| HOW TO BECOME AN EFFECTIVE MINISTER THROUGH TRAINING |
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| Written by Rev. Zodau | |
| Sunday, 01 June 2008 | |
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Biehrai a chu haipa Marasawzy ama chuna liata ama chhuahna pi a tloh thei via nawpata tha patlona Article English ta Rev. Zodua ropa he vaw reih chyu teh u, na phahnai khei cheingei aw. HOW TO BECOME AN EFFECTIVE MINISTER THROUGH TRAINING Rev. Zodau A rapid growth of numbers of theological student is a result of mushrooming of theological colleges. Without proper purpose, unfortunately, many students are coming in and going out of institutions. Those students are to be counted as consumers of money, times and energy. The purpose of training in theological college is nothing but to be equipped to become a more effective and efficient minister and to become effective trainer of other ministers. The aim of this essay is to identify our purpose of coming to institute and to become effective minister. In order to achieve this purpose, there are some requirements: knowledge, understanding, skill, commitment, developing personal and leadership potential, developing spiritual vitality will be discussed in following. Firstly, in order to form a theological foundation for an effective missionary activity, the knowledge of the Bible needs to be enriched. To bring the word of God in context, we must seek knowledge of theory. No means of communication should be overlooked in bringing the message of God to the people. History tells us how God works in this world basically through committed people and knowledge of how people understand Christian mission to enlarge and clarify our own understanding. Moreover we need to have the knowledge of the customs of people of other religious faith and practice. Knowledge without understanding is not very helpful. Every effort should be made to help us understand this knowledge. Sometimes, education passing on information is over stressed while understanding is neglected. For instance, when I was in Primary School, we used to memorize the essay without understand what the essay means. So we need to understand what we learn. Knowledge and understanding will be supplemented by skills. There are various skills that are needed. Academic skill includes reading, analyzing, researching, learning language skill and living among people of other cultures. All of these are grounded in deep and realistic commitment to God, and his ministry. This needs to be emphasized. Further, to accomplish all these, we have to participate in academic programmes which we usually have in institutions. Academic programmes require discipline to do the right things at the right time, hard working. Knowledge and skill further require reading for profit which includes speed and taking notes. Skill of writing includes doing library research, ability to explain, analyze, and enumerate. By means of these things, students may accomplish knowledge and understanding. Developing personality is very important for students. To develop a positive attitude towards other people and skill to interact with others, student should actively participate in community life, primarily of his or her college community, and secondarily in the local church and community at large. Further, to develop leadership potential, there are some important things to do: working to achieve self-improvement, fellowshipping with others, mixing with others, discovering one’s potential, careful preparation for every thing, discarding unhelpful habits and developing helpful habits. Thirdly, developing spiritual vitality is another important to become effective minister. This demands developing the habit of daily fellowship with God, that is meditating on God’s word daily and daily prayer, taking every advantage to have fellowship others, developing a habit for devotional reading, In conclusion, it is wise for theological students to identify their purpose of coming to theological institution. It is also good to encourage them to hard work academically, to actively participate socially, and develop in God-given wisdom, so that they may be able to gain knowledge and understanding. Learning theory and developing personality should not be neglected and art of living with other people is helpful. It is a fact that to be effective minister is not easy but it is possible through the help of God. |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 June 2008 ) |
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