Allahabad Bible Seminary

Submitted by: Mr. Nitish Sagar & Joseph Class: BD 1st year English

Submitted to: Mr. Samuel George Makasare Subject: Minister Formation of a Christian
Minister(BMM03)

Topic: 4. Maturity in Interpersonal Relationship

a. Commitment to Appreciate and Encourage Others

b. Commitment to Care for People Compassionately
c. Commitment to Bring About Reconciliation and Justice

Introduction
Being a Christian is not only preaching, praying etc… Our behavior is also important in doing
ministry. Many ministers are good in preaching and so and so but they failed to concern on their own
church believers. It’s necessary to concern our church believers and to know their problems, so that we
could remind them in our personal prayers. In this paper we are going to see the maturity in
Interpersonal relationships of Christian ministers in appreciate and encourage others, caring for people
and justice.
Improving interpersonal relationships
Leader’s effectiveness depends on technical or professional competence. Leaders rarely work
alone and large part of their job involves relationship with their colleagues, and others, both on a one-to-
one basis and within a group. Leaders’ success depends largely on the quality of interpersonal
relationships.1
1. Appreciate and Encourage others:
Every person you know needs to be encouraged at one point or another. Everyone needs to have
someone in their lives who is willing to listen to their stories and tell them they are loved. Galatians
6.10 teaches, “While we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who
are of the household of the faith.” According to Hebrews 10:25, one of the things we're required to
do when we assemble is to encourage one another. We are all required to be active encouragers.
Make sure your encouragement gives spiritual strength. It’s good to talk about weather, jobs, and
other things at times. But our primary responsibility in the church has to do with the spiritual battle
we are fighting. So, when encouraging, remember to spiritually encourage. Talk about scripture and
encourage your brothers and sisters in their Christian walk. Make sure your encouragement is
sincere, or from the heart, rather than forced and artificial. While it’s hard to encourage others when
they never want to return the favor, we must remember to “do to others what we would want done to
us,” even when we are not receiving it ourselves. This is a sign that we are mature minister.2

1
Anthony D’souza, Leadership: A Trilogy on Leadership and Effective Management (Mumbai: Better yourself books, 2001),
178.
2
https://www.intouch.org/Read/encouraging-others, Accessed on January 16, 2020.

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 1.1. Encouragement
Whether not it was because of his earlier associations with Barnabas, named by his colleagues Son of
Encouragement, Paul himself specialized in this ministry. Encouragement is a constantly recurring note
in his letters to churches, especially when they are passing through fiery trials. Though himself so strong
in character and in faith, he was not exempt from discouragement or depression. He reached a high
plane of triumph in Christian living, but he did not attain it overnight. 3
Paul was very susceptible to external influences and felt loneliness acutely, but news of the spiritual pros
of individuals or churches greatly cheered and encouraged him. “Therefore, brothers, in all our distress
and persecution, we were encouraged about you because of your faith’ (1 Thess 3:7). He found that
encouragement was a two-way thing.4
1.2. Express your appreciation for other people verbally
Tell them what you admire and appreciate about them they want to hear it. In fact, many of the
individuals you know may be under terrible pressure and in need of encouragement. Remind them of
God’s love and provision, and convey to them your own concern for their well-being.5

1.3. Encourage others cheerfully

Be sure to stay positive. Through Christ, there is always hope, regardless of the circumstances. Do
your best to help others cling to the promises of God whenever they go through trials or experience
suffering.6

2. Care for people compassionately

Compassion is beyond pity. Compassion connects a greater dignity in the object of attention
accompanied by an urgent desire to aid. Compassion is a quality of the heart and of the understanding
that makes statesmen rise above their fears, insecurities, reactions and the desire for vengeance. In other
words, Compassion means sympathetic pity and concern for the suffering or misfortunes of others.
Kindness can be defined as the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate. Caring means
displaying kindness and concern for others. 7
A true leader should be genuinely kind, compassionate and loving to earn people’s hearts. Leaders can
inspire their followers only through love, care, respect than force. People respect how much you care for
them not how much you know.8
2.1. The Responsibilities of Leadership
The true leader regards the welfare of others rather than his own comfort and prestige as of primary
concern. He manifests sympathy and concern for those under him in their problems, difficulties and
cares. But it is a sympathy that fortifies and stimulates, not that softens and weakens. He will always
3
J. Oswald Sanders, Paul the Leadrer (Eastbourne: Kingsway publication, 1983), 45.
4
Ibid., 47.
5
Walter c wright, Ministering: The Promise of Relational Leadership (Secunderabad: OM-Authentic media), 32,33.
6
Ibid., 33.
7
J.R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait (London: The Tyndale press,1961), 34.
8
Ibid., 34.

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direct their confidence to the Lord. He sees in each emergency a new opportunity for helpfulness. It is
noteworthy that when God chose a leader to follow the great Moses, he chose Joshua, the man who had
proved himself a faithful servant (Exodus 33:11).9
2.2. The Compassion of Jesus
The ministry of Jesus was one of compassion. In a number of different place in the four Gospels we are
distinctly told that Jesus was moved with compassion. This was His habitual attitude rather than an
occasional mood. The compassion of Jesus has charmed the Heart of humanity. It has helped us to
understand the compassion heart of God the Father.10
A crowd of people always represent much suffering and sorrow (Matt. 15:32; Mark 8:2). “And Jesus
went forth, and saw great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them” (Matt 14:14). “But
when He saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and
scattered as sheep having no shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). Because the people were hungry or sick or
shepherd less, Jesus had compassion on them.11
2.3. Humility
If experience is one indispensable mark of the true Christian witness, humility is the other. Every
preacher knows the deceptive temptation to vain glory to which the pulpit exposes him. We stand there
in a prominent position indeed. But it’s venture to say that a proper understanding of the nature and
purpose of Christian witness will be a helpful safeguard against the dangers of pride.12
2.4. The Preacher’s Love and Gentleness
To think and speak of the preacher as a ‘father’ may at first sound somewhat strange. Paul did
not hesitate to call himself the ‘father’ of the Corinthians, the Galatians and the Thessalonians, as well as
of certain individual, and there is no doubt that a father’s qualities, particularly of gentleness as love,
which the apostle mentions, are indispensable to the preacher as portrayed in the New Testament.
There is such a rich variety of biblical metaphors to illustrate the preaching ministry that they
overlap one another to some extent, and it is not easy to reconcile them. However, the father relation to
his children is one of affection rather than duty, and what is new in the ‘father’ metaphor should now be
apparent.13
3. Reconciliation and Justice

3.1. Resolving Conflict

So many wish they could escape conflict in their lives. Or they seem surprised when conflict arise,
yet, conflict is a fact life in any on gong relationship, whether at home, work, or social living. when
people come together regularly, especially when it involves issues of personal significance,
differences emerge. When conflict occurs between people (individually or in groups), they often
9
J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1967), 114.
10
Joseph McCray Ramsey, The Minister’s Annual (London: Fleming H. Revell, 1938), 346.
11
Ibid., 346.
12
J.R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait … 69.
13
Ibid., 71.

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 become angry, hurt, bitter, or defensive. Sometimes the conflict ends the relationship or seriously
damages it.14

3.2. Effects of Conflict

a group of managers described describe the result of conflict in their organization. The managers’
descriptions included both positive and negative effects.
The positive
 Long-standing problems surfaced and they dealt with them
 It clarified people’s viewpoints
 The tension heightened interest and stimulated creative thinking
 It produced better ideas and forced people to search for new approaches
 People felt challenged and they received the opportunity to test their abilities.
The Negative
 It reduced contact between people and some stopped communicating with each other
 Some felt defeated, embarrassed, and demoralized
 Some people left the organization.15

3.3. Reconciliation
What is this mission of the church? Is it not that “God through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave
us the ministry of reconciliation?”
The Gospel is essentially a message of reintegration and reconciliation. The primary condition
for authentic evangelization is to achieve this within the Church herself. In the Acts of the Apostles it is
said that “the company of believers had one heart and soul” (4.32) “And all who believed were together
and had all things in common” (2.44) and therefore “the Lord added to their number day by day those
were being saved.” (2.47).16
3.4. Justice
In the course of nearly half a century of focus on the role of justice in faithful Christian discipleship,
many different angles and perspectives have been developed to give a fuller picture of the call to
living a just life and to a ministry to achieve greater justice. Any religious institute considering the
place of justice in its spirituality and apostolate needs to examine how its charisma might call it to
specific emphases in its vision of justice.17

3.2.1 Restorative Justice

14
Anthony D’souza, Leadership: A Trilogy on Leadership and Effective Management…346.
15
Ibid., 368.
16
George V. lobo, Moral and Pastoral Questions (Gujarat: Sahityaprakash, 1997), 73-75.
17
Erin Daly and Jeremy Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2007), 156-157.

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 It was noted earlier that justice can be focused around different processes of justice: punitive
justice, or punishment of wrongdoers; restorative justice, or justice for victims in restoring to them
what has been lost or taken away from them; and structural justice, or justice that changes some of
the social structures in which we live, so that the injustices of the past cannot be continued or
repeated.18

3.2.2 Christian understanding of Justice

God is a God of justice. In Christian theology of justice has distinguished between many
dimensions of justice, such as:
 Punitive or retributive justice, aimed at the punishment of wrongdoers.
 Distributive justice, directed toward the universal distribution of the earth’s goods, so
that everyone has what is needed for a dignified life.
 Restorative or commutative justice, intended to give back to victims as much as
possible what has been taken from them.
 Structural justice, which strives to correct or establish social structures that prevent
injustice from happening again and that assure just relations in the future.19
Critical analysis
As we have seen so far every ministers requires some additional qualities like encouraging
others, hospitality, doing justice, reconciliation, helping, concerning, caring etc… Being a Christian
doesn’t mean only to help Christians, we can help our neighbors, relatives and friends who are non-
Christians. Through this also we can teach them the love of God. So that they could accept Jesus as their
personal savior.
It’s not only a duty of minister to come to Church on Sunday for preaching and doing only
Church works, but it’s necessary for a good minister to concern the believers who are in some problems
and to pray for them personally. In some churches there is a custom of having a small talk with believers
right after church service. It will create a good and strong relationship among believers. The reason
behind believers to scatter one church to another is they don’t have any communication with Church
pastor. Some people may expect to hear a good word from pastor personally especially f converted
Christians who were avoided by their family members.
Pastors are next to God for some believers. Whatever they say believers will accept those words
as it was came from God. Unless we know our Believers problems how can we pray for them? As
Moses did intercessory for Israelites, it’s our duty to pray for our believers.
Conclusion
So through this paper we saw about the good qualification of a Christian minister. Every
Christian minister should give more importance to these kinds of habits as how they give keen
importance in giving sermon and leading worship etc… If it’s not so then his life will be counted as big
tree without a single fruit.
Bibliography

18
Erin Daly and Jeremy Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground … 157.
19
Ibid., 158.

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D’souza, Anthony. Leadership: A Trilogy on Leadership and Effective Management. Mumbai: Better
yourself books, 2001.
Erdahl, Lowell O. 10 habits for effective ministry: a guide for life-giving pastors. Minneapolis:
Augsburg, 1996.
Ramsey, Joseph McCray. The Minister’s Annual. London: Fleming H. Revell, 1938.
Stott, J.R. W. The preacher’s portrait. London: The Tyndale press,1961.
Sanders, J. Oswald Paul the Leader. Eastbourne: Kingsway publication, 1983.
Sarkin, Jeremy and Erin Daly. Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.
V. lobo, George. Moral and pastoral questions. Gujarat: Sahityaprakash, 1997.
W. Stott, J.R. The preacher’s portrait. London: The Tyndale press, 1961.
Wright, Walter c. Ministering: the promise of relational leadership. Secundereabad: OM-Authentic
media.
Zechariah, John. In search of Christian leadership qualities and role. Delhi: ISPCK, 2016.

Webliography
https://www.intouch.org/Read/encouraging-others, Accessed on January 16, 2020.

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