it has changed drastically. Without the appropriate HOW, the WHAT is not likely to occur in a God-blessed, fruitful manner. 

The church stands at a pivotal point in history where it has the opportunity and responsibility to minister to wounded people like never before. While the world of mental health and traditional psychotherapy is being redefined and reshaped to the neglect of wounded people, the church has the opportunity to come alongside all wounded people as can only ultimately be done for Christ through the church and a Barnabas approach. Unfortunately too many well meaning churches and individuals injure or frighten wounded people without even realizing it due to lack of understanding, lack of information, busyness, oversight, personal problems or woundedness, psycho-spiritual blind spots, complacency or (erroneous) self-satisfaction with the current level of established ministry effort. Barnabas Ministry prepares churches and individuals to fulfill the mandate of Galatians 6:2 at a deeper level than ever before. (Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ.  NAS).

  Barnabas Ministry

       DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE ENCOURAGEMENT MINISTRY THROUGH APPLIED GRACE

                                    "What is Barnabas Ministry?"                                  

Copyright © 1997, 2006 by Glenn P. Zaepfel, Ph.D.

      AN OVERVIEW

It was a warm, caring church. The love of those in attendance for one another was obvious and attractive. There, present, was the sweet aroma of Christ. The sincere care for those who were visiting was talked about in the community.

Fred participated in the worship service without mentioning to anyone present that he was scheduled for surgery the very next morning. Though he desired a visit from any of his church friends, he feared no one would come - like the last time. He had become emotionally hurt and resentful that no one visited him last year when he went into the hospital for outpatient surgery. He remembered how frightened he was and how he had desperately wanted to talk with someone only to feel abandoned when it didn’t happen. And he had already made up his mind that if no one visited this time he would start looking for a new church.

Mary was an emotionally wounded Christian visiting that church for the first time. She confessed that she experienced those same people as being cold, unavailable, uncaring, and frightening. It was a herculean task for Mary to share herself or any of her feelings. Had she not been encouraged by follow-up from a friend who was a member of that church, Mary would still feel afraid, inadequate, unaccepted, unheard, and re-injured. Her very perceptions, experiences, and psychological reactions based upon her inner pain, sensitivities, and open psychological wounds, had colored her abilities to see Christ reaching out to her through that church. The members of that particular Body of Christ had no idea that they had nearly been blindly involved in shooting their wounded.

Walter attended the church regularly and faithfully despite strong feelings of hurt and abandonment he felt after losing his wife to cancer after 33 years of a wonderful marriage. He subsequently reasoned that no one could ever really understand the depth of his sorrow and grief so perhaps he shouldn’t have expected so much from his church. He further falsely reasoned that he should have been able to get over it sooner than he had been able to do hence this wounded loneliness at least partly was his own fault. His deeper wounds, coming form the loss of his wife, overshadowed his wounds from emotional neglect from his church. But they were quietly still there.

Brenda had experienced another in a series of ongoing arguments with her husband, Ted, despite all her sincere efforts at trying to make things work. Both had attended marital counseling but, after several initial sessions, Ted dropped out when the finger of responsibility began to include him. Both still loved the other very much. As long as Brenda was doing things which accommodated Ted, he was cooperative and favored counseling. He had deep, inner wounds which were also beginning to surface. Brenda desperately wanted to save this marriage. So did Ted initially. He dropped out of counseling. He subsequently began speaking of the consideration of divorce if Brenda persisted with counseling and with the growth process which had started. It was a bluff, but the threat seared into Brenda's confused and startled heart. She wanted real healing for her mate, for her marriage, and for herself.

Brenda was in critical need of someone to encourage her and to come along side her in her hour of need. She needed someone to affirm and acknowledge her faithfulness and loving hard work despite the knocks and road blocks she was experiencing. She needed to be reminded of God's love and approval of her persevering persistence and covenantal commitment to her mate and to God. She phoned her mother who critically confronted her for not being the kind of wife Ted needed. Mom was not trying to do the wrong thing. She did not want to be hurtful. She felt that her approach was the right thing to do. She further rebuked her daughter, as only a mother could, by reminding Brenda of many of her other faults since childhood and how some of these same faults were a part of her present crisis. Brenda sobbed with rejection as she experienced the depth of pain resurrected by this conversation. Her mother had literally added insult to injury. Brenda became increasingly despondent and hopeless. Brenda, Ted, and Mom professed to be committed followers of Christ. But followers of Christ are to be agents of healing.

Instead, these particular followers, for very unfortunate, blinded, and misinformed reasons, were shooting their wounded. They didn’t know how to come along side of a wounded person and demonstrate the loving, caring, comforting ministry given to them from Christ.

Jonathan had battled depression for years. He was ashamed to ask his church friends for help, prayers, or understanding because their unspoken message was that his depression was unacceptable. When he had confided to three close friends that he was depressed and that he found it hard to maintain the basic Christian disciplines (daily quiet time, prayer, fellowship), one responded with a lecture, one responded with a Christian tape, and the third recommended a current Christian book. Each had not only misunderstood Jonathan but effectually abandoned him in his time of need. Even though they really wanted to help, they didn't know what else to do. Additionally, they made him feel more guilty and depressed because he still felt like he did before. In fact, he now felt more depressed and discouraged.

Those friends are representative of a growing number of believers who have effectually lost the ability to minister in the pure sense by leaning on other vehicles of ministry to do their work for them. There certainly is a place for various Christian resources and ministries. But these folks had allowed these other vehicles to absolve them of their own role and responsibility to minister to Jonathan in a personal and effective way. We, as Christians, must never let any vehicles replace the role of hands-on Barnabas ministry from the local church. If a friend was having a heart attack, it would be inappropriate to preach at them concerning the vicissitudes of healthful living or to hand them a tape or a book. Yet when a person is hurting emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually, this tends to be, more and more, the very way we respond.

All of these dear people represent a sea of wounded individuals with an assortment of experiences and with a range of depth of pain. By "wounded" I mean to convey the psychological and spiritual equivalent to the physical understanding of that word. A wound can be a scratch, a bruise, a blow, or a stab all of which can range from being superficial to life threatening to lethal. Individuals can be wounded in the psychological-spiritual sense from a variety of causes that range from ordinary struggles living the Christian life to the loss of a loved one to deep and dysfunctional psychological or relational processes. Their pain, however, is the engraved invitation to ministry. They are crying out for help, guarding against further harm, and desperately needing to be rescued emotionally, physically, and spiritually. But their pain is different in intensity and impact than ever before. They have become inoculated against many traditional ways of help. The geometric growth of dysfunction, pain, sin, confusion, and despair in the world poses both an overwhelming obstacle and an ostensible opportunity to the 21st century church.

Some wounded people may politely listen but not hear. They are not looking for Christian platitudes, victorious living, nor the abundant life. Rather, they are merely struggling to survive. Their lack of trust forces them to either get out or tune out in a variety of ways (usually undetected by the other person(s) involved). Other wounded people will simply reject the messenger and message altogether in a psychologically self-protective way. Does this mean that God can't reach wounded people? Not at all. But it does mean He likely won't use any believers who resist learning how to become effective ministers to psychologically wounded people. This concept of reaching out to wounded people by ministering in ways that work in recognition of their weaknesses, fears, dysfunction, and sinfulness is the same operative principle of John 3:16 and of, indeed, the entirety of the gospel.

Additionally, the burden to minister to these wounded people will increasingly fall upon the shoulders of the local church. Trained counselors are only growing arithmetically, at best, wherein wounded people, from the effects of individually, familially, and culturally turning from God and His absolutes for living, are growing geometrically. The lay person, who may very well be wounded himself, will have to become the functional medic and rescue squad. Scholars will need to equip the layperson for active duty and be available to serve as back-up and support.

I certainly don't profess to be a theologian or a pastor, however I remain a member of the body of Christ. A member who, because of his training and experience in psychology and theology, has noticed some things about people that need to be better addressed by the church but have not. In a very real sense, as a psychologist, I am also a professional minister to wounded people. But even if I weren't a psychologist, I would still be a Barnabas minister. We are all called to be Barnabas ministers. By "Barnabas Ministry" I am referring to the acts of self-giving, caring, coming along side of, encouraging, helping, and serving one another that were so characteristic of Barnabas. I am referring to a key principle espoused in Galatians 6:2 which says "Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ" (NAS).

By "Barnabas Ministry" I am also referring to our obligations and duties to try to understand, edify, come alongside, and bear the weaknesses of those less fortunate or weaker than ourselves out of love and obedience to Christ without passing judgment, condemnation, or rejection. I am referring to the principle advocated in chapters 14 and 15 of Romans. We are to build up, admonish, and love our weaker brother while exercising self-denial on his behalf. Though these passages specifically apply to brothers and sisters in Christ, I am further advocating that the implementation of these same principles (though perhaps with a lesser degree of duty) be utilized with our "neighbor" (Matthew 22:39) especially that neighbor who is receptive to the gospel and considering becoming a Christian.

The church is more filled with wounded people than ever before, while, at the same time, unable to fully minister to those very people nor to the silently crying and wounded culture, just outside of the church, of 21st century America. The hope of this ministry is to awaken and illumine a call to Barnabas Ministry: individuals ministering to individuals (within and without the church) with biblical directives and spiritual and psychological accouterments to assist in reaching and impacting a numbed, dysfunctional, and hurting Christian culture and a dying, sin-stained world. Barnabas Ministry is an in-depth discipleship ministry of encouragement.

Barnabas Ministry is aimed at getting past present day psychological and spiritual blocks and barriers through increased awareness, teaching, and understanding of the ways people now are, as well as the ways we communicate messages to one another. It is to be designed to help us comprehend this present world at greater levels of insight, impact, growth, and witness by better understanding of individuals, of spiritual and psychological processes, and of effective strategies for implementing Barnabas Ministry that are honoring and obedient to Christ. Such a task as Barnabas Ministry in America at the beginning of the 21st century is just as essential and compelling as ever yet more complicated and needed as never before. Short of revival across the land, this work and responsibility of the church may very well be America's only last hope.

Equipping servant-leaders:

Barnabas Ministry is an in-depth discipleship ministry of ENCOURAGEMENT. Participants are equipped to encourage, counsel, understand, and speak a new language of woundedness which reaches today’s culture within and without the church. The primary purpose of Barnabas Ministry is to train and equip encouragers for both formal and informal ministry to hurting people or to people in painful or potentially difficult situations. Informally, everyone needs to become an effective encourager - especially those in leadership positions. Every leader will benefit from a Barnabas perspective which allows the development and perspective of true servant-leadership based upon biblical humility, compassion, and grace. That is why every Christian leader will benefit from Barnabas training whether or not that leader pursues a more formal affiliation with an active Barnabas team.

A Dichotomous Operation:

More formally speaking at the local church level, there are always two functional levels of practical Barnabas Ministry going on at the same time: the training of Parts One and Two plus the daily, hands-on ministry of Part Three. This operational understanding involves two levels of training and simultaneous, practical application via hands-on, encouragement ministry.

There are a total of four ongoing levels of Barnabas Ministry. Level One involves participation in Part One/Level One training. Level Two involves participation in Part Two/Level Two training. Level Three involves successful completion of Parts One and/or Two training plus the active involvement in the leadership team which trains and oversees the overall application of Barnabas Ministry to people in need. Participants can be involved in level one alone, or level two alone, or level three.

In practical terms Level Three is an equipping-administrative team which also functions as an application, resource, and support team. The teaching function of Levels One and Two takes twelve weeks each whereas the application of Level Three is ongoing.

The leadership of Level Three is directly accountable to church leadership. The selection and terms of leadership for Level Three depends upon the wisdom and discretion of church leadership but should easily flow along the lines of other church ministries. Level Three is constantly equipping potential replacement members. New leadership comes from among those who have completed Levels One and Two and who show leadership interest and capacity.

There is a Level Four which functions in a training and resource capacity. Level Four consists of the Barnabas Ministry training and consulting team. Most Barnabas Ministry is sufficiently conducted by levels 1-3 alone. Level four is a resource level and part of the supportive Barnabas Ministry network. Level Four training occurs at the front end of Barnabas Ministry and is continued via the Internet and other electronic means.  Level Four may be considered to be the home office team whereas levels 1-3 are the onsite part of that same team.

To learn even more about how you can honor God through Barnabas Ministry in your church  please click here.

Contact Information:   Peter Zaepfel, Administrator

Telephone:    803-216-0850

FAX:              803-216-0420

Postal address: 

 

3790 Fernandina Road, Suite 301, Columbia, SC 29210

 

Electronic mail

 

General Information: information@barnabasministry.net

Webmaster: Webmaster@barnabasministry.net