2018

Help for People Helpers 

[after church in the Upper Room]

 We are starting on 28 Jan a series on “people helping skills”.

Our prayer is that this may provide some guidance to us.

First of all, that we may find some help for ourselves in our life’s situations. And second, we may learn some guiding principles to help others who are struggling with life. So that we won’t be “blind guides”! [Luke 6:39]

Although we have avoided the term, ‘counselling’, to avoid the impression of a structured setting, the activity we are talking about is in essence, counselling.

You may not realize it. You are counselling all the time. Counselling does not require any of the "trappings of professionalism". Most of the people doing counselling [teachers, parents, co-workers, friends, church members, & others] lack any formal expertise to do it. 

The counselling model we are using is biblical. it's not an integrative model. You can't synthesize a secular model with a biblical one and call it Christian. But that does not mean that the insights from the secular model can't illuminate. The biblical model recognizes the biblical understanding of the nature of humanity as revealed in the Scriptures. Fundamental in the biblical model is the recognition that man is fallen since the Fall of Adam. The image of God that man possesses is fractured. One of the primary objectives of biblical counselling is to assist to restore the broken image of man in the person seeking counsel .

 

28 Jan: The Biblical Understanding of Humanity

25 Feb: The Biblical Model of Counselling

  

 

 

 

 

2017

 

The areas we need to equip ourselves will coincide with the 4 areas of our "calling". The relevant training materials will be developed in time. The discussion will be carried out using a workshop methodology.

 

The topic of the workshops

1. 29 Oct 'What is God’s Destiny for Me?’

2. & 26 Nov: 'What's My Identity in Christ?'

 

In other words, what is God’s purpose for me? What is God’s calling for me? Are you looking for a purpose in life that will be big enough to absorb your attention, deep enough “to plumb every mystery of your passions”, and “lasting enough to inspire you to your last breath?”

There is a reason why we are each here on earth. So many answers are offered today. Many books and seminars promise to make us all purposeful in double quick time. Most of us like to be “purpose-driven. We want to make “mission statements” with “measurable outcomes” to “maximize” our every day.

 

The approach we take is biblical & not the secular.

The secular worldview believes that  “you don’t discover, you decide.” As Friedrich Nietzsche said: our challenge is “to turn every ‘it was’ into a ‘thus I willed it.’” Or like Frank Sinatra: we must each do it “my way.”

 

The biblical worldview, however, recognizes that we have an infinite & personal God who created us in His image and calls us into a personal relationship with Him. The Christian’s life-purpose comes from two sources: who we are created to be and who we are called to be. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ to us is: “Follow me.” He is the "Caller". That is the starting point of discovering what is your purpose on earth.