Essentials are for Everyone

In a few weeks one hundred people in the ministry of counseling, healing and caregiving will arrive on the Ashland seminary campus to discover what is essential for positioning people for transformation. Dr. Terry Wardle, Director of the Institute of Formational Counseling, will teach on six foundational principles necessary to the process of change. Pastoral counselors, youth pastors, professional counselors, senior pastors, psychologists and lay leaders will be challenged and inspired by formative times in the Lord's presence, worship, lectures by Dr. Wardle and small group process.

While I know the content of this seminar is of extreme value to my understanding and experience of being a people helper, I personally have a different goal. I want to embrace principles of change so I am first and foremost a better person to the people around me. Becoming a person that impacts my family and friends in a way that is transformational is truly a life-long training seminar for me! I need these principles to help me be different for others, different for myself, and most of all different so I look more like Jesus. Following are the six foundations Wardle identifies as crucial to change.

Empathy/Incarnational Love       Kairotic Encounters    
Right Brain Learning    Left Brain Learning    
 The Value of the Spirit     The Body of Christ on Earth

I am delighted to welcome caregivers in healing ministry to Ashland and this dynamic training event. I am grateful for how they will use what they learn to bring the healing power of Jesus to wounded souls. But what if all the caregivers that came were not in vocational ministry? What if they were, for example, Moms and Dads, public and private school teachers, hospital volunteers, Sunday school teachers, Grandmas and Grandpas, Bible study leaders, and home school Moms? How could The Essentials make a difference in their communities?

It's time that we speak out to all communities of people, and God is positioning us to do just that. I believe we have a responsibility and the opportunity to take what we learn to everyday people because the essentials of helping are for everyone.

Finally, I believe we are leaders called to disciple the body of Christ into a deeper understanding of what it means to help others grow into the person God created them to be.

So for those of you embarking on Ashland in two weeks, I challenge you to consider two things as takeaways from the seminar:
 How will you essentially change your family relationships?
 And, what can you offer to your church body?


Below are some resources that may help you engage with the essentials of people helping.

Incarnational Love: anything written by Jean Vanier; The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning;
I am Proud of You by Tim Madigan

Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of We by Daniel Siegel

Community: The Safest Place on Earth by Larry Crabb; From Brokenness to Community by Jean Vanier

Kairotic Encounters: Breathing the God-Breathed Life by Thom Gardner; Wounds that Heal by Stephen Seamands; One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Spirituality: Invitation to a Journey by Robert Mulholland; The Sacramental Life by David deSilva; Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle; The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen

(For more information on The Essentials seminar contact Lynne Lawson, Assistant Director of the Institute of Formational Counseling at Ashland Seminary.)