members and making spiritual growth recommendations accordingly, these trainees needed me to give detailed attention to the framework for making the proper assessments.
Therefore, I borrowed from two resources previously used in discipleship programs at CPBC, George Guthrie’s video dramatization of the parable of the sower15 and a chapter from Daniel Meyer’s book on witnessing entitled, “Investigate and Invest in the Soil.”16 The primary Scripture for session 4 was Jesus’ parable of the sower from Mark 4:1-20. In addition, 1 Corinthians 3:6 was added as a cautionary reminder of who provides the growth. Trainees would do well to remember that, though they have their part to play, God is the one who causes things to grow.
In addition to investigating the soils and knowing their own parts in harvesting, trainees would turn to the last two parts of the HAQ, parts 3 and 4, “View of Self” and
“Love for Others.” To continue to put the practical spin on what would be their assignment, I daringly called the trainees’ attention toward the second greatest commandment. The self-centeredness of sinful nature could not be ignored, so I decided to use commentator Craig Kenner’s quote,17 who in pointing out that self-love is assumed, highlights the fact that love of others needed to be commanded. Continuing toward producing a living faith, I would charge the trainees with assessing the type of soil they were before coming to Christ and recalling how their own hearts were massaged toward Jesus. I also determined
15 George Guthrie, “Session 1: Reading the Bible for Life DVD,” in Read the Bible for Life Leader Kit (Nashville: LifeWay, 2010).
16 Daniel Meyer, Witness Essentials: Evangelism That Makes Disciples (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity, 2012), 69, 104-20.
17 See n6 of this chapter for Kenner’s quote and its context.
that the trainees must keep considering their “harassed and helpless” friend, to take their ministry to that “friend” to the next level by determining their soil type and discerning God’s work in their heart. Based on their initial findings, they were assigned to take the matter to prayer before striking up their first spiritual conversation with the person.
Through part 3 of the session 4 lesson I would lay before them the recruiting plan for getting participants, prospective members, in The Starting Point, the soul care conversation sessions. At this point in the training, the trainees would have been won over to the need for the soul care sessions. I was also confident that they would be at ease in extending an invitation to prospective members for their participation. All they needed to move forward with the invitation was a few props, such as the telephone survey script, which was already written, and the date, time, and place of the sessions. Even in these invitational conversations, I expected the trainees to be listening in a soul care way, that is, discerning where the person’s heart is, as they gleaned their continued interest for membership and received their reaction and response to the invitation to participate in my project.
Session 5: “The Practice of Soul Care, Part Two.” All the other training sessions led up to this final one; therefore, I had it well planned. Trainees would have grasped the rationale of the specific need for soul care within CPBC’s membership process, witnessed Jesus’s soul care actions on three occasions, considered the general need for soul care due to the impact of sin and suffering on the heart of humanity, and embraced a framework for discerning the heart’s need and determining the next steps to remedy that need. The trainees would be ready to gather for their own soul care session where they would be both the receivers and givers of soul care.
The aims of this lesson call for trainees to (1) dramatize the first session of The Starting Point by engaging part 1 of the HAQ, studying the guiding Scripture, Matthew 22:34-40, and receiving God’s response to their questionnaire by way of the supporting
scriptures;18 (2) record and share their responses to the questions on the assessment; (3) record and analyze the responses of their fellow trainees to the questions on the
assessment; (4) record their overall evaluation of the leader and the session, and (5) report the results of the telephone survey. Following the dramatized experience, I thought it would be wise to bring them back to their “harassed and helpless” friend, whom they identified after the first training session and had been their “took” focus throughout the training. Regarding this friend, I would challenge the trainees to consider how that friend might respond to the “Love of God” assessment questions, the guiding scripture, and the teaching of the supporting Scriptures. They would be further challenged to use the questions in impromptu or even planned conversations with them.
The Project Information Meeting
Both the teaching and training lessons had been prepared and I was ready to invite the essential players to the soul care conversation to secure their participation and partnership. In preparation for the meeting, the prospective trainees were given select pages to read from chapter 1, which included the project’s purpose, goals, research methodology, and limitations and delimitations. For the targeted group, the six members of the Christian Education Committee, the project had already been a topic of discussion and the invitation to participate was much anticipated. Also, the additional non-committee member was not ignorant of my matriculation and the project’s title and purpose.
During the meeting, a course syllabus was provided and reviewed, and the dates of the sessions were discussed and agreed upon. Much discussion centered around their roles during the session as clarity needed to be given regarding their reading of the first three chapters. Because the first three chapters had gone through the hands of readers and the supervising professor, the prospective trainees were assured that they were not
18 See appendix 8, lesson 1, for the supporting Scriptures.
solicited as editors though I welcomed any obvious grammatical and syntactical errors.
All seven persons committed to the soul care learning journey.
The Implementation Period
The implementation period was slated for weeks 8 through 27. During this period, goals 1, 3, and 4 were accomplished. The telephone survey was conducted (goal 1); the leaders underwent five weeks of training (goal 3); and three, four-week soul care group sessions were held (goal 4). In addition, the soul care leaders and I met to share our evaluations of the participants and sessions and review the participants’ evaluations of the sessions.
The Soul Care Leaders’
Training Sessions
The training sessions were fresh as both the team and I were treading on new waters. They were exciting waters, not tumultuous or overwhelming, but waters that peeked in these sojourners waves of interest in knowing what soul care is and how to administer it. There were four teaching sessions; the final lesson was the practicum, an actual Starting Point soul care session.
Session 1. The first training session required the trainees to read chapters 1 and