Thirdmill Online Courses

Introduction

In these ministerial formation courses, we highlight seven aspects of the Church's ministry (worship, prayer, teaching, the sacraments, evangelism, service, and fellowship). Although the purpose of these activities is to minister to others, it cannot be separated from our own spiritual growth. That is, as we minister to others, we also minister to ourselves. For example, when evangelizing, we sense the presence and direction of the Lord in a special way. Fulfilling any aspect of ministry helps us grow spiritually. Also, the very process of learning to minister to others is part of our spiritual growth, because we are learning to be more like Jesus.

Therefore, in the spiritual formation exercises in this course series, we will practice the different aspects of ministry, but we will also reflect on how doing so helps us grow spiritually.

Exercise

For this lesson, it is about prayer, and in other lessons of this course we will highlight evangelism. Apologetics is a tool to assist in evangelism, and it is not separate from that aspect of ministry. Prayer is also an important aspect of evangelization.

This spiritual formation exercise is to pray for some friends or family members who are not believers. Jack Miller once said that if he had just one hour to evangelize a person, he would spend 50 minutes praying and 10 minutes talking to him or her!

In John 4:35, Jesus says that we should "lift up our eyes and see that the fields are already white for harvest."

Open your "spiritual eyes" and think of some people who might be willing to talk about spiritual things. Write down their names and have a time of prayer for them. Pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare his or her heart, that they will somehow think of Christ, that they will see something different in the Christians they meet, and that they will begin to be restless and seek the Lord.

Meditate on John 10:27 as you pray for these people: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

We can't convert anyone, but we can share the gospel and trust the Holy Spirit to bring His sheep to Christ.

The journal of reflections

Open a new document (in Word or plain text format) that will be your reflection journal for Spiritual Formation Exercise #1.

Take some time to write down your reflections on this time of meditation and prayer:

a. Have you thought of any people who might be willing to talk about spiritual things? Write down the names.

b. How has the experience of meditating and praying for these people been? As you have meditated and prayed for them, has it motivated you to approach them to talk with them?