Ashland Theological Seminary sits a mere 200 feet from my home. It has been a fixture in my community for the duration of my life. As such, it has exerted a significant influence over the shape of our town, particularly in regards to the world of counseling. In the last several decades this institution has shifted its focus to concentrate almost primarily upon counseling. One of the more significant pieces of the curriculum has been the development of classes dealing with the subject of “formational prayer,” otherwise known as “inner healing prayer.” One class offered at the school is dedicated to the subject. The class, which is called “Formational Prayer,” has as its course description the following, Students will explore the qualifications and preparation necessary to embrace a ministry of inner healing prayer. The course will focus upon the relationship between past woundings, false beliefs, emotional upheaval, and dysfunctional behaviors in the lives of broken people. Special emphasis will be given to the Spirit-directed process of helping hurting people find healing and freedom in Christ, balancing insights from both counseling and pastoral theology.[1] Dr. Terry Wardle has been a major fixture within the counseling department and is a dominant fixture for the inner healing course work. He himself is a Professor of Practical Theology at the seminary, and his books on the subject of inner healing are required readings for the formational prayer courses. Dr. Wardle has also functioned as the director of the Institute of Formational Counseling and currently serves as the president of Healing Care Ministries, a local and international ministry for propagating the idea of formational prayer. It is worthy of note that on the Healing Care Ministries website, he is credited with having created the concept of formational prayer.[2] It is enough to say, then, that Dr. Wardle is a monumental individual when it comes to Ashland Seminary. Wardle’s teaching has left a significant mark upon the town in which I live and it is gaining a degree of influence in the wider world. For this reason, it is important to evaluate the concepts and methodology of the formational prayer process. Thus, after summarizing the basic concept of formational prayer and inner healing, it will be the aim of this paper to analyze some of the terminology applied to formational prayer, assess Wardle’s biblical hermeneutic in regards to the work of inner healing, and then offer a critique of the methodology. THE DEFINITION & PROCESS OF INNER HEALING PRAYER Before delving into a formal analysis, it is necessary to first define formational prayer and lay out the process of inner healing counseling. Wardle states the purpose of inner healing prayer as “the process of helping a broken person meet Christ in the pain-filled wounds of the past in order to set them free from his distress and dysfunctional behaviors that are keeping them in bondage.”[3] The counselor’s job is to help the counselee work through trauma of the past which is believed to be affecting their present reality. His belief is that there are pains which were received in another point in time which somehow affect the emotional or behavioral well-being of a person. To experience healing, this emotional pain must be dealt with properly. Or, to use Wardle’s language, these unhealthy memories and emotional baggage must be properly “processed.” Due to not being processed properly, the person continues to experience difficulty. These memories, which may be affecting the person on a conscious or unconscious level, end up impinging upon the daily life of the person in the form of emotional or behavioral dysfunctions. The goal of formational prayer, then, is transformation. This transformation, as Wardle defines it, happens when “the Holy Spirit, through deep healing prayer, works with broken people to clear out all the accumulated debris that is restricting freedom and growth.”[4] The methodology which is used to achieve this goal may be described as imaginative, counselor led “prayer.”[5] The process is described by Wardle in the following way.[6] Step 1: Create and Enter into A Safe Place in Which to Meet the Lord The counselee must first become comfortable and have a feeling of safety. One way this is accomplished is by situating the counselee in a cozy environment. The client may take a soft blanket in hand or use some other sensory items, such as visual symbols, music, or even items of taste or smell (such as incense). The goal is to produce positive feelings and provide a sense of peace. Once the environment is conducive to an adequate level of tranquility, the client may turn to other dynamics of relaxation. Specifically, he should be coached through breathing techniques, to achieve a feeling of physical serenity. After these preparations have sufficiently brought the counselee to a point of physical ease, the client can then be encouraged by the counselor to begin whispering words of thanks and praise to the Lord. As the counselee becomes more ensconced in his safe place, he may then be prompted to ask the Spirit to take over his imagination and create a safe place in his mind where he may meet the Lord. Whether this is a real place where he has been before (such as a favorite vacation spot) or one that is imagined, does not matter. It is merely a place in the mind which will become a point of contact with the Lord. The counselee may reside in that imaginary place as long as he wishes. However, when he is ready, he is to invite the Lord to join him there. This invitation may take different forms. He may invite the Lord to come in his true form or in the form of a lamb, if that would be less frightening. If there is any kind of agitation, he may simply ask the Lord to allow him to feel the Lord’s invisible presence. Again, the counselee is to pause in this moment. He is to bask in this moment, taking time to feel the warmth of the Lord’s love. During this encounter, every feature of the Lord is to be visualized: his posture, eyes, extended arms, etc. Intimacy is to be developed with the visualized Lord as the two draw closer to each other. Once this intimacy is established, the counselee is to begin conversing with the Lord. He should give voice to how he feels about Christ and ask Christ to reciprocate his feelings towards the counselee. This may be the conclusion of the first formational prayer encounter. The goal has simply been to create a safe and comfortable place wherein the counselee can meet the Lord and experience the power of his transcendent love. It has been about having this radical, mystical experience which will be the catalyst for dealing with the personal trauma in subsequent encounters. Step 2: Finding and Addressing the Place of the Pain’s Origin Now that the counselee has met the Lord and found some degree of solace in Christ, Wardle says that he can begin to move forward with addressing the deeper inward pain which is causing personal trouble in his life. The above process should be followed again. After ensuring that the counselee is safe, comfortable, and has that deep encounter with the personally felt love of Christ, the counselee should ask the Lord to identify the source of the emotional encounter. What is interesting is that the cause of the disorder in this person’s life is not necessarily known by him. It is so deep that the Lord must reveal the wound’s origin. Wardle says, “The Lord helps a wounded person find the source of unprocessed emotions…it may take time and great discernment, but eventually the Spirit will unlock the past. Some people may not remember actual events, but simply have feelings that originated from some unconscious memory. Those feelings must be validated and brought to the Lord, even though the person may never actually remember what caused them.”[7] Wardle even acknowledges that these events could have happened and been stuck in the memory as an infant, prior to the development of the brain and conscious memory.[8] Step 3: Relive and Release the Traumatic Event Now that the counselor and counselee have an understanding of where the wound has come from, they may begin to deal with it. This third and final step of the process is core to the formational prayer methodology as inner healing is “the process of helping a broken person meet Christ in the pain-filled wounds of the past in order to set them free from his distress and dysfunctional behaviors that are keeping them in bondage.”[9] Once again, the counselee must enter into the realm of their imagination. This time, they must go back to the point of pain and experience the trauma all over again. Whether it was an attack of an abusive husband, a child’s molestation, or the neglect a mother displayed in childhood, the counselee must return to ground zero and visualize it, with all its pain, all over again. Wardle believes this is necessary and says that the counselee must become a “mental time traveler.”[10] At this point he relies heavily upon the work of behavioral scientist Daniel Schacter and his definition of “episodic memories.”[11] In sum, it is believed that the episode has become entrenched because it is a real time event. The rationale then, is that in order to achieve healing, a similar encounter must be had with just as much vivid detail. The difference is that this memory becomes a positive one which will replace the former trauma. This enables the counselee to process the memory and gain healing. “The only way to gain healing from the traumatic episodic memory,” says Wardle, “is to have an even more powerful episode where Jesus enters the memory.”[12] Thus, to gain healing, the event must not just be relived, it must be reimagined. This is where the memory is truly “processed” and Christ is said to bring the true restoration. After having relieved the event in the mind’s eye, the counselor should coach the client through the process again, but this time inviting Christ into the moment to show his love. Wardle give an illustration from his own life. He says he once saw Jesus dying on the cross. In the midst of his torture, Jesus said to Wardle, “I care.” Wardle then said that this moment of encounter brought relief and release, allowing him to process his own experience of betrayal and loss.[13] Wardle also compares this to Jesus’ own personal experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible tells us that Jesus struggled deeply with the anxiety of the cross which was to befall him in the upcoming hours. However, There obviously came a moment in Gethsemane when the Lord obviously experienced the presence of the Father, experienced his love, received his direction, and found peace. He rose from prayer, ready for the events of the passion to unfold…at some point in the agony of Gethsemane, Jesus had an episodic encounter with the Father.[14] Once a client has relieved this encounter anew with Christ in the matrix of his memories, the memory may be released. Thus, the counselee finds healing as the painful feelings and the dysfunctional behaviors are quelled. ANALYSIS OF TERMINOLOGY Now that the concept of formational prayer has been defined and laid out, it is necessary to begin to critique it. The place to begin is with an analysis of some of Wardle’s main vocabulary. In reading through Wardle’s works, certain terms are repeated ad nauseum. Due to the frequency of their usage, one may consider them central to his framework. An examination of these words reveals something of the inadequacy of the entire framework as a legitimate form of Christian counseling. Prayer Wardle’s whole approach to counseling is called formational prayer. His books, classes, and seminars are devoted to laying out this special kind of counseling. It is supposedly a form of prayer and one which should be concluded with the word “Amen.” Unfortunately, the idea which he posits does not come close to the Biblical understanding of the term. Historically, the church has defined prayer as our duty in addressing the Lord, whether verbally with the mouth or internally with the silent voice of one’s inner spirit. For instance, the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer in its 95th question and answer as “An offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.” The Heidelberg Catechism defines prayer in its 117th question and answer as “calling upon the one true God only, who has revealed Himself in His Word, for all He has commanded us to ask of Him.” In each of these historic documents, prayer is regarded as our work, whereby we speak to God. Whether it is the “offering up of our desires unto God” or “calling upon the one true God,” it is the speech of a believer addressed to the divine. In more recent times it has been popular to regard prayer in terms of the ACTS acrostic: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. While this may express the structure of prayer, it recognizes that prayer is what is spoken to the Lord, be it the praises and thanks that are offered to Him or the confessions and supplications made before him. Thus, a simple “Sunday School” definition of prayer may simply be phrased as “talking to God.” Scripture backs these historic definitions. The Psalms have been recognized in many places as being the prayer book of the saints. The Psalms are frequently addresses to God (for instance, Psalm 18:1, “I love you Lord, my strength”) or accounts of having addressed God (e.g. Psalm 120:1 “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me”). As well, Jesus taught his disciples to pray and encouraged them to address the Lord by specifically saying, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven.’” (Luke 11:2). However, formational prayer hardly resembles anything like this. About the only time that there is actual prayer is when the counselee is instructed to ask the Lord to come to him and reveal the areas of hurt in his life. Other than that, the majority of the inner healing activity is simply imaginative play. One is supposed to remake memories by visualizing Jesus entering into the situation. What’s more, rather than addressing God, the whole process is a hope that God will address them. As with the example laid out above, Wardle himself was given reassurance when he heard Christ from the cross say, “I care.” Wardle also testifies that “People are to move beyond simple prayer to seasons of communion. Such times are characterized by fewer words, yet deeper levels of genuine communication.”[15] Wardle’s understanding of prayer at best is a form of mysticism which seeks a connection with God outside the normal boundaries God has set down in his Word. Far from being the cries of a saint’s heart to the Almighty, it is a teleportation of Jesus into an environment conjured up in a person’s mind. Perhaps a better way to define the process of inner healing is with the word séance. Wardle’s emphasis on imaginative creativity and getting into a heightened state of suggestion through coziness, relaxation, and incense burning, mimics what one achieves when seeking to attain a hypnotic state. That the person is guided by a professional to make contact with and receive messages from the spirit world is akin to what one might be found doing at the local psychic’s establishment. What is interesting is that Wardle himself warns that the whole procedure can be a problem for people who have been involved in the occult, new age mysticism, and ritualism.[16] In a way, he himself testifies to the fact that the methods he employs look more like Saul’s encounter with the medium at Endor than the kind of prayer God commands in Scripture. In the end, Wardle’s use of the word “prayer” is quite out of accord with the traditional, biblical understanding of the term. Dysfunction / Dysfunctional Behavior Wardle shows his penchant for secularism with the profuse use of the word dysfunction. Dysfunctions are any kind of behavior or emotion which may be considered abnormal. The ideas of anxiety and fear are not sins so much as they are dysfunctions. Rather than being a problem of the heart, they are emotional or physical problems. They would not qualify as morally wrong; rather they are simply abnormal. In sum, Wardle prefers to use the language of modern psychology rather than the biblical word sin. In his book Healing Care, Healing Prayer Wardle does devote space to addressing the idea of sin. He speaks as a valid evangelical in regards to the need for Christ’s atonement for sin, the nature of sin as missing the mark (harmartia), and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in regards to it.[17] He even says that it is very important that “these dysfunctional behaviors be identified for what they are: sinful responses to pain and unmet needs in people’s lives.”[18] He goes on to recognize that the failure to do so takes away one’s personal responsibility. Unfortunately, most of Wardle’s writing shies away from this kind of language and follows a secular approach to psychology. Wardle prefers to call the counselee’s problems dysfunctions and says that these dysfunctions stem from painful past episodes. Thus, he reneges on the thought that sin springs from the heart, and that it needs to be confessed. Rather, the counselee becomes nothing more than a victim who is simply living out the consequences of past traumatization. So, while there is a hat tip to repentance and personal responsibility, the majority of his texts speak with unbiblical language in regards to behavior. Wardle will even go so far as to state that sin is not the most pressing problem in a person’s life. He assumes that the dysfunctions are more deeply rooted and more problematic than sin. “Dealing with the issue of sin is very important, but it is not the end of the process, it is the beginning of a deeper work,”[19] he says. Thus, “Inner healing prayer always moves to the place of deepest need, allowing Jesus to heal and strengthen the broken person.”[20] The idea of dysfunction is found implied in Wardle’s understanding of the healing process, which he calls transformation. He says that transformation is where… The Holy Spirit, through deep healing prayer, works within broken people to clear out all the accumulated debris that is restricting freedom and growth. He helps them release pent up emotions.[21] It is to be noted that healing is not a transformation from sinful behaviors, which are against God’s law, to godly behaviors, which are in accord with God’s law. Neither is the Spirit said to bring conviction for sin and lawlessness. Rather, the Spirit’s work is to “clear out accumulated debris (of trauma)” and “release pent up emotions.” The focus, then, is not on deliverance from sin, but from a fault in the brain, memory, or emotions. As Wardle downplays the notion of sin, he subsequently distorts the view of Christ’s work. The atonement of Christ will certainly provide deliverance from sin’s consequences in his view, but it is also meant to free those who are trapped in prisons of emotional darkness. [22] Jesus is said to set the prisoner free, but Wardle defines prison as emotional bondage (not sin and death). Subsequently, the freedom Christ provides is freedom from emotional trauma over and above sin and death. Again, we may trace this concept of dysfunction through one of Wardle’s personal anecdotes. In this book Strong Winds, Crashing Waves Wardle confesses to feeling down after his children leave from their vacation spot. He notes that his spirits were out of sorts for a number of days, including the extremes of sadness, despair, grief, anxiety, and panic. [23] His redemption came after calling a colleague who leads him through a time of formational prayer. He came to realize it stemmed from a time in his childhood where he felt betrayed, neglected, and loss. In this episodic encounter he came to feel safe because he saw Jesus standing behind him while he sat on a wooden bench. Nowhere in this anecdote does Wardle acknowledge his down feelings as a failure to be content, cheerful, or thankful. Neither must he repent or confess of any of these things. What’s more, he does not have to gain forgiveness through the blood of Christ or find his satisfaction in the Lord. Instead, his actions were dysfunctions, which were mended by means of the works of his own imagination. He was able to take a mental journey into his long forgotten past and paint an excessively sentimental picture of Christ. By the power of his imagination he is able to gain the affirmation he needs to recover from his dysfunction. Wounds / Broken People have dysfunctions because they are “wounded” and “broken.” These words, which pervade the pages of Wardle’s books, have to do with the state of a person who has experienced some kind of trauma. The degree of trauma, of course, does not matter. Whether it was shell shock in a war or being called a momma’s boy by one’s father, there is harm done to one’s person. The trauma brings emotional harm which may be described as a wound. This wounding causes one to be mentally and emotionally “broken.” These wounds, according to Wardle, cause a person to act out. They dictate behavior. Just as a fractured femur would cause a person to have a severe limp, a wound of trauma causes a person to be emotionally broken and, as a result, they have an emotional limp. As with the word dysfunction, the words wound and broken (as Wardle uses them) do not have any Scriptural grounding when it comes to the emotions. This is not to say that the Bible does not acknowledge strong emoting. The Word of God is far from stoic when it comes to human passions. The Bible recognizes the fact that emotions are real and can be fervent. However, the Bible does not talk about being emotionally broken. Jay Adams has rightly said that people do not have emotional problems.[24] Adams states that people’s emotions typically work quite well. A problem has triggered these feelings, and this problem is typically sin. It is this problem that is at the root of the emotions which must be rectified. If one is attacked and called a momma’s boy, the right response is to not live in the fear of man and allow those words to govern your life. If there is even some validity to the words (I am overly attached to my mother and need to be more independent), I should correct that. If the words have no truth to them and are simply a mean attack, then one should take his confidence in God, rebuke the person who offended, and not put much weight in the name calling. In sum, one’s feelings will usually work just as God designed them. If one feels sad or guilty, it is merely an indicator that something is wrong and must be rectified. While we may euphemistically speak of these problems as wounds, we do well to utilize concepts that fit with more biblical categories such as offenses, sins, attacks. These words will more likely stir one to deal with the problem in a righteous light, whereas using words like broken and wounding give the impression that one is a victim who has no personal responsibility in the matters before them. Safe place Wardle frequently urges counselors and counselees to create safe places. These safe places may include the counseling room and places that one creates in his mind. The former should certainly be done. The counselee should recognize that the counselor is his friend and will provide the confidentiality that is incumbent. However, the latter is problematic. Wardle encourages counselors and counselees to be very precise about creating a mental safe place. He recommends that counselees should be detailed in their imagined environment. This place can be a place where the client then goes to begin the process of confronting the trauma of the past and meeting Jesus. Why is this thinking wrong headed? First, it has no grounding in Scripture. Paul did not encourage the Corinthians or Galatians to close their eyes and journey off to the recesses of their minds. He himself faced many difficulties in life. However, he did not slip into a dream world in order to deal with these problems. Rather, each person in Scripture was called upon to face his problems with the confidence that God is all powerful and ever present. The mottos that led the Apostle Paul in times of difficulty were, “His grace is sufficient for me,” and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The Apostle did encourage his followers to look to the world to come. As he exhorted the Corinthians he told them that these “light and momentary afflictions will not compare to the eternal weight of glory.” This future hope to which God’s people look forward is not the same as Wardle’s imagined safe place. It is a real world, which allows one to take confidence because he knows that the present trials will end and give way to the reality of eternal blessedness. Wardle’s mental safe place, in contrast, is an alternate reality. It is a place where one can gain relief by feeling cozy and happy. In sum, it is a form of escapism which Wardle promotes. It is not unlike taking a drug which will give you a “trip” and allow you some temporary relief from this world’s ills. What’s more, Wardle’s safe place becomes a portal to other realms. It is in this home base that one takes journeys to distant memories and perpetually goes fishing for problems from the past. Rather than dealing with the real world and the problems in this world, the person is encouraged to fly off to the new world which they have created in their mind. This alternate reality is, for all practical purposes, much better than the world in which God has put them. ASSESSMENT OF THE BIBLICAL DATA AND HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH It is to be appreciated that Wardle makes references to Scripture and seeks to bring in the light of God’s Word from time to time in his writings. Wardle denominates himself a Christian and seeks to bring the inspired truth to bear on the concepts about which he writes. However, there are at least three criticisms that one can make in regards to his use of the Scriptures. First, the corpus of biblical data that he refers to is quite limited in its quantity. As Wardle explains his approach in his books, there are very few Scriptural references. Throughout his writings there are just enough references sprinkled into the pages to make the book have some Christian flavor. These Scripture citations, though, hardly have any real bearing on the problems which are mentioned in the book. There is not any real attempt to delve into any given passage and relate how it applies to either people’s problems or the method of formational prayer. For example, while the books refer to anxiety and fear, the passages of Scripture which deal with those themes are not referenced even once. Secondly, Wardle’s use of Scripture is deficient in many places in regards to its exegetical grounding. For instance, Wardle points to three passages as he relates the need for creating safe spaces within the mind: Psalm 83, 91:4, and Isiah 40:11. It is interesting to note that Psalm 83 does not say anything about a safe place. As a matter of fact, the exact opposite is true. The Psalmist recognizes that he is in deep trouble and under God’s wrath. His enemies are closing in on him to attack him, and he feels that God has cast him off. In Psalm 91:4 God is said to cover his people with his pinions, a metaphor for his protection of his people. However, this safety and security that God’s people enjoy is a present reality in the world in which we live. It does not need to be conjured up in a make believe world which we create in our minds. Finally, Isaiah 40:11 is a prophetic announcement of God’s shepherd-like care which he will give when he visits his people in that future day. Again, this is a real care which he bestows, though in a future day from Isaiah. It should not be thought that Isaiah is saying that someday people will have an invisible world where they will meet God. This lack of exegetical propriety may be thought to be an irresponsible handling of the Word of God. But there is more to it, which leads to the third and most prominent problem: Wardle ultimately does not believe the Bible is enough to deal with people’s deepest problems. As a matter of fact, Wardle employs the formational prayer methodology because he believes that there are emotional problems that are beyond the reach of Scripture’s healing power. A look at some of Wardle’s own words reveals this. Early in his book Strong Winds, Crashing Waves he gives a short definition of formational prayer saying it is “a process of using creative imagination that is based on Scriptural truths.”[25] This statement expresses that there may be some point of contact with Scripture, but really the need is to go beyond what Scripture has said to include what can be gained through the creative power of one’s imagination. In sum, one’s imagination has use that far exceeds the propositions of God’s Word. Or, it might be said that God’s Word will give you the starting point, but it is simply a springboard for the real work that goes on within the fictional place of one’s own mind. This statement is given further definition in the first chapter of his book Healing Care, Healing Prayer. “When reading God’s word,” says Wardle, “a caregiver must move beyond analyzing Scripture to experiencing God, who is present through the text.”[26] Wardle explains that one must have an existential meeting with God which corresponds to a direct visitation from God.[27] That is where true transformation supposedly occurs. It does not occur as the counselor unfolds and applies the Word of God to the counselee’s behavior. Wardle gives a personal illustration as support for his belief. He once read John 20:21, where Jesus says, “My peace I leave with you.” He said that he opened his imagination and sought to “enter the text.” This, then, “took him beyond reading Scripture” and allowed him to experience the peace that Jesus had promised. It allowed him to “have a transforming encounter with the Lord.”[28] Thus, there is a sense in which the Word of God may be considered a dead letter in and of itself. It is not until your imagination is added to the text that it comes alive and affects change in the life of the reader. To be sure, Wardle would say that it is in the realm of the mind and in this creative process that the Holy Spirit comes and ministers. But it only serves to further the idea that the Holy Spirit works above and apart from the Word which the Spirit himself inspired. Again, Wardle would recognize that the Bible is important. He would acknowledge that it should be studied and applied to one’s life. He testifies to the fact that it can heal one spiritually. But such words are overshadowed with the fact that he employs the formational prayer technique. In order for a person to have real transformation from one’s deepest pains he must have a personal revelation from God. He must encounter the person of Jesus Christ in an existential way and hear new words from from him in order to process and release his emotions. Not only does this form of therapy go against the traditional protestant understanding of Sola Scriptura, it fails to recognize the truth of many Scriptures already available. Scripture says that the Lord is “near to the broken hearted” (Ps 34:18). Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). Thus, a person does not need to escape to a realm far away in our minds to encounter the Lord. God has revealed that He is ever present and able to address our needs in this moment. CRITIQUE OF FORMATIONAL PRAYER When considering the overall approach of Wardle and his formational prayer, there are several things that can be appreciated. Readers will certainly see that Wardle strives to achieve an expressly Christo-centric focus. He believes that Christ is central for the healing process, and it is his very person that offers the way of deliverance for those who are hurting. Secondly, Wardle has an avid interest in an existential encounter with the Savior. He understands that Jesus is a person, and that one’s faith cannot simply be doctrinal in orientation or ritual based. It must be a lively faith in the true and the living God. Thirdly, Wardle may be commended for his interest in providing care and restoration to those who have experienced real hurt in their lives. Wardle’s methodology may be off kilter, but he does desire to bring healing and wholeness to people who are struggling to achieve emotional wellness. To be sure, other praiseworthy points may be recognized, but there are serious defects in Wardle’s approach. No matter how many laudable intentions there may be, the flaws of the formational prayer methodology cannot be covered over. The primary drawback of his approach is that it is not in anywise Christian. It is easy to tell that the inner healing therapy does not have any sort of biblical support. Just a cursory look at Scripture will demonstrate that there is not one figure in the Bible who uses this sort of approach to dealing with anyone’s personal problems. While Wardle will, from time to time, quote from the Apostle Paul and point to the example of Jesus, it is safe to say that neither the apostle nor the Lord used formational prayer in their dealings with people, nor did they set down in Scripture any kind of teaching that slightly resembles that which Wardle outlines. One can appreciate that Wardle desires to have a Christian system which deals with trauma, emotional upset, and non-physical pain. What’s more, one can applaud him for seeing that secular psychology does not give the kind of deep, restorative healing that Christ alone can give.[29] Unfortunately, Wardle’s approach does not in any way replicate the kind of approach that God himself reveals in His Word. Rather, Wardle relies heavily upon secular ideas, particularly the psychoanalysis of Freud, repressed memory therapy, and Schacter’s studies in episodic memories. Wardle also demonstrates a heavy influence from Henri Nouwen, a catholic priest who is presumed to be gay and taught at secularized universities such as Yale and Harvard. Contrarily, Paul talks extensively about his past and his hardships. In his ministry endeavors he was beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, starved, and jailed. He was also betrayed, abandoned, conspired against. Yet, despite the extreme trauma that he faced, none of it was dealt with in the kind of way that Wardle outlines. One would assume that if the Lord wanted people to experience wholeness from severe inward upset, that Paul would have given some instruction on the basic principles of formational prayer. As mentioned previously, Wardle does refer to Jesus’ struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. Wardle says that Jesus had an episodic encounter with the Father, which strengthened him and gave him the emotional fortitude to move forward to meet the events ahead. There is no doubt that Jesus prayed and rose with power to enter into his crucifixion. However, nothing is said about him becoming cozy and relaxed in his environment. Neither does it say that he visualized the Father coming to him, meeting with him, and overwhelming him with the infinite warmth of his love. In contrast, the Scripture says that Jesus was anything but cozy and relaxed. It was a time of great anguish, such to the point that his capillaries were bursting, and blood was seeping from his pores. Rather than a time of visualizing and experiencing the overwhelming sensation of God’s love, Jesus was entering into the formal time of the Father’s rejection. As the Heidelberg Catechism states regarding the meaning of the phase, “He descended into hell,” Jesus experienced the “hellish agony of which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross.” Finally, we might note that Jesus’ problems in the garden were not due to past problems. He had a very real and present danger with which he was dealing. Thus he did not need the Father to point out the pain of past neglect or abuse by his brothers. His previous difficulties had no bearing on this moment, rather, it was the weight of this moment and the decision to obey in this moment that was pressing. The second point of contention regards the notion of personal responsibility. Wardle is fixated with past trauma and, representing his Freudian influence, he pins people’s emotional and behavioral problems on these prior episodes. Wardle even admits that many of these past episodes cannot even be remembered.[30] As a matter of fact, the counselee may need to ask the Lord to point it out because he does not have a recollection that the trauma exists. Nevertheless, Wardle insists these previous stress points are the true cause of the present problems. What happens is that Wardle takes responsibility away from the counselee and puts the blame on someone or something else in ages gone by. In essence, Wardle says that one’s emotions and behavior are out of his/her control. A person’s behavior is not his fault, and he cannot change this behavior without having first visually addressed that past aggressor (whatever/whoever it may be) and by having an episodic encounter with the Lord. In the end though, there is no need for repentance, confession, or seeking new patterns of obedience. The only responsibility the person has is to get cozy. Again, it may be noted that, while Wardle has a worthy desire to show that Christ is the answer to all of life’s problems, he relies more on secularism than he does biblical truth. His formational prayer corresponds to, and may be considered, a baptized version of Freudian psychoanalysis. Freud posited that man’s problems are encased in the unconscious world of man due to repressed trauma. Freudian psychoanalysis turns out to be an archeological expedition back into the past in which a search is made for others on whom to pin the blame for the patient’s behavior. The fundamental idea is to find out how others have wronged him.[31] The only difference between Freud and Wardle in this respect is that Jesus is called in to be the one who points out the past trauma. The Bible on the other hand says that each individual must take responsibility for their actions and responses to life’s difficulties. As mentioned earlier, Paul endured great hardship. Yet he chose to rejoice in tribulation and bear the sufferings with cheerfulness, thankfulness, and with a spirit of patience, recognizing the sovereignty of God over his difficulties. He experienced emotional wellness because he responded with love, faith, and contentment despite his lot in life. Instead of blaming his circumstances and allowing his opponents treatment of him to dictate his behavior, the Apostle based his life on the commands of God and sought his comfort in this life in God alone. Scripture does not allow us to pass the buck when it comes to our emotional and behavioral problems. The Lord calls us to admit our faults and turn from them. While trauma may be real and painful, we must personally seek to see such events as a part of God’s story wherein He is working all things for our good and His glory. CONCLUSION Having given an analysis of Wardle’s vocabulary, hermeneutic, and failure to coincide with a biblical framework that calls people to take personal responsibility for their actions, it should be evident that the formational prayer approach is not a suitable form of counseling for Christian people. As has been shown, the inner healing methodology is, at best, a duplication of secular forms of counseling. At worst, it parallels the occult’s practice of contacting the spirit world for help. In the end, it may be said that formational prayer is neither formational nor prayer. On the one hand, it is not prayer because it does not pattern itself after the kind of prayer which Scripture sets forth. On the other hand, it does not offer any true formation in a person’s life because it does nothing in regards to real change (i.e. formation). A person is to have an encounter with a Christ created by his own imagination to help him feel better about himself. Yet, since a person is not challenged in their perspective, attitude, or behavior, one can hardly speak of genuine formation. By contrast, Biblical (nouthetic) counseling seeks to utilize prayer and move towards godly formation. As the counselor confronts wrongheaded beliefs and behaviors and points to the biblical way of living, the counselee may grow and experience the transformation of life and emotion that they seek. BIBLIOGRAPHY Adams, Jay. 1973. Christian Counselor's Manuel: The Practice of Nouthetic Counseling. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. —. 1970. Competent to Counsel: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. n.d. Healing Care Ministries. Accessed June 2020. http://www.healingcare.org/about. Wardle, Terry. 2001. Healing Care, Healing Prayer: Helping the broken find wholeness in Christ. Abilene, TX: Leafwood Publishers. —. 2004. Helping Others on the Journey: A guide for those who seek to mentor others to maturity in Christ. Tonbridge, England: Soveriegn Word. —. 2007. Strong Winds & Crashing Waves. Abilene, TX: Leafwood Publishers. __________________________ WORKS CITED [1] Ashland Seminary Course Catalogue, CNS 7728 Formational Prayer: https://seminary.ashland.edu/catalog#formational-prayer [2] Healing Care Ministries, June 2020, https://www.healingcare.org/about [3] Terry Wardle, Strong Winds & Crashing Waves (Abilene, TX: Leafwood, 2001), p. 16. [4] Ibid., p. 27. [5] The word prayer is put in quotes because it does not follow the typical definition of prayer. This will be dealt with below, under the analysis of terms and rhetoric. [6] The following steps are a condensed summary of the actions laid out in Strong Winds & Crashing Waves. [7] Ibid., p. 132. [8] Ibid., p. 131. [9] SWCW, p. 16. [10] Ibid., p. 131. [11] Ibid., p. 132. [12] Ibid., p. 112. [13] Ibid., p. 136. [14] Ibid., p. 135. [15] Terry Wardle, Healing Care, Healing Prayer (Abilene, TX: Leafwood Publishers: 2001), p. 33. [16] SWCW, p. 85. [17] HCHP, pp. 150, 152 [18] Ibid., p. 150. [19] Ibid., p. 159. [20] Ibid. [21] SWCW, p. 27 [22] Ibid., p. 36 [23] Ibid., p. 46 [24] Jay Adams, The Christian Counselors Manuel: The Practice of Nouthetic Counseling, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), p. 109. [25] SWCW, p. 51. [26] HCHP, p. 32. [27] Ibid., p. 31. [28] Ibid., p. 33. [29] SWCW, p. 47, 50. Wardle does point out the deficiency of modern therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Medications for Chemical Imbalances [30] Ibid., pp. 131-32. [31] Jay E. Adams, Chapter 1, The Freudian Ethic, Competent to Counsel: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling, Kindle Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970). This morning I was doing research on my sermon, which has to do with prayer. I read this from J.C. Ryle's commentary on Luke 16: Our words may be feeble and ill chosen, and our language broken and ungrammatical, and unworthy to e written down. But if the heart e right, it matters not. He that sits in heaven can spell out the meaning of every petition sent up in the name of Jesus, and can make the asker know and feel that he receives. These words of Ryle remind me of when a toddler tries to communicate. When they are less than a year and starting to babble, their words cannot always be deciphered. But parents and siblings are able to understand what they are saying.
One of my children would sometimes ask for a "wabberbobble." To anyone else the word was just gibberish and completely indecipherable. But everyone in the family knew she wanted a drink from her "water bottle." In the same way, when we offer up our prayers, they can sometimes be full of pain and without a semblance of proper form. Sometimes prayer can be a little scatterbrained and be as disheveled as our poor hearts are. In the words of Ryle, they can be ill chosen and brought forth with broken language. Nevertheless, being offered to the Father through Christ, every word is understood with perfect clarity. Our Lord hears and understands the cries of his people. He acts to answer the one who sets his poor petition before Him.
This past week Ashland Mayor Matt Miller presented a "State of the City" address (see video below, starting at approx. the 16 min mark). Mr. Miller gave a glowing report of the city's current status and expressed, in so many words, that our town is on the verge of significant growth.
He mentioned the prospects of several new economic developments. Businesses in Ashland are looking to expand their markets and increase their employee base. Charles River expects to add a new facility and around 100 new jobs. Comtext projects to grow by at least another 50 jobs. These are just a few of the items mentioned by Mr. Miller. Along with potential business ventures, Miller also reported that the housing market in Ashland will to undergo a significant expansion. This includes multiple new apartment complexes and home developments. The growth in Ashland certainly can be verified by a drive through town. A few years ago there were a significant amount of empty buildings. These are few and far between now. Houses also seem to be selling at an incredible rate around town. I have had several friends say they've had a hard time finding a place because the houses are selling so fast. These developments do incline one to think about how best to move forward in ministry. In a town that is experiencing growth and may be on the verge of significant growth, one needs to ask how a church can position itself for proclaiming the gospel and experiencing similar growth? These are the questions I find myself submitting to the Lord during times of prayer. Interestingly, the original Hopewell Church (the first church planted in Ashland 200 years ago) was in a similar situation. The town was starting to blossom and new businesses were starting to pop up. With it there was a growth of ministry (and subsequent challenges). Moving forward this question will be something I definitely contemplate regularly. It is still my desire to see revival, reformation, and renewal while promoting the doctrines of the Reformation in our area. A strong Reformed witness in town is still very much needed. Hopewell has certainly begun to blossom and see some progress that parallels the growth we are seeing in Ashland. Four new families have started attending in the last several months. We are also glad to be seeing three weddings occuring in the upcoming year. Nevertheless, I want to serve the Lord's purposes in the town as it evolves into the next decade. There will no doubt be new opportunities to do evangelism and discipleship among people moving to the area.
Are you looking to connect with other Reformed people in the Ashland area? Check out Hopewell Church and/or join our facebook group.
When a Jehovah's Witness comes knocking at your door, how do you engage them with the gospel? There is a rather easy way to do this. All it takes is a little understanding of their belief system. You've seen the TV shows where the villain will attack the hero with a block of wood. It looks so threatening. But then the hero takes the 2x4 out of his hands and bonks his foe in the head with it. That's really all you have to do with the Jehovah's Witness. Their own beliefs are your greatest weapon. You don't have to be afraid because you can use their folly against them. What do JW's believe? Jehovah's Witness believe that God and Jesus are two different spirit entities. Jehovah God is the highest being and Jesus is his firstborn son. To put it another way, Jesus is divine in essence, but he is not God. God is the monarch, and Jesus the first thing God created. Even though Jesus is not God, the Jehovah's Witness claim that he is the "exact representation of his [i.e. God's] very being" (Heb. 1:3). What's more, they would state that in Jesus "all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily" (Col. 2:9). Okay, cool. Let's roll with that. Let's take the board out of their hands and begin to clank them with it. We only need to ask, "What kind of essence does God have?" Once we start poking around Jehovah God's nature, we will find that Jesus is not the exact representation of God nor does the fullness of deity dwell in him. God is Unchangeable If you ask a Jehovah's Witness if Jehovah God is unchangeable, he will say yes. They may even cite a Scripture, such as...
Herein we find a contradiction. Jesus was created, which means he changed. He once was not alive, but he underwent a change to become alive. God is Eternal If you ask a Jehovah's Witness if Jehovah God is eternal, they will say yes. They may cite a Bible passage, such as...
Again, Jesus cannot be the exact representation of God nor have the fullness of the deity dwell in him. For Jesus is not eternal, being that he at one time was created. God is Self-sufficient God is completely complete. We call this his independence or self-sufficiency. What we mean is that the Lord does not depend upon anything else for life (Acts 17:25). He created everything and is independent from all created things. Smack! Take that board and give them a good wallup: If Jesus is a created being, he is completely dependent on another for his life. God is Sovereign & Possesses All Power in Himself. A God who is a king is one who has absolute sovereignty and power. That means he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He is not limited by any other creature, for all power is in and of himself. But, according to the JW's, Jesus' does not have absolute sovereignty. As a created being, his power is dependent upon Jehovah God. Moreover, he cannot do whatever he wants. His will is subject to a will that is higher than his. God is All Glorious A Jehovah Witness will likely admit that Jehovah God is full of glory. They will likely say that Jesus is full of glory too. But Scripture clearly teaches, "I am Jehovah. That is my name; I give my glory to no one else." Isaiah 42:8 Obviously, if this is true, God could not share his glory with Jesus. But, if Jesus does not have the exact same glory, he is not the exact representation; neither or does all the fullness of the deity dwell in him. Here's a real kicker: Jesus even says that he had glory with the Father before the world began. Jesus said, "Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." Jn. 17:4. That's like a double crack in the head. Yikes! THE WORD WAS A GOD? Have you had an encounter with a JW and been given the runaround over John 1:1. The text says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word with God and the Word was God." This passage is a clear proof that Jesus was one with God, very God of very God. But the JW will argue 'til they're blue in the face saying that it really is supposed to be translated like this... "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a god." Don't let that bother you. You don't have to get into the finer points of the Greek language. You can use that against them! Turn them to Isaiah 45:5 and trap them in their own words. Isaiah announces with the highest bit of prophetical clarity, "I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no God." Joel Beeke addresses the topic of the 4th commandment and Sabbath observance in his book Puritan Reformed Spirituality. The discussion comes up under the heading of the "third use of the law" (also called the "didactic use of the law"), which reminds us that the law is to be a guide for Christian living. I provide a few of the grand quotes from the book below. There are a number of thought provoking words that can be gleaned from this chapter. But I'd like to simply offer a word about how a high view of the Lord's Day is good for the soul. The principle of setting one day aside for God recenters a person. It forces you to live your life in such a way that it revolves around the Lord, and not your sports, work, kids, or personal inclinations. Taking the Sabbath seriously means putting life in order: I have six days to do everything I need and want; I have one day to dedicate myself and my family to God. The fourth commandment, then, serves as a time out. It slows you down so that you are not racing here and there, running from this or that activity, and pushing your mind/body with more labor or unnecessary activity. In sum, there is a peace that it naturally (and supernaturally) affords. When you make it your aim to truly set apart (i.e. to make holy) Sunday to the Lord, you reap a benefit of soundness of mind, body, and soul. Indeed, the whole family is unified and given some degree of peace as each person is brought together and forced to lay aside their typical pursuits that take them in all the different directions which they normally go. Those who observe the fourth commandment no doubt find that it fulfills the call of Christ which says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest." The following are a few choice quotes from this section of Beeke's book: "The forces of secularization and the rise of the leisure culture, obsessed with pursuing recreations of all kinds, have extinguished concern for Sabbath observance in the general population." "Men are destroying themselves because they cannot say no, whether at work or at play. Great spiritual blessings are promised to those who subject themselves to the self-denying discipline of Sabbath observance." On Hebrews 4.9, which says, "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God," Beeke notes that "because the word he uses for 'rest' is sabbatismos, or 'a keeping of sabbath,' the obligation to observe a weekly Sabbath continues under the gospel." "Sabbath-keeping became a mark of Christian discipleship in the age of the martyrs, as Maurice Roberts relates: 'One question put to the martyrs before they were put to death was: "Dominicum servasti?" (Do you keep the Lord's Day?).'" Christ's conflict with the Pharisees must be viewed therefore as a campaign not to destroy but rather to reclaim and restore the Biblical institution of the Sabbath." "We must engage in those activities which obtain, increase, and express knowledge of the holiness of God, and our own holiness in Christ. [For, as Scripture says,] Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Speaking on Isaiah 58:13-14 Beeke says, "Here the prophet extends the ban on engaging in labor to include the pursuit of our personal recreations and leisure-time activities. Even the words we speak are to be regulated by the commandment." Employers have the unique opportunity to use their position in the world to influence people for the gospel. It doesn't just have to be limited to playing Christian radio in the background. There are many ways that a company can create an atmosphere where Christ is known and proclaimed. Here are a few suggestions... 1. Share your company's mission, goals, and philosophy of business. As a Christian, your business isn't about making profits and bringing home a load of cash. A man of God knows that his calling in life is to serve God and his neighbor. His vocation is merely an extension of that. So be open about it and let people know it. Hold meetings and gather your employees to go over what you're ultimate reasons are for existing. Share with them how God is saved you and how you want this business to be done for him and his glory. Have handouts that state that your mission is to "Faithfully serve the Savior of men, Jesus Christ, by providing great widgets and customer service." You don't have to be long or "preachy" in your presentations. Lucid brevity can be quite powerful. You'll also have numerous opportunities if you take the long term approach. All in all, you want people in your company to be on board with your mission anyway. So why not use this opportunity as a public witness? 2. Meet with your employees individually & build a relationship with them. Yes, you are a busy. You have work to do too, we understand. But make efforts to connect with someone each week. Take them to lunch or have them into your office for a quick chat. During that time, you can encourage them and express your gratitude for having them. Most importantly, ask how they are doing, see if there's any needs that they have, and ask how you can be praying for them. And, of course, take a second to pray for them right there. You will be showing real care for them and, when they do have problems, they may seek you out. This can lead to greater opportunities to share the truth of Christ with them. 3. Bring your pastor in and introduce him to your employees As an entrepreneur you know the power of networking. As a pastor, I can say that it's difficult to get out and meet new people. Evangelism is tough because I'm typically interacting with Christians. The good news is that Christian businessmen can help build bridges between their employees and their church by having their pastor in from time to time. Introduce your pastor at a company meeting. Let him come to the company picnic. Every quarter or so, have him walk with you through the company and have a quick chat with your labor force. Connect him individually with those who are under your leadership. If you know that one certain person is having some problems (maybe in their marriage, children), tell them that your pastor can be of help. Have your pastor pray for them right there on the floor of the shop. Let them feel that they have a network of care and counsel at their disposal. 4. Provide Biblical counseling Want to have your employees get over their drug addiction? Why not offer them meetings with a biblical counselor? Are they consistently late? They likely have issues/habits with which a biblical counselor could help. Keep in mind too that Biblical counselors have as their first goal sharing the gospel with their counselees. If they are unbelievers, then the counselor will spend a great deal of time pointing out that this is their greatest need (and that their current problem is due to their failure to love and honor God). If there are fees, perhaps you can cover them. You may even be able to provide incentives for them to meet with those counselors too. The key is connecting your workforce with godly advisors. 5. Hold seminars and studies. Some companies have safety meetings, health seminars, or conferences on planning for retirement. Similar information could be given for parenting, marriage, addiction, or money management. All you need to do is consider the needs of your laborers. Maybe a 3 week study on depression would help several in your midst. Or how about some classes on anger? If your company isn't big enough to hold a seminar, no sweat. Let it be a small group Bible study. Or, if you really want to go all out, coordinate it with other businesses, involve churches, or invite the wider community. It could even be a function put on by your church, but held at your business location. 6. Take employees to Christian business functions Does your town have a Christian business leader group that meets for prayer or Bible study? Ask one of your workers to attend with you. Doing this will give them a chance to hear God's word or see the love and care Christians have. While at these meetings introduce your employees to the other members of the group. You can help them make good contact with the other mature men and women who attend. So, not only can they hear the message and witness the testimonies, they can begin to make meaningful connections with other solid Christian people. These are just a few effective ways to use your business and position as a means of introducing your personnel to Christ. The thing to remember is that God has placed you in a position of authority and that gives you special opportunities as a leader. ___________________________________________ Are there things that you've done that have influenced the workforce for the Lord? What have you done to disciple employees or connect your company to the church? Post your ideas below! Question 1 Who made you? A. God made me GENESIS 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. PSALM 139:13 You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. You may take your blocks and stack them up to make a tall tower. You may draw a picture with your markers and put it on your refrigerator door. These are your creations and they are wonderful things. But who made you? God did! You are one of his wonderful creations. Before the beginning of time, God planned to create you and all your family. Then, at just the right time, he made you. He made your body and gave you a soul that will live forever. Deep within your mommy’s tummy he fashioned you together and made you into the person you are today. I hope this catechism question helps you see how special you are! For the Lord didn’t make just anyone, he made you. He took special care to make you just the way you are. What’s more, there’s no one in the world like you. You are God’s unique creation. That makes you very special! Whenever you get sad, just remember this happy thought: God made me! Also remember that you belong to God. The tower you built with your blocks is yours. So is the picture you drew. You created it, and it belongs to you. In the same way, you belong to God. You are his special treasure. Don’t ever forget that he is your creator God, and you are his special creation. Things to discuss What are things that are unique about you? (Hint: personality traits, physical characteristics, certain looks you make or talents you have, clothes you wear, styles, games you like, etc.) Things to do With an ink pad or marker, color your children’s fingers. Have them put their finger prints on a sheet of paper. Talk about how are they different and how are they the same. Explain how God made each person’s print unique. Extra: Make each print into the head of a stick figure. Decorate it with your child’s specific features, i.e. hair, ears, eyes, etc. Things to sing God made me; God made me In my Bible book it says that God made me. -Cedermont Kids, Toddler Tunes The title says it all. You can read the blogs and buy the latest books, but leadership does not consist of any one particular gimmick or trick. It's about the multifaceted gem we commonly call character. Some will say that leadership is about the ability to motivate or communicate. These are certainly elements of a good leader, but at their base these are items which pertain to one's behavior. A good leader communicates well because he recognizes that it is a form of love towards his neighbor. He wants those on his team to thrive and be successful, so he is considerate of what things they need to know. He speaks clearly and calmly because it rises out of righteousness. He is a motivator because he expresses gratitude, humility, and loyalty. People will listen because they know he will not cheat them, burn them, or lead them somewhere he himself will not go. Leadership is about service, sacrifice, and wisdom. These are qualities that belong to Christ, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep (i.e. the leader, par excellence). To be sure, some people will not follow leaders, but leaders will lead nonetheless. That's because they are men of principle, not popularity. People will hate certain leaders. While that may be grieved, it will not dissuade a good leader from his work. For good leaders are seeking righteousness and not man's approval. Leaders build good teams because leaders understand love and relationships. Leaders get things done because they understand duty, diligence, and dignity. Leaders will reflect, rethink, and redo because they believe in the moral underpinnings of what they have before them. To be sure, leaders make mistakes too. They fail and they offend, but they know the importance of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. This is why I have often said that leaders lead even in their errors. They will lead by means of confessing their mistake and their attempts to correct it. Whence comes this kind of leadership? It is born out of humility, honor, and the commitment to doing what is right. A man who breaks his commitments, lies, cheats, steals will never be a leader. Someone who cuts corners or puts in a halfsy job will not be promoted. A gossip will be abandoned, and those who seek self promotion will have trouble keeping people around him. But a man of integrity, he will move up. People will rally behind him. Hearts will become attached to the one whose heart is true. Thus, let it be heard: Leadership isn't about being witty, it is about wisdom. It is not about charisma; it is about character. Those who will be leaders will be those who love what is pure and do what is right. A few months ago I sat with two men and discussed the ministry over lunch. One was a young pastor, having been ordained and in the ministry for a short time. The other was his intern; a young fellow who was assisting and beginning his preparations for the ministry.
The pastor asked me what advice I would give his intern as he prepares for the ministry. I responded by saying, "If you can do anything else, do it." This answer encapsulated two things. First, it has in focus the fact that a man must be impelled to preach and pastor. That is to say, he must have that drive that Jeremiah had wherein he had a fire in his bones that could not be put out. It is the heart of the Apostle Paul who was compelled to preach and said, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." In sum, I mean that there is nothing else he can do. Sales will not fit him. Mechanics is not satisfying, however noble that calling may be for others. There is simply a compulsion that rages within him to the exclusion of everything else. Secondly, when I say "If you can do anything else, do it," I express something of the pain of the pastorate. Church leadership is difficult and fraught with all kinds of sorrow. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet for good reason. You cannot downgrade in any way the hardships Paul faced either. The pastorate comes with tears. Over the years I have lost several of my best friends. They were not only parishioners for whom I prayed and labored, neither were they simply endeared colleagues and co-laborers. They were people with whom I spent absurd amounts of time and had a bosom bond. We shared our lives and laughed together. Then, in almost an instant, they were against me and gone. Such loss was worse than a friend dying because they were very much alive. They were alienated not by death, but by hatred and faction. I readily confess that it would be better to have lost them to death, because we could part in peace and a spirit of unity. But the losses I experienced were deeper and harder. To be sure, such can be the lot of any Christian. This is not merely indicative of leadership, but it is expressive of it. Leaders will be called to "endure hardship." There is a reason why Paul tells Timothy to be a good soldier. The metaphor of being at war and bombarded with hostility is a threat that should not be overlooked. So I reiterate: if you can do anything else, do it. The ministry is not for the faint of heart. I've started a series of articles on Christian parenting in the Hopewell Weekly. As such, I'm pursuing a number of parenting books, including Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Tedd Tripp and Give them Grace, by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Both books talk about the danger of moralism, that is, training your children with law and not with grace. Our duty as parents is not just to make them good and control behavior, but to help them understand the gospel in the midst of their behavior problems. I appreciate the lessons in these books. They are extremely valuable. But want to add one more-- one from which only Presbyterians can benefit. Presbyterians have an advantage when it comes to presenting grace to their children. It lies in the fact that our children are sealed with the sign of grace at the very outset of their lives. In other words, our children have been baptized as infants. Baptism is a testimony of God's grace. It confirms the fact that God is pleased to wash away our sins and welcome us into His fold. It reminds us that salvation is of the Lord and that we are completely powerless and undeserving. This is beautifully testified to in an infant baptism. Grace flows down upon the head of a weak, wretched sinner in his/her diapers. Here is the key for parenting: this sign and seal continues to be a useful tool as they grow up. Baptism isn't supposed to be something that is forgotten or disposed of with the changing of their baptismal diaper. Children need to be reminded of it continually through their life. It's reality and meaning should be impressed upon them repeatedly as they grow up. Or, as the Westminster Confession says, their baptism should be "improved" over the whole course of their lives. Here's what I mean: Let's say Johnny is duking it out with his little brother. You come in and peel Johnny off and rescue the younger sibling from being pummelled. Now, of course, Johnny needs disciplined. He needs to be told that his anger is sinful and his actions are wrong. He needs exhorted to love his brother and treat him with respect. But Johnny also needs the gospel. Johnny needs to be reminded that the Lord is gracious and willing to forgive. He needs to understand that through Christ reformation is possible. This is where his baptism is useful. Why should Johnny be kind to his brother? "You've been baptized," a parent can say. "Johnny, remember that you've been baptized. The Lord has promised salvation. The Lord washes away sin." "The Lord has put his mark upon you. The Lord has graciously taken you as His own and set you apart unto Him." Lectures are good. Conversations needed. But verbal communication often fails and your earnest exhortations can fall on deaf ears. This is where the sacraments are so keenly applicable. The eye (or the mind's eye, as the case may be) can see. The image of water, the sign of God's covenant, the visible memorial of Christ' precious blood, can still have the power to humble and induce true service. In sum, I wish to exhort those of us not to be baptistic in our parenting. We have the advantage of a powerful means of grace. We present children for baptism that they may know grace from the very first moments of their lives. We as parents should then let it echo on down through their days. As long as they are in our household, we should hold forth the promises of their baptism. A tool for Christian nurture is at our disposal. Let us use it profusely, and let grace of it ring forth loud and clear. |
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