Course Recording

Q&A Recording
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Pastoral Care Foundations Training (Course 301) - Lesson 2 Homework Assignment

1. Listen to the above recordings.
2. Take notes diligently.
3. Based on the topic of this lesson, raise your confusions or questions.
4. Submit your notes and questions to your pastoral zone leader.
5. Then proceed to the next lesson.

(06:00)

1. Several biblical perspectives: 1. The Lord is my shepherd; 2. Jesus said, "If you love me, feed my sheep"; 3. The church is the army of the Lord. I would like the pastor to briefly introduce how to connect these perspectives. When engaging with newcomers, how can we initiate a reflection on their view of the "church"? (Qinqin)

(15:40)

2. A new sister is facing difficulties with the homework, as she cannot type. I taught her to share via voice messages. She feels inadequate due to her limited education and illiteracy. She values prayer highly. How should I guide her in this situation? (Suni)

Establishing Pastoral Relationships

1. I've noticed that most people enjoy teaching others, even when they are clearly talking nonsense. When corrected, they tend to turn around and try to teach you, resulting in a constant state of conflict. Is the pastoral relationship a hierarchical one, requiring the removal of friendship? Can a pastoral relationship coexist with a peer relationship? (Ben)

(25:30)

2. Teacher, in building a relationship with a sister I am pastoring, I can help her by teaching the Word of God, addressing her bad habits, conveying faith, and expressing love in helping her solve problems. In what other ways can I improve myself to foster the pastoral relationship?

3. The pastoral relationship is a service in love. How should this "love" be managed so that both the pastor and the one being pastored can benefit? (Xuanyun)

4. Teacher, what should we do when we are genuinely pastoring someone, and they initially seem genuine too, but gradually we discover they are only pretending? (Xuanyun)

(34:10)

5. Teacher mentioned in the course that we are a loving whole, and whether we can transmit God's love depends entirely on the pastoral relationship. How can this statement be better understood? (Xiaonai)

6. Teacher, if a pastor has the heart of a parent, does the extent to which this is reflected in each person being served depend on the depth of the relationship? (Ruying)

7. To establish a pastoral relationship in love, some sheep are passive, not actively contacting the pastor or reporting their situation. How can we encourage these sheep to be more proactive? (David)

8. Teacher, does someone who has some discernment of good and evil still need to establish a pastoral relationship? If so, how should it be established? What are some good ways to build the relationship? (Ma Xile)

9. In the process of pastoral care, some people do not have needs for healing and deliverance, and their finances are in order, so they rarely contact the pastor. They enjoy listening to the teacher's sermons but do not put them into practice. Although it is clear that they love the world and money, the curse does not seem to have come upon them yet. Teaching seems to have little effect. How can we establish a close pastoral relationship with such a person to help them grow?

(40:10)

10. Teacher, do you have any special strategies for building a pastoral relationship with someone who is taciturn?

11. I am currently serving a sister, and the establishment of a pastoral relationship has been challenging. How should I proceed? Specific situation: After serving her for a few months, I recently started leading her in healing and deliverance, and casting out demons. Currently, she has a strong "I don't need to listen to you" attitude. She repeatedly ignores basic new believer training and the establishment of learning habits, such as attending meetings on time and taking notes, and only acts after being pushed several times. When I try to understand if she is facing difficulties, her descriptions always involve problems that can be solved, but she stubbornly believes that there is no way. She doesn't listen to other teachings. I feel that this is related to her not recognizing our pastoral relationship. How can we truly establish a relationship going forward?

(46:15)

12. When pastoring a sister, she initially showed a strong aversion to me, did not mention prayer requests, and only posted things in the group that she thought needed "prayer." She was also impatient with teaching. Later, she said that she suddenly no longer felt averse and was willing to actively seek me for prayer, and she experienced a lot of deliverance each time I prayed with her. Then I discovered that although she wouldn't argue directly, she didn't really take in the teachings. Her views on giving, the church, and pastoral relationships were all based on her own internal logic. When I pointed out her problems in the hope that she would be blessed, she just didn't understand and kept explaining. In this process, I often don't know to what extent I have established a relationship with her. How should I move forward?

13. What is the extent of a pastoral relationship when the person being pastored does not tell the pastor all their problems, but only seeks the pastor when they really cannot solve them themselves? (Baijia)

(53:30)

14. As a pastor, I am very willing to genuinely pastor, but some people (usually those without physical ailments or other problems they are willing to talk about) only want to follow the church to listen to the pastor's Bible studies and prayers. They do not want to be pastored, nor do they think they have any problems. They consider the pastor's active concern as a disturbance and control, and are very unappreciative. When the pastor points out areas where they need to grow, they are not receptive. It makes the pastor feel like they are trying to sell something that no one wants to buy. How can we establish a pastoral relationship with such a person? How can we inspire a desire to be pastored? (Yanzi)

(1:00:30)

15. How can we judge a healthy relationship between a pastor and a servant, and what aspects does it manifest in? (Kuailefen)

16. Is it a healthy relationship if the person being served is very obedient and completes everything the pastor assigns? (Kuailefen)

17. Is "paying the price" the most important thing in pastoral care? (Liangliang)

(1:06:30)

18. In pastoral care, one starts to become lazy and not as fervent and willing to pay the price as in the beginning. Now I am pastoring someone who has the same problem as me. How can we grow together? (Meishaonv)

19. Whether I am pastoring my own family or others, my heart is full of enthusiasm, and I feel like I am being genuine, but the results of pastoral care are not optimistic. What is the problem? Teacher, what does it mean to be a genuine shepherd?

20. Does the relationship of mutual love mentioned in the church only exist between the pastor and the sheep? In our current state, with different pastoral zones and different pastors, there are situations where sheep do not know each other. Does this mean that there is a loving relationship due to having the same Mingding Doctrine in the same church? (Qianqian)

(1:16:30)

21. Teacher, how do we establish a good pastoral relationship? What specific work needs to be done?

22. Teacher, when the person being pastored and the pastor have different views on the same issue, what should the person being pastored do?

23. Teacher, the person being pastored has a habit of pretending. What special methods can be used to deal with this in the process of building a relationship with them?

24. If a person is lukewarm, how do we determine whether it is a spiritual bondage or a matter of their own attitude? How do we establish a pastoral relationship with a lukewarm person?

(1:21:00)

25. I was truly willing to pay the price to serve Sister XX in the process of pastoring her. She couldn't lie down to sleep and often had difficulty breathing. I took her to pray day and night. But later, when I was teaching her and dealing with some of her fleshly bad habits, she was very unwilling to listen and didn't like to listen to my teachings, only wanting me to lead her in prayer. I thought that my pastoral relationship with her was very good, that I loved her, because I brought her into our Chinese Mingding Doctrine, wanting to solve her problems. What went wrong with my pastoral care? Why are my teachings annoying? How do I handle the situation where I am clearly loving her but being perceived as not loving her? (Meizi)

Fleshly Bad Habits

1. Teacher, sometimes dealing with the bad habits of the person being served requires severity, but also requires grasping the right strength. However, it is difficult for me to be severe, and I don't know how to grasp the right strength. Can you give me some tips?
2. How do we pastor "loser" types of people?
3. Please explain, "When seeing someone grow, the most important thing is to deal with their bad habits. If you want to deal with them, it will be a conflict." If there is a conflict, how should it be handled afterward? (Xuanyun)
4. Teacher, how do we build up someone's faith while breaking down their flesh? How do we grasp the relationship and degree between the two? Is it that in the process of breaking down the flesh, the person sees their own growth, and their faith is built up at the same time? (Suni)
5. When should we push someone to work? There is a full-time mother who only picks up and drops off her children and does not have a job. She has been with us for more than half a year. When is a good time to encourage her to work? (Jidian)

(1:25:30)

6. Some sheep have experienced many of God's graces, but when you deal with their flesh, they become anxious, and sometimes they cannot hear God's word, are unwilling to leave, and cannot move forward. How should we pastor in this situation?
7. In the process of pastoral care, dealing with people's bad habits will inevitably cause conflict. Sometimes, even if there is no conflict, you have to create conflict. Can the teacher talk about how to create conflict, manage conflict, and transform conflict?

Love of the World (1:27:15)

1. Through this lesson, I learned how to establish a loving pastoral relationship with the person being pastored, which is to serve with the heart of a father and mother, weeping with those who weep. Then the teacher also said that pastoral care should learn to deal with people's problems. I feel that this point is not easy to grasp. A sister is very enthusiastic about serving her father, often writing in her notes how she pays the price to serve her father, and often runs outside to serve brothers and sisters in other churches. But when dealing with her own problems, she often sits on the bed and prays during prayer meetings, and then falls asleep. Teacher, is this person pretending? This sister hopes that I can serve her father, but her father has always loved the world and is unwilling to believe in God, so the situation keeps repeating. I feel that serving in this way is also ineffective. So I would like to ask the teacher, how can we both weep with those who weep and deal with this sister's bad habits in this situation?

(1:32:30)

2. The person being pastored has gone to the hospital because of a serious illness. In this situation, what else do we need to do besides caring and greeting them? (Xuelian)

About Lack of Understanding

1. About lack of understanding. A sister often listens to sermons, but her understanding is never clear. For example, she keeps an eye on whether her husband reads the Bible and prays. If he does, she is happy. How should we teach this type of person? (Jidian)

Healing and Deliverance

1. Teacher, I am very selfish and indulge in my flesh, but I really want to become a genuine person who pays the price to serve. The biggest challenge is sleep. Sometimes after staying up late, I am very energetic the next day and my faith is multiplied. Sometimes my head is dizzy and my body is uncomfortable, so I indulge in my flesh again, and then I blame myself. The pastor said to have a developing perspective and look at the trend of my growth, but I have not been able to implement this point. I always feel that this is accepting my sin. Teacher, should I put down these messy thoughts and believe that God will definitely help me?

Pastoring Children

(1:39:15)

1. I have started pastoring my children. My son is 16 years old and my daughter is 13 years old. They have both been in the church with us for many years. After studying this lesson, I feel that in terms of pastoral relationships, I have fatherly love for them, but many times I feel that I am too considerate of them. Many times I feel that if I push them too hard, they will resent me and the effect will be counterproductive. Is it more difficult for parents to pastor their own children than for ordinary brothers and sisters? Is pastoring one's own children a suitable start for a Christian who is just beginning to learn how to pastor? (Bryan)

Financial Problems

(1:41:45)

1. I have been serving a sister for about 4 months. When she first came, it was because of financial problems. She and her husband used to invest, but they were either cheated or the investment failed, after decades of struggling. Not long ago, they borrowed 600,000 to invest in tungsten mines, but because various procedures could not be completed, it has been stalled. The partner said they would refund the money, but it has been delayed for more than a month. This sister is very worried. My question is, should I be concerned about her financial problems, or the problems behind her financial problems? This sister is easily worried about worldly things and has a lack mentality, so my idea is to build her faith in God and help her become someone who trusts in God. Is this correct? (Vivian)

About Pastoring Family Members

(1:47:30)

1. The church teaches us about the relationship between pastoring and being pastored. If we are not in the church, such as in family relationships and workplace relationships, how should we establish healthy interpersonal relationships? Can we apply this spiritual principle? How do we apply it? Thank you, teacher, for your guidance. (Anqi)

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