Hey guys,

 Here's the deal, one of the main things that I was ill-prepared for when entering the ministry was the shear amount of love that I'd feel for the people that I am called to serve.

Yeah, I get it. Loving people is part of the call. It's right there in the Gospels - Love God, Love People. But here's the simple truth: no amount of theological training will prepare you for the love that a shepherd actually  feels for the people.

This love (that I'm convinced comes from Christ himself) is what makes pastoral counseling different than other forms of counseling. In many ways it's more valuable. At other times that same love can make things harder on both the counselor and the counselled. We'll explore all of that as we move forward. For now I'll just give you a quick heads up and the class assignment.

What happens very regularly in ministry is the people that you have fallen in love with will come to you and they will share all of their dark stuff and all of their pain and they'll expect you to speak into it. That may seem like a given but in my experience this is the hardest part of pastoral counselling. It may be the most difficult part of ministry all together. Loving people is easy, but only when it's easy. It is not fun to see the people that you love in pain. It is not easy to encounter the dark places of the people you love. Nothing gets under your skin like strong emotion that comes from a loved one. Anger, grief, despair, apathy...all of these would be easier to deal with if it weren't for love.

We'll cover a lot of material in the course. The expectations that the module puts forth will be your responsibility and on your honor. I'm only going to require one assignment to be turned in.
Here's your homework for the whole eight weeks. I want you to answer one "simple" question. Take as much or as little space as you need to adequately answer the question.

How do you counsel people that you love?

There are a couple of do's and don'ts when it comes to your answer.

1. Do feel free to use the the things that you glean from the module material in your answer.
2.  Don't write a report based on the reading material. I've read the material. I want a picture of your heart.
3. Do lean on the Scriptures as you prepare your answer.
4. Do not provide any cheesy Christian or Church-y platitudes. I don't don't need anyone to tell me to "put it at the feet of Jesus!" or to "Pray through!" What I'm looking for is how you'll choose to deal with the struggle  that comes about when you love people and counsel people.