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I've felt led to disciple a younger sister from my previous church and though I had my misgivings, God has worked in ways that I have never imagined. She was suicidal, was diagnosed with clinical depression, and actually was not even Christian when I first met her. However, now she is stronger than ever. And I can't take credit for the transformation in her. While I did not personally lead her to Christ, I have tried to encourage her and be there for her as much as I can. We've had many discussions, good talks, and I honestly don't think I have done that much for her, but God has used it to really draw her near to her and even ease off the meds she's taking. A few months ago I introduced the possibility of missions to her and she said she wasn't ready, but then come a few months later, God leads her to a prayer meeting urging her in that direction. She just came back from her missions trip and she is seeing it more in her future. I would never imagined these changes and such progress in her in the short amount of time. Yet it's all God's glory and just someone that was willing to say ok God, I will commit to her life if that's what you want me to do. God has taught me that really, he doesn't require that much of us, but he wants our heart and time, and He will do the rest. Truly I have seen God's power and am eager to see more of it in others.

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I've felt led to disciple a younger sister from my previous church and though I had my misgivings, God has worked in ways that I have never imagined. She was suicidal, was diagnosed with clinical depression, and actually was not even Christian when I first met her. However, now she is stronger than ever. And I can't take credit for the transformation in her. While I did not personally lead her to Christ, I have tried to encourage her and be there for her as much as I can. We've had many discussions, good talks, and I honestly don't think I have done that much for her, but God has used it to really draw her near to her and even ease off the meds she's taking. A few months ago I introduced the possibility of missions to her and she said she wasn't ready, but then come a few months later, God leads her to a prayer meeting urging her in that direction. She just came back from her missions trip and she is seeing it more in her future. I would never imagined these changes and such progress in her in the short amount of time. Yet it's all God's glory and just someone that was willing to say ok God, I will commit to her life if that's what you want me to do. God has taught me that really, he doesn't require that much of us, but he wants our heart and time, and He will do the rest. Truly I have seen God's power and am eager to see more of it in others.

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I have learned that you have to build real relationships with people, having this personal interaction with them will help you see beyond their needs. We have to understand that God is working before us, and we are an instrument. When the time is right and the Holy Spirit moves within you and people, people will open up to you and express that they are truly in need of prayer; and needed someone whom they trusted to talk about their needs with someone who will listen. Listening is not only listening to people but also the Holy Spirit, because this is where we will be able to see God moving within us, and using our lives to share the good news; as we become part of the new community where God has called us to serve and live in.

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I've learned that people need and deserve for you to go the extra mile for them. In ministry, we often get asked to do things that. are inconvenient or burdensome. The times I have gone out of my way to care for someone have proven to me the importance of loving people bigger and more selflessly. I want to be the person I want other people to be for me, and a lot of times, we are the only source of support for some people. When I have served others beyond my convenience, I have seen God use me the most and work through me in huge ways. This has changed my life because it has made me more humble, and given me the posture of a servant. Jesus' leadership was through humility and servitude, and I think we could strive for the same.

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Relationship and communication is key:  My relationship with God and communication with Him through prayer, offering myself to Him so He can mold me and work through me. Then my taking the time to relate and communicate with others opens up opportunities for me to listen and learn and for God to minister to and through me.  Where I've often been afraid that others didn't really take time to be in community with me, time and opportunity is proving me wrong.  It is the Spirit's work that draws us together so I intend to do more praying, yielding and making the time.

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Community or lack thereof. I often have ministered to people specially young or new believers, the importance of a good Christian community that helps you grow and succeed in walking with God daily. But most often I find that I am preaching that message to myself. Blaming my introvertedness, I tend to withdraw from community altogether. Christ calls us to be in intentional community wherever we go. There are multiple references of one sharpening, or nurturing, investing and counselling the other to grow in the knowledge and relationship with Christ.

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I work with students in Yokohama Japan. Besides becoming more patient and having a better temper, I learned, and am learning about the importance of the Holy Spirit in doing ministry and getting the Holy Spirit to work in students. Most of what I do is engage students with the gospel and with the church community. Pure logic and an ordinary community approach is effective to a point, but students are also bombarded with other logical arguments that seem appealing to them and communities that are further attractive than church communities. It is the Holy Spirit that gets them saved and discipled. Through an encounter with the Holy Spirit, students experience the power, the love, and the logical truth of God, and their journey begins from there. I try to decrease so that the Holy Spirit may increase in doing campus ministry.

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I have been changed in  many ways  through ministering to people. The first thing that comes to mind is how I was challenged by my shallowness and lack of deep compassion for people. I found my need for the love of Christ to compel me to love people.
The second change was my need for a passionate love for Jesus. I could not give anything apart from his Spirit working through me. He is the reason that I loved people, he is the reason I wanted to minister to them, and the power to minister comes through His Spirit. It is always about him.
The next thing that has changed in me is the view I have for scripture over everything else. In the beginning days I would use self help thoughts but over time I changed and realized that the Bible is the most profound authority and has the power to transform lives, now I point people to the word.
If my relationship with Jesus is great then I am compelled to love people, and if I love them I will point them to the word and Jesus.

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Ministry has

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1. No Lone Rangers. God has made us, designed us from the floor up so that we need other people.  We were never intended to go it alone.  Whenever I counsel or pray for people, I always like to have another brother or sister help in that process, because the Spirit moves through the body of Christ. Its so much easier when we’re flowing from that corporate river of faith and strength of unity- “For whatever you agree on, as touching  anything, it shall be done by My father in heaven.” Matt 18:19
2. "Keep yourself in the love of God" Jude 1:21 Ministering personally to others requires a deep reservoir of God’s love.  If you aren’t personally drinking from those living wells of salvation everyday, you are soon going to get empty, frustrated, and ministry starts looking more like a job than a true labor of love.   To effectively care for another requires intentional care for yourself. I don’t mean that in a self-serving or self-indulgent way.  But we can get so caught up in the activities of ministry that we become neglectful of our own personal devotion, our intimacy with Christ.  Then it starts affecting our intimacy with our spouse, or our children, and our closest friends.  We can’t give away what we are not living ourselves. Get watered!

A dry tree cannot produce healthy fruit.  Love thy neighbor, as thyself.

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Fulfilling God's call and serving on the ministry is never about statistics or just numbers but a genuine love for God and His people. Leadership is a privilege and a responsibility that entails growing in our love for God and His people.

Three key lessons:
1. Love for God's people -No amount of knowledge and skill can equate for a genuine love for people. It entails relational leadership, knowing that Jesus died for people.

2. Love for God-

My love for people is not enough. My love for God fuels my love for people.

I love God because He first loved me. Our ability to shepherd God’s people is directly proportional to our understanding of who God is as our Good Shepherd, experiencing and modelling the love for God and His people.

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.(2Cor 5:14)

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As I minister to people in the city I realize how very little I know.  I know little about their life experiences, their culture, and their worldview.  Therefore, curiousity is the greatest tool that I can use.

Conversely, as I minister cross-culturally (and even in a mono-cultural setting), I realize how powerful Jesus is.  I see how willing the Spirit of God is to use women and men to help people experience life transformation.  I see His power and freedom and how He is able to use those who will obey Him.  Finally, I see the tenderness of the Father who wants to draw all people to Himself through Christ.

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Getachew Tadesse Ministering others in the kingdom of God is always a learning process. It is a place of practical theology. However, if I pick one experience, that is their decision power or  determination to follow Jesus through the hardest choice they chose during persecution. Seeing Teens and youthes leave their family and lived in street (some of them were from rich family) for the sake of the name of Jesus was life changing for me.  These kids did not commit anything, but because they follow Jesus their family abondond them. When these group came to service, I saw joy on their face, and the way they worship God was crazy. I was so blessed and privillaged to minister them. That was very  challenging and helped me grow, and make christian life advanturous and transforming for me. Now most of them are in leadership position in different spiritual and secular organizations.

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Getachew Tadesse Ministering others in the kingdom of God is always a learning process. It is a place of practical theology. However, if I pick one experience, that is their decision power or  determination to follow Jesus through the hardest choice they chose during persecution. Seeing Teens and youthes leave their family and lived in street (some of them were from rich family) for the sake of the name of Jesus was life changing for me.  These kids did not commit anything, but because they follow Jesus their family abondond them. When these group came to service, I saw joy on their face, and the way they worship God was crazy. I was so blessed and privillaged to minister them. That was very  challenging and helped me grow, and make christian life advanturous and transforming for me. Now most of them are in leadership position in different spiritual and secular organizations.

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I often feel like I don't really minister to others. If I think about it though I guess I do just throughout the day to day of my life when spending time with friends or while at work. The main thing I have learned is that it has challenged me to reflect on who I am. I have had friends tell me about how they do not believe because of their hypocritical friends and it gets me thinking. I start reflecting on where my heart, actions, and faith align and if I am truly living a life for Christ.

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Particularly in issues of conflict, where I am helping bring reconciliation and resolution, I learned that there are always two sides to a story. No matter how believable a person’s account is or credible a person is, you first have to hear from the other party or parties before you can arrive at an accurate picture of what truly happened. To make conclusions after hearing just one party out is to arrive at an incomplete or even distorted conclusion.

Best communication happens face to face. No matter how sincere or clear you may think you are, communicating via simply an e-mail or a text, especially about sensitive matters, fails to capture your tone or sincerity easily leading to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Business matters can be done through e-mail or other impersonal communication tools. But personal ministry must always be done face to face.

Nothing beats being a good listener.

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Ministering to others has enriched me in many ways, but it has most of all served as a mirror that God uses to sanctify me and teach me his heart. I often find myself ministering to someone who is worse off than me in some area, and the words that come out of my mouth are the words that God has been trying to communicate to me. Freedom and blessing are more often found by giving rather than receiving.

I have also learned mercy, compassion, and patience by being forced to deal with the broken humanity of others when it was inconvenient for me. God twisted my arm from being the religious passerby to crossing the Jericho road and becoming the reluctant Samaritan. I am convinced that Christlikeness comes from imitating Christ in character and deed, by being incarnational to the point of touching the leper, and this path comes full circle when I realize that I am the leper that Christ touched.

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A new couple in the church we were pastoring texted late one night and asked for help, and we we thinking if we still wanted to be disturbed. We went anyway, and learned that they were in the middle of a knife fight, and were glad we came.  That opened an opportunity for us to work with them in their marriage for around six months in counseling. They are now 10 years married, and have really grown in their family and business ventures. I have learned to be thankful  for such inconveniences as they may be God-moments where He can show up powerfully.

Another instance is early in my role as the pastor of that local church, I offended one of the leaders we were raising up. I made a comment that we will raise more leaders together, and even mentioned a possible couple to take on their present role. They felt judged that they were not doing a great job at that role. I initially reasoned with myself that they should not have been sensitive and get offended at such a comment, since leadership development is a value we all share. But my wife and went to their home the following day to apologize and address the concern promptly. I realize that as leaders, we are responsible for creating the environment for our leaders to flourish, and must initiate to address situations like this for it not to grow worse, even when we think it's not our fault. Instead of seeking to vindicate ourselves, we do what it takes to serve them to become who God called them to be.

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"What have you learned from ministering personally to people that have changed your own life and ministry?"

The people that I had a chance to minister to all those years were the university students. And what I have learned from personally ministering to them and have changed my life and ministry were the following:

1. These students won't remain students forever. Hopefully, they will all graduate within a decent period, and 2. they would proceed to become employees, business owners, civil servants, into sports, or even to the entertainment industry. 3. Well, some became my fellow workers and leaders in the ministry. Who would have ever thought that these students would be the "raw materials" where they would become pastors, evangelists, and missionaries, and the current leaders that we have in our movement today? 4. We serendipitously discovered "fountain of youth" in Every Nation. Dr. Alan McMahan of Biola University, author of Training Turnaround Leaders: Systematic Approaches to Reinstating Growth in Plateaued Churches, 1998. University Microfilms, Inc., said that because we deliberately been reaching out to university students all these years, we were able to sustain and supply our leadership transitions upcoming younger generation of leaders.

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Having been a Christian for three decades now and in ministry for almost the same time have given me a conviction that God’s work of salvation/redemption through the gospel of Christ powerfully transforms people’s lives no matter their obstacles, challenges, and backgrounds. Over the years, I have seen God transform all kinds of people—the suicidal, the drug-dependent, the overly poor, the uber-rich, the self-sufficient and self-absorbed, etc.—into disciples and leaders who genuinely live out and embody the gospel of Christ before others. The reality of God’s transforming love, evidenced by the changed lives I have seen over the years, including mine, gives me great confidence to trust in his grace and the Spirit’s empowering presence, proclaim the message of the gospel of Christ, and obey his command to be his disciple and to make disciples.

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Ministering to people is truly a privilege that has been given to us while we are here on earth. I have learned to love God more and love people more as a result of doing that. Ministering to others made me appreciate, even more,  the finished work of Christ on the cross - as it is the only act that can change people's heart. Listening more and talking less also allowed me to value people the way God values them.

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What I have learned is that we are all fragile and break with pretty much the same "blows". As  young missionary church planter I was very insecure when having to deal with older people who came for counseling or to contrast a decision they had to make. I soon found out that no matter what ethnicity, gender, socio-economic level, age or religious bent we all break over personal insecurities many times fostered in childhood and in the core family or interpersonal relationship conflicts or job / economic issues.
This changed me by giving me a confidence that people are people like me. It also changed my perception of help. I was hiper concerned with solving the problem the person brought, but realized that in the lives of others, as in my own, there may not be a solution to the problem or the solution is very long term. What I can offer is a listening ear and skin on skin warmth that gives the person hope knowing they are not alone as they walk and suffer from the blows that so easily breath them. I have learned that Liverpool FC´s anthem "You Will Never Walk Alone" is a truth every human being I meet yearns to experience.

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I have learned that, as a fellow human being, I can always find common ground with people when I listen, love, and seek to understand to them. Wherever I travel and minister, it never ceases to amaze me that our needs, questions, and struggles have commonality but differ in their cultural expression and degrees. I have learned to touch on that in connection with God's love and redemptive story.

I have also learned that I cannot control variables for security. I must trust in God wholeheartedly and daily. As I obey God, He will meet me and meet people in ways that I cannot fully comprehend. A woman who came on our recent missions trip to Romania from the United States had a hip injury that required physical therapy three times a week. It was difficult for her to walk but we were walking several miles each day. I prayed for her yet wondered if she was unwise to come. During our first day engaging students on campus, she said that God healed her as she shared the Gospel with a Romanian student. She was radiant, energetic, and free from pain from then on. At the end of the week, I told her that she looked refreshed as if she had been to a spa. God met her need as she stepped out to minister to others. The greatest blessing in my life is God’s presence even when difficulties persist.

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I guess the most important thing I've learned from folks I've ministered to is that it is okay to be broken. In fact, that we're all broken in our own unique ways. We each have our own "basic misery package" because of fallen-ness in this world and in every person. Often, we believe the lie that "the spoils go to the strong". But, the Kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom, where the weak are strong and the strong are weak. I have learned (and I'm still learning) to embrace my brokenness and weakness. God is a redeemer and will turn it all to good if I can allow Him room to work.

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What I have learned from ministering personally to people is the need to embracement and the act of love and mercy. God is only my security and resource so that I can serve the people with his power, compassion and love. 

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What I have learned from ministering personally to people is the need to embracement and the act of love and mercy. God is only my security and resource so that I can serve the people with his power, compassion and love. 

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I have learned much from ministering personally to people. It is truly a privilege to be God’s vessel - to be invited in His Mission. When God chooses me to minister personally to people, I am reminded of His faithfulness and goodness. Often times, as I witness the transformations of people in front of my eyes - I am reminded of what He has done in me and through me. I still get tears in my eyes when I see a person touched by the love of God and responds to the Gospel. I am humbled that God will use a man who had no purpose in life and suffered in pitch darkness to share the greatest news available in this world in the island of Japan. Every time I witness the movement of the Holy Spirit in people, I am also changed.

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There are so many answers I can give to this, since so much of ministering to others results in changes being done in me, personally. But perhaps the lesson that keeps getting reinforced is the need to trust God to show up. None of my ministry will be effective, lasting, or valuable apart from the work of God in our lives. My preaching is powerless without God moving through his word. My counseling will fall be foolish words falling on deaf ears without God bringing life change. My acts of service will be vain without God empowering the deeds. All of ministry relies and depends on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish anything.

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Ministering to Middle School kids taught me to spend time studying the Word so that I could teach it clearly and authentically and to express a passion for how the Word is alive and useful today.  Ministering to adults has taught me about brokenness, including my own brokenness and incompetence in ministering to others.  This has caused me to experience how faithful Jesus is and to trust him for the means to love and serve others.

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Learning to Listen:
Two key learnings have been transformational in how I approach ministry. First, everyone has a story that God is already at work in. It is a sacred privilege to be invited to hear another person’s story. I have learned to ask better questions and listen well to people. Secondly, ministry is not something I do on my own. I join God in his mission and increasingly listen well to God’s Spirit. It never ceases to amaze me how often God works in profound ways when we invite him into situations.

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What I have learned from ministering to people is the need to keep one ear at all times in tune with the Holy Spirit. As I have ministered to hundreds of college students it seems that each situation is completely different which makes me rely on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to minister. I have also learned to be very quick to listen and very slow to speak, in the past I would be too quick to speak but not fully understand what I was suppose to minister to. The last thing I will point out is that all people matter to God and I need to make sure there is always margin in my schedule so I don’t ‘step’ over people in my busy schedule. But that I can see the person that God is putting in front of me. It’s important for me to remember that my task list or schedule is not more important than people.

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Personally ministering to people in a new culture has taught me to listen more and talk less. By listening, I've become more aware of the people's heart-felt need and in the process it has taught me to pray for them more, serve them and love them.

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Personally ministering to people, specifically students, has grown my dependency on the Lord. As students ask the hard questions or face difficult circumstances in their lives, I am reminded how inadequate my own strength and wisdom is. They keep on my toes and on my knees. It also has taught me to never a judge a book by its cover, but to take the time to hear the story inside.

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What I have learned from personally ministering to people is that the main reason I may not love a culture or a place is because I simply don't understand it. Ministering to new people groups and in new places has taught me that time plus a heart to learn will usually result in loving people and places different than I am.