Practicing Christian Leadership, Mentor's Guide, MG11

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P R A C T I C I N G C H R I S T I A N L E A D E R S H I P

Effective Counseling Preparing, Caring, and Healing

Welcome to the Mentor’s Guide for Lesson 4, Effective Counseling: Preparing, Caring, and Healing . This lesson will concentrate upon the role of the Christian leader as both physician of the soul and shepherd of God’s flock. These images are interrelated and connected, and your task will be to help the students think fluidly and scripturally with these notions in mind. Please notice again in the objectives that these truths are clearly stated. As usual, your responsibility as Mentor is to emphasize these concepts throughout the lesson, especially during the discussions and interaction with the students. The more you can highlight the objectives throughout the class period, the better the chances are that they will understand and grasp the magnitude of these objectives. This devotion delves into the idea of shepherding and pastoring, based on the example of Christ. Shepherding at the time of Christ was a common occurrence, and so the analogy must have been immediately potent for all of his contemporaries. Listen to one commentator’s understanding of the principles of this John 10 text. The Middle Eastern sheepfold was very simple: a stone wall, perhaps ten feet high, surrounded it, and an opening served as the door. The shepherds in the village would drive their sheep into the fold at nightfall and leave the porter to stand guard. In the morning each shepherd would call his own sheep, which would recognize their shepherd’s voice and come out of the fold. The porter (or one of the shepherds) would sleep at the opening of the fold and actually become “the door.” Nothing could enter or leave the fold without passing over the shepherd. Christ points out that the true shepherd comes through the door (v. 1), calls his sheep by name, which recognize him (v. 3), and leads the sheep, which follow (vv. 4–5). False shepherds and strangers, who are thieves and robbers, try to get into the fold some subtle way, but the sheep will not recognize or follow them. ~ W. W. Wiersbe. Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (John 10.1). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1997.

1 Page 121 Lesson Introduction

2 Page 122 Devotion