Course Recording

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

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

(06:00)

1. Several biblical viewpoints: 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 viewpoints. For those who are new to seeking, how to start a dialogue with them and provoke their reflection on the concept of "church"? (Qinqin)

(15:40)

2. A new sister is facing problems with her homework. She cannot type, and I taught her to share using voice messages. She feels inferior because of her limited education and illiteracy. She values prayer. How should I teach her in this situation? (Suni)

Establishing Pastoral Relationships

1. I find that most people like to teach others, sometimes even when they are talking nonsense. When you correct them, they turn around and try to teach you, resulting in a life filled with conflict. Is a pastoral relationship a top-down relationship, and must the element of friendship be removed to have a pastoral relationship? Can a pastoral relationship coexist with a peer relationship? (Ben)

(25:30)

2. Teacher, in building relationships with the sisters I pastor, I can help them solve problems by teaching the Word of God, dealing with their bad habits, conveying faith, and expressing love. In what other areas can I improve myself to foster pastoral relationships?

3. Please explain how to manage the "love" in a pastoral relationship, which is service in love, so that both the pastor and the one being pastored can benefit. (Xuanyun)

4. Teacher, what should we do when we are serious about pastoring, and the person being pastored seems serious at first but gradually appears to be playing a game? (Xuanyun)

(34:10)

5. The 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 it depend on the extent of the relationship with each person being served? (Ruying)

7. To build a pastoral relationship in love, some sheep are passive, do not actively contact the pastor, and do not report their situation. How can we encourage the sheep to be more proactive? (David)

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

9. In the process of pastoring, some people do not have needs for healing and deliverance, and their finances are okay, so they rarely contact the pastor. They like to listen 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. It seems that no matter how much they are taught, it has little effect. Teacher, how can we establish a close pastoral relationship with such people to help them grow?

(40:10)

10. Teacher, do you have any special strategies for building pastoral relationships with people who are like silent gourds?

11. I am currently serving a sister, and the establishment of a pastoral relationship has been quite difficult. What should I do to move forward? Specific situation: After serving for a few months, I recently started leading her in healing, deliverance, and casting out demons. Currently, the idea of "I don't need to listen to you" is quite obvious. Some basic requirements for new believers' training and the development of learning habits, such as attending meetings on time and taking notes, are often ignored after I ask her to do them. She only moves after being pushed a few times. When I try to understand if she is encountering difficulties, her descriptions are of problems that can be solved, but she stubbornly believes that there is no way to solve them and does not listen to other teachings. I can sense that she does not want to follow the growth path designed by the church and prefers to follow her own preferences. I think this is related to her not agreeing with 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 and did not mention any prayer requests, only posting things in the group that she thought needed "prayer." She was also impatient with teachings. Later, she said that she suddenly no longer felt averse and was willing to actively seek me for prayer. Every time I led her in prayer, there was a lot of release. Then I found that although she would not argue, she did not really listen to 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 did not understand and kept explaining. In this process, I am often unclear about the extent of the relationship I have established 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 cannot solve them themselves? (Beijia)

(53:30)

14. As a pastor, I am very willing to be serious about pastoring, but some people (usually those without physical illnesses 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 and do not want to be pastored. They do not think they have any problems and consider the pastor's active concern as a disturbance and constraint, and they are very unappreciative. When the pastor points out areas where they need to grow, they do not accept it. It makes the pastor feel like they are trying too hard for nothing. How can we establish a pastoral relationship with such people? How can we inspire a desire to be pastored? (Yanzi)

(1:00:30)

15. How do 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 when the person being served is very obedient and completes the tasks assigned by the pastor? (Kuailefen)

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

(1:06:30)

18. In the process of pastoring, one becomes lazy and no longer as enthusiastic and willing to pay the price as at 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 other people, my heart is full of enthusiasm, and I feel like I am being serious, but the results of pastoring are not optimistic. What is the problem? Teacher, what does it mean to be a serious 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 districts and different pastors, the sheep may not know each other. Does this mean that there is a loving relationship due to being in the same church and having the same Mingding Doctrine? (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 once willing to pay the price to serve Sister XX in the process of pastoring her. She could not lie down to sleep and often felt suffocated. I took her to pray day and night, but later, when I was teaching her and dealing with some of her carnal habits, she was very unwilling to listen and did not like to listen to my teachings, only wanting me to take her to pray. I believe that my pastoral relationship with her is very good and that I love her because I brought her into our Chinese Mingding Doctrine and wanted to solve her problems. What went wrong with my pastoring? Why are my teachings annoying? How do I handle the situation when I am clearly loving her but am perceived as not loving her? (Meizi)

Carnal Habits

1. Teacher, please tell me, sometimes dealing with the bad habits of the person being served requires severity, but we also need to grasp the strength. However, it is difficult for me to be severe, and I do not know how to grasp the strength. Can you give me some tips?
2. How do we pastor people who are "losers"?
3. Please explain, "When we see someone growing, the most important thing is to deal with their bad habits, and dealing with them is a conflict." If there is a conflict, how should it be handled afterward? (Xuanyun)
4. Teacher, how do we build up the other person'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 other 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 every day 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. As soon as we deal with their flesh, they become anxious, and sometimes they cannot hear the word of God, are unwilling to leave, and cannot move forward. How do we pastor in this situation?
7. In the process of pastoring, dealing with people's bad habits will inevitably cause conflict. Sometimes, even if there is no conflict, we have to create conflict. Teacher, can you 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 pastoring requires learning 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 and often writes in her notes how she pays the price to serve her father. She also often goes outside to serve brothers and sisters in other churches. However, 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 went to the hospital because of a serious illness. In this situation, what else do we need to do besides caring and greeting them? (Xuelian)

Lack of Understanding

1. Regarding a 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 is reading the Bible and praying. If he reads, she is happy. How do 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 be someone who is serious and 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 very dizzy, and my body is uncomfortable, so I indulge in my flesh again and then blame myself. The pastor said to have a developmental 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, is it okay to 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 been in the church with us for many years. After learning 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 it, 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 four months. When she first came, it was because of financial problems. She and her husband used to invest every time, and they were either cheated or the investment failed, which has been going on for decades. Not long ago, they borrowed 600,000 yuan 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 very lacking mentality, so my idea is to build her faith in God so that she can 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 inside the church, such as in family relationships and workplace relationships, how should we build 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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