@ Iron Sharpens Iron, Day 3

Plenary Session 4: Caring for the Family of God
Bill McRae

McRae points out 4 dimensions of the care-giving ministry:

• Complementing the Faithful: Encouraging
• Comforting the Hurting:
• Challenging the Complacent: Exhortation
• Confronting the Unruly: Reproof

McRae focused primarily on the Encouraging portion of this ministry. Some of the techniques he mentioned included Spoken & Written words to those that need encouraging. It's surprising how much we're negative to those that just want to be picked up. On the flip side of that was a listening ear. Another fault we are often guilty of is just talking, when hearing what the other person needs would be enough. Another important, and often maligned technique is physical touch. Because of our fear of touch being misconstrued, we forget how powerful a simple hug or hand on the shoulder can be.
Other things McRae mentioned were hospitality, gifts and acts of service. The final thing is often spoken about, but not used as often, yet it is the single most powerful thing any believer has in support of another believer: Prayer.
Overall a spirit of self-sacrifice seems to go a long way in helping another person keep up their ministry.


Elective Seminar Session 3: Is this the Last Christian Generation?
John Glock

While it seems that this was a needed session, I probably could have gone somewhere else and received more helpful discussion. Essentially, Glock said that today, people are postmodern, and for those who have a modern mindset, there has to be significant adjustment in order to communicate the Word effectively. I agree wholeheartedly, but I just finished my thesis which deals extensively on using postmodern principles to move the Plymouth Brethren back int relevance, so the terrain was already familiar to me. That being said, Glock did an excellent job pointing to the fact that thinking patterns need to change. The point he mostly missed, however, is that the postmodern cry for "Authenticity" can be answered by true Christian love, pushing us to use the most powerful communicator God has given: Love.