By: Ms. Josephine Romain, Cassells Morrell, Dr. Nairy Ohanian

July 2011

 Introduction

Serving as staff in IFES can be very demanding.  We are constantly giving of ourselves to students, associates and other individuals.  Many proudly describe their “jobs” as “twenty four seven” and “becoming all things to all men.” 

Often staff face spiritual opposition, experience fatigue, stress, and burnout, interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts.   We bring into the ministry our psychological deficits which can be further exposed under spiritual, physical and emotional stress.   

Robert McCheyne, the nineteenth century noted preacher is claimed to have said as he approached death at the tender age of 29, “You gave me a horse (his body) and you gave me the message.  But now I cannot deliver this message.”  It is believed that McCheyne died from overwork.  Even when he   knew that he was a sickly man, he pushed himself to the limit.  Could he have lived a longer and more productive life had he gotten some pastoral care?  Paul speaks of his faithful teammate,   Epaphroditus whom he describes was ill because of his love for the work, risking his life (Philippians 2:25-30).  Can staff be negatively affected while sincerely serving in the work of the Lord?  The answer is a resounding “yes.”  

CLERGY Troubles:  Focus on the Family-James Dobson- recent poll-Mar 2011 paper:  Clergy are defined as pastors, rabbis, chaplains hospital, university, crisis- caring for others spiritual needs.

80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their marriage & family

40%  have considered leaving their place of ministry within the last 3 months

70% do not have someone whom they consider a close friend.  (THIS we will discuss in detail later)

In recent years there have been many studies amongst the missionary community on EARLY ATTRITION- why miss leave the field before expected.  ReMAP in 1993 researched 455 agencies, studying 23,000 long term miss in the study.  4400 returned early from assignments 7 the main causes were: 

Spiritual immaturity, children’s issues, team or colleague issues, spiritual and financial concerns, low self esteem combined with stress, & lack of job satisfaction.

Primary concern is that 75% of reasons for early attrition are preventable reasons.  And the long term implications for both personal spiritual vitality and ministry outcome, & kingdom stewardship of resources, are devastating to the individual staff worker as well as those being ministered too. (Naramore Foundation) Thus our topic vital- what must be done.

While we cannot present any scientific findings on the frequency of affected IFES staff that are either still serving or have left the ministry and possible reasons for their dysfunction, I am sure we all know 1 or 2 personal examples of colleagues who served with or near us BUT had to leave.  So knowing them, & our own stories, we can share various perspectives, knowledge and experience which will guide us all.

In this forum we will seek to address Pastoral Care Issues under the following headings and discuss any related questions you may have:

• The uniqueness of the IFES ministry and the joys of service. 
• The constant challenges staff face in their contexts and ministry; again unique role of staff.
• The interplay between humanity and ministry and the need for self-care.
• Some guidelines to manage the challenges of lifestyle: self, family; faith and ministry 

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Thank you for partnering together!



Press on!

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Dynamics

1 – short presentation

2 – small group discussion

3 – brief report to the whole group

 (for each topic, different groups were asked to  give a short response)

The groups were given 3 questions to guide their discussion:

• What challenges do you face in this area in your movement?
• What was helpful in your movements?
• What have you found helpful in this presentation?

Summary of the group responses:

On recruitment:

Challenges

• Some people may look good and have good character, but they don’t have ability to influence students and the other way around.
• Non-national staff, which leads to thinking “someone will come from overseas to do the work”
• People wanting “good salaries” to have a comfortable life.
• Not long-term prospectives
• Getting out of career path
• Want more staff but movements cannot afford it
• Not a lot of initial support/training
• Staff have to raise 100% of their salary! Not very attactive.
• Recruited wrong people: use only theological criteria
• No culture for educating new staff
• Money to support staff, financial support
• No clarity of job roles
• Staff good on teaching and training, but poor in building relationship
• Cultural mindset in graduates: get a job, get married, build a house
• Lack of ownership of the national movement by students
• Security issues

Helpful

• The need to be deliberate to know students and find students to be staff, and in looking for people to be volunteer staff.
• Getting references from local church, past employers
• Creative partnering with local church
• Sharing the vision with the local church
• Recruitment through church bulletins or through personal recommendations
• Networking with other staff to identify potential staff for your specific ministry
• Grooming young students with potential.
• Conduct the recruitment/interview/application professionally.  Represent your organization well.
• Recruit volunteers as a pool of potential staff 

On training:

Challenges

• In Zambia, there is no general secretary at the moment
• Use of graduates
• Training of fundraising
• No formal framework of training
• Training in fundraising
• Training has to be connected with good pastoral care because sometimes skilled and well-trained staff have unresolved pastoral problems and burn out.
• How to better implement what has been learned in the staff training institute during the academic year?

Helpful

• Receive training from senior staff
• The need of clear  job descriptions
• Regional IFES training
• Train in fund development very early
• Send staff to training conferences outside our  movements
• Include training component regularly at staff meetings
• Internship program
• Invest in key student leaders

On pastoral care:

Challenges

• How can supervision work best in certain cultures (for example: Japanese)
• Ask open questions to staff about personal issues in cultures where it is a shame to lose your face.
• Geographically or communication-wise  isolated places (bad internet, only cyber cafes, etc.)

Helpful

• Community focused weekend/minimal training. Lots of fun, families included
• Sabbatical
• Learning about grace, being fred from guilty.
• Strongly encourage the staff to have a weekly  day off (“we give you your salary only if you keep your free day”).

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Your partnership in prayer for this conference is very important! Do pray for Undivided'12!
And maybe... see many of you there!

1. Programs, speakers

-       May God’s Word speak to 2000 people at a time through the message the main speaker is going to share.

-       May we experience what it means to be "Undivided” in our worship and in our love for one another

-       May the conference bring spiritual refreshment to everyone who will participate and may it stir everyone’s heart to preach the gospel.

-       May we feel and experience unity in God’s family as His children.

2. Participating European students

-       Pray for safe journey and arrival. Pray that everyone is able to organize how to get to the conference.

-       Pray that everyone who needs a visa would have it granted, and that there would be enough time to get all the paperwork done (approximately 50 students need a visa).

-       Pray that those who come as seekers would experience salvation and that the others would experience something in their faith that that will help them move forward and that will be decisive for the future.

3. Volunteers

-       We are expecting 150 Hungarian volunteers to help out in the conference. Pray that there would be enough helping hands.

-       Pray that we could divide responsibilities and duties wisely so that no one would be overburdened and that everyone would be edified by the message of the conference.

-       Pray that God would provide enough accommodation in Győr at acquaintances’’ and church members’ homes.

-       Pray for unity, team work, love, understanding and patience towards one another!

-       Pray that volunteering would be a decisive experience for helpers both in faith and in spirit.

4. Finances

-       Pray that we would receive enough donations.

-       Pray that students/volunteers/organizers would be able to reach as many churches as possible where people can support us with prayer and donations.

-       Pray for fundraising that our cause would find open ears and hearts.

5. Organizers

-       Pray that we may have energy to do our work. That God would protect us physically until and during the conference as well.

-       Pray that we would be able to notice shortcomings, that we may be able to solve problems and that we may be able to cast all our worries and tasks on God.

-       Pray that the conference would go smoothly; that our relationship with our partners would not be damaged but strengthened; that God would protect the conference, all the participants and all our partners from every harm and conflict.

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Colors Of The Field

• A different generation with many advances and also many cracks
• Replicators and keepers of traditions at times
• Tugging at the strings wanting more freedom
• Completely revolutionizing the movement, hardly leaving any traces of our ethos

The EPIC Generation 

• Experiential
• Participative
• Image-driven
• Connected 

Laborers On The Field

• Needing to PLOUGH the land  (sowers of the seed of leadership)
• Holding IN TRUST only, another generation’s legacy
• Understanding that LEADERSHIP IS CAUGHT, as they emulate their predecessors and experience first hand what it means to lead
• Working in a MOVEMENT THAT RAISES and empowers, no matter the changes

Embracing EPIC Methodologies

  ~  where the student is both

• Active – reflective
• Participant - observer
• Sitting In - sitting out

As GUARDIANS & CATALYSTS The Beautiful Risk We Must Embark On

• JOURNEYORS a.k.a.  fellow pilgrims
• Spiritual COMPANIONS a.k.a. discerners of Divine activity
• Players and COACHES a.k.a. shapers
• NARRATORS a.k.a. capturing the collision of God’s story with ours
• THRUSTERS a.k.a. giving them the gift of freedom and entrusting them
• The MODELLING of a stripped down servant

The MALAYSIAN Model

• At our EVENTS
• Issuing PROPHETIC CALLS (Ops Gegar, Ops RIUT)
• Issuing NATION BUILDING CALLS (JAM)
• Laying FOUNDATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP (camps like Camp Cameron, STOMP, SWEEP)
• Addressing SITUATIONAL ISSUES (simulations & leadership trainings)

In our FIELDWORK

• Campus based LEADERSHIP TRAINING
• One on One SPIRITUAL DIRECTION & FORMACION
• SCRIPTURE  ENGAGEMENT (whole books of the Bible)
• LIFE  ENGAGEMENT
• THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION and CONTEMPLATIVE living
• Unpacking their LIFE SHARINGS

References 

1.  Generating Hope (Jimmy Long)

2.  Post Modern Pilgrims (Leonard Sweet)

3.  Growing Souls (Mike Yaconelli)

4.  The Contemplative Pastor (Eugene Peterson)

5.  Working The Angels (Eugene Peterson)

6.  The Emerging Church (Dan Kimball)

This Ministry Forum at IFES World Assembly 2011 was facilitated by Annette Arulrajah (FES Malaysia) and Al Anderson (IVCF Canada).

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Questions to Ponder

1. How dirty is your heart? Does it have to do with how clean is your Bible?
2. How can you make your Bible more dirty? Think of one thing you will do this week about it.
3. Pray that God will give you a hunger for his Word.

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Questions and matters for further discussion:

1. In the area of governance, what would be the respective roles of the Board and staff of a national movement that is generally weak, either because it is a new work or it may be an established movement struggling with a fragile financial base, inadequately trained staff and a limited pool of volunteers? What lessons can be learned that may apply to the pioneering of a new work in another country?
2. What options are available for the training and orientation of Board members, taking into account its situation based on the phase of development of the national movement? Discuss possible areas or topics that may be addressed as part of an ongoing training programme.
3. The need for staff evaluation and performance reviews is generally accepted and practised in many national movements. Do you think that evaluation of the Board is also useful and/or necessary?  If so, Why? Discuss ways in which the Board may conduct a self-evaluation. What benchmark indicators may be used? What role, if any, should be played by the staff and the Regional Secretary in helping the Board in this process?

These paragraphs are intended to assist in our reflection on some aspects of governance of a national movement within the family of IFES. While issues of governance transcend all areas of the movement, this discussion focuses on the role of the Board, as the final level of authority for the work, under God.

A fundamental role of a Board is the establishment and maintenance of the enabling environment in which staff and volunteers can fulfil the mandate of the movement, in particular evangelism, discipleship and mission, on campuses of educational institutions. As such, the Board’s responsibilities would include ensuring that (i) the institutional and legal framework in which the movement operates fully satisfies the requirements of IFES, as well as national legislation; (ii) the leadership of the movement subscribe to the Statement of Faith; (iii) financial, human and other resources are available to fulfil its mandate; and (iv) administrative arrangements and systems meet the needs of the organization.

Board members, like everyone else, operate in a secular environment on the job, in which the achievement of the goals of the organization is paramount. Board members are generally themselves employees, professionals or business persons where the focus is on “getting things done through people” with an eye on the bottom line. Persons are seen primarily as resources to be managed to achieve the objectives of the organization.  Subject to the prevailing culture and to varying degrees, persons are treated as units of production. They are valued in terms of the outputs they deliver and are dispensable without much thought to their intrinsic worth.

For the Board members, this orientation to measurable outputs or observable outcomes in their professional lives would seem to stand in contrast to the person-centred and relational imperatives inherent in the message of the Gospel and the national movements they are called to lead. While the ministry requires a businesslike approach in the management of its affairs, the wellbeing of the staff should not be seen as an afterthought. Rather, the Board should ensure that the “Fellowship” in our name is demonstrated through adequate provisions for pastoral care for staff and volunteers, as appropriate.

Finally, a review of the challenges and opportunities facing many national movements suggests that nearly all of them progress through different phases. These may loosely regarded as (i) the pioneering and establishment phase, including necessary research to identify needs and opportunities, establishing contacts, basic training/orientation and initiation of the work; (ii) the consolidation phase, focusing on basic policies and procedures and building the support base; (iii) maturity. The Board will need to respond and operate in the context of the challenges unique to that phase. For example, the Board and staff of a movement in its infancy will require extensive training and orientation, while the Board of a mature movement needs to guard against stagnation. While growth to maturity is the desired goal, the effects of internal and external factors sometimes result in decline and dormancy followed by either death or revival. Accordingly, the challenges faced by the Board of a stable and adequately resourced ministry would necessarily differ from those of an emerging movement, or of one in decline. The classical allocation of functions whereby the Board sets policy and gives oversight while the staff administers and implements, would therefore not be appropriate in all cases.

This Ministry Forum at IFES World Assembly 2012 was facilitated by Leon Harris.

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