BARNABAS FOR WOUNDED PASTORS, MISSIONARIES, AND FAMILIES
BARNABAS FOR WOUNDED PASTORS
, MISSIONARIES, AND FAMILIES:All across the world there are wounded pastors, missionaries and church leaders - and their families - who are ready to give up the good fight due to their experiences in serving Christ in various capacities and situations.
We are losing too many good men and women and psychologically, spiritually and relationally destroying lives and ministries in the process. "Barnabas For Wounded Pastors and Families" comes alongside those abandoned, defeated, discouraged, disheartened individuals in an attempt to effect in-depth repair, encouragement and restoration. (Requires church sponsorship)
Barnabas for Wounded Pastors, Missionaries, and Families can function in SWAT mode or in long-term mode. The former quickly addresses, assesses and treats the immediate problem whereas the latter involves the same approach plus appropriate follow-up over time.
It is also the hope that Barnabas for Wounded Pastors and Families can come into a decaying situation and help prevent further deterioration. In our experience, we have seen too many pastors and leaders wait too long to receive the necessary help in reducing and repairing damaged church and/or professional relationships.
Barnabas acts in the role of mediator and therapist in order to build bridges in problem relationships or situations. Such situations can range from tensions between pastor and members of the church; from questioned relationships or actions; from skills or leadership deficits; from family concerns or stresses; from psychological or medical problems.
BARNABAS MINISTRY further works to effect:
Repair and healing for pastoral or missionary efforts that have failed.
Assessment and evaluation of psychological fit for pastoral candidates.
Objective mediation of church conflict between pastor and church; between staff members; among a variety of church leadership situations.
Damage control and repair during times of crisis or conflict.
Identification of problems before they manifest in harm to the purity of the church.
Discreet, confidential and intensive help to private relationships that are in trouble.
Leadership training.
Although it can be tailored for specific situations, Barnabas for Wounded Pastors, Missioanries, and Families generally consists of three main phases:
1. Assessment and recommendation - of the relational, professional or church problem.
2. Teaching to implement, clarify and insure recommended change to the primary individuals involved.
3 A. Teaching to insure changes are successfully implemented at the church-site beyond changes to the primary relationship above.
AND/OR
3B. Teaching to insure success to secondary, related parties (e.g., family members, coworker(s), systems, etc.)
BARNABAS
CHURCH COUNSELING
AND CONSULTATION
BARNABAS FOR CHURCH COUNSELING AND CONSULTATION - strives to encourage, counsel, consult, mediate and/or advise church entities and systems - particularly clergy and leaders - and how they interact with one another, their families, their staff, their congregation, their denomination, and/or personal-professional problems or life difficulties - as to how to live a more effective, productive, accordant, successful and Godly life utilizing biblically based, Barnabas principles and philosophy integrated with consistent psychological and pastoral knowledge and experience. It is our aim to detect, avoid or mitigate a potential host of clergy-church differences or difficulties before they begin OR to repair any such problems upon recognition of them. It is our further goal to preserve the purity of the church while maintaining the mutual respect and dignity of the parties involved.
We have seen too many clergy and church situations unnecessarily implode and self-destruct with varying degrees of ancillary harm - none of which have been Godly or God honoring - and much of which went unrecognized and inadequately addressed. In such experiences it is often unwise to have parties from within the organization handle the problem (exclusively) for a variety of reasons including subjectivism and bias; lack of professional training and /or decorum; lack of knowledge concerning problem, policy or relational difficulty encountered; breached trust or potential breach of trust; emotional, psychological or spiritual immaturity or dysfunction; emotional reactivity; delicate nature of problem and/or person(s) affected; etc.- and the list goes on.
A partial list of such potential problems includes:
- personal, relational or familial problems of clergy or church leader or church member
- suspected unbiblical or inappropriate behavior
- hidden or unknown agendas that cause- or lead to - conflict
- unresolved conflict; hidden harm or hurt feelings
- lack of repentance and/or forgiveness
- poor communication; not really knowing needs and assuming all is well
- lack of ability to work with others
- personality and/or leadership differences
- (potential) problems/differences among leaders; between clergy and leadership
Courses of intervention and services provided:
....an ounce of prevention...
ASSESSMENT - clinical interviews and psychological testing can provide a wealth of information depending upon the needs of the situation. Such assessment can determine how well leaders fit with one another and how to work with one another more effectively ensuring best fit for the individuals, personalities and situations involved.. It can also detect or predict personal or relational problems. Obviously with this kind of information - the sooner it is known, the better and quicker the results will be. Unfortunately many times this kind of information is never even considered at all leading to potential, unnecessary misunderstanding, lack of awareness, lack of respect, division and/or conflict which may be stated openly or, more often, felt inwardly and subsequently creating a negative impact upon others in compounded ways. Such kinds of assessment should be embraced as useful tools for personal understanding and success OR for success in working or professional relationships.
Interventions: Interventions mean doing something about a problematic situation or potentially problematic situation (whether or not fully realized). It can also mean the wise application of psychological and relational knowledge to make things go better and function more efficiently - even if they appear to be satisfactory already. In God's work there is never cause, nor satisfaction, in settling for unrecognized mediocrity or status quo.
Preemptive Interventions - in servicing an automobile the concept of preventive maintenance is good policy. In the same way preemptive interventions are designed to prevent problems or harm before they can make the first strike.
216-0850
