Term Paper on "Vocation and Leadership"

Term Paper 15 pages (4249 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Umc Ordination

FULL MEMBERSHIP - EFFECTIVENESS in MINISTRY

Questions for the Committee on Theology

The candidate's reflections and the Board's response should be informed by the insights and guidelines of Part II of the Discipline (Doctrinal Standards and Our Theological Task).

How has the practice of ministry affected your experience and understanding of God? (¶330.4. a) (1) for deacon; or ¶335 (7) a) (1) for elder).

My practice of ministry has been empowered by God through what has been a journey that begin in 1975 when the scales fell from my eyes, or perhaps like Paul, I was blinded into awakening to the one true God and through his Son our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ was transformed into a new creature. Because of the power of God in my own life, a deep longing to share the love and grace of God has driven me forth in an extreme unction or moving within me of the Holy Spirit daily to seek out those who are the most in need of the knowledge and power of God in their lives. Many times during my journey to freedom from Vietnam to America to escape the communists, I faced the fear of death, but was saved over and again, and converted, indeed transformed a new creature into the body of Christ. My ministry has been impacted in terms of my understanding and experience of God in many ways and specifically in terms of the power of God to constantly 'renew' his children. God continually provides new beginnings and in the body of Christ's Church. God calls on the church and the pastor's ministry to 'discover' and 'invite' all person into the United Methodist Church and to relate "persons to God through Jesus Christ" as well as to nurture "persons in faith and discipleship, making the community a better place." (the Uniting Document: A Day of New Beginnings" of the United Methodist Church. God calls upon those in the ministry to work with the Holy Spirit in an ongoing experiential service and administering of 'renewal' or 'new beginnings' for the sake of the Kingdom. Jesus, in Matthew 9:17 states as a requirement for new wine, new wineskins and through fresh perspectives in ministry approaches God is able to work in the Church and the lives of those in the community and 'make all things new'. (II Corinthians 5:17) My ministry has been shaped by God's transformation of my perspective in relation changes necessary in the ministry in consideration of cultural and ethic issues in the community of the Church. The ever graciousness of the love of God have been clearly illustrated thus evidenced by His direction of my ministry, which has been a constant adaptation of the ministry to work toward many diverse individuals in seeking them for the sake of the Kingdom to come into the church and into the family of God. I have shared my experience in which I told of hearing God's word to me saying: "Where is your brother?" (Gen: 4:9), and my reply to God upon reading these words were "Lord, I will bring my brother home." (Gen: 37:30) My heart and soul have been reassured by the Lord who has said in Luke: 15:27 that if we work with an enthusiastic heart, we shall praise the Lord one day and hear the words: "Your brother has turned back home already." My brother and my sister are every individual who waits and needs to receive knowledge of the love and grace of God and to hear of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My brother and sister are those who need so desperately in their lives comfort of the Holy Spirit, working and ministering in their life. In the Methodist belief God is "...the one true, holy and living God, Eternal spirit who is Creator. God is sovereign and preserver of all things visible and invisible. He is infinite in power, wisdom, justice goodness, and love, and rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of men, to the glory of his name." (UMC, 2007) God is a triune God and therefore, as United Methodist pastor I believed in Jesus Christ, "...truly God and truly man, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparably united. He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. As ministering Servant, he lived, suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return. He is eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all men will be judged." Finally, I believe in the Holy Spirit "who proceeds from and is one in being with the Father and the Son. He convinces the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He leads men through faithful response to the gospel into the fellowship of the Church. He comforts, sustains and empowers the faithful and guides them into all truth." (Ibid) God is fundamentally the loving relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit poured out to us and in our rebellion and our rejection of God, God continues to reach out in love and Grace in the person of Jesus Christ with salvation, fully human, and fully divine God reaches out to humanity. My ministry has been greatly affected the last five years with the Vietnamese church mission because of the great need of God that I have seen in people who have come to know God. Because of the state of sin and ignorance of God's grace and God's love that exists in humanity, I see how God mourns for his children to know his love and grace. The First Vietnamese-American United Methodist Church was established only five years ago for the 66,000 Vietnamese in Northern Virginia and many have come to know God. The mission in Malaysia approximately 1 1/2 years ago brought God's love and grace to 150,000 Vietnamese. The FVAUMC increased each year and of the 150,000 Vietnamese workers in Malaysia. Each Sunday worship service, approximately thirty-to-fifty of these workers came to Christ, filling the church will believers for the sake of the kingdom!

What effect has the practice of ministry had on your understanding of humanity and the need for divine grace? (¶330.4. a) (2) for deacon; or ¶335 (7) a) (2) for elder).

The grace of God is always available as is his love and always makes available to us the amount of grace that we are in need of from God. Grace is evidence of God's love for us and is a 'free gift' of God. Grace works in our lives in different ways such as "prevenient grace' which is God watching over us 'before' we are able to even know to help ourselves. Grace allows us the freedom of will to enable us to respond to God. God moves toward us and enables us to move toward him as we are persuaded by God to enter a relationship of love with Him and one that he created us specifically to enjoy with him. Divine grace moves at the direction of God in whatever way that God chooses and at the time of God's choice. There are pathways through assured grace is available to use or as stated by John Wesley the "means of grace" through which God gifts our lives with grace, however divine Grace is always God's choice toward us in God's time and in his chosen way.

What changes has the practice of ministry had on your understanding of (a) the "Lordship of Jesus Christ," and (b) the work of the Holy Spirit? (¶330.4. a) (3) for deacon; or ¶335 (7) a) (3) for elder).

It was related to those present at the Duke Divinity School Seminar in a session led by Dr. Gregory Jones the Dean of Duke Divinity School entitled: "The Practice of Ministry and Your Understanding of God, Divine Grace, Humanity, the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of an African pastor, who had been quizzed as to the existing differences in African and American churches, and who replied that churches in America give off the appearance of Good Friday holding less importance than mother's or father's day. The United Methodist Church believes that the attempt of humanity in its present state tends to shun the realities of Holy Thursday and Good Friday and Jones expresses this clearly as well and he states that it is a prerequisite that we "...go through Good Friday, crucified and risen...in order to arrive at 'Easter Sunday'. Moreover, humanity does not want to share in the blame of the sufferings and death of Christ upon the cross. Instead, humanity would rather blame on one another due to creed, race or religion instead of picking up the cross daily and following the way shown under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.… READ MORE

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