A Ministry Model
When ministering to others, it is helpful to follow a sequence of steps. Though it is sometimes advisable to follow a different ordering, the following sequence seems to be the most useful with frequent repetition of steps three through five. That is, in any given ministry session should involve several interviews (step 3), each of which is followed by the development and implementation of another strategy (step 4) and more authoritative (step 5) before the session is finally concluded. The following ministry model is taken from my book, Deep Wounds, Deep Healing.
Step 1: In prayer, invite the Holy Spirit to come in a special way. The Holy Spirit is always with us and in us. Indeed, one important part of our pre-ministry praying should be to ask for a new infilling of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. But in addition to his constant presence, we see from Luke 17 that he comes in particular ways for special purposes. We need him to provide a number of specific things in each ministry event. Among them are:
a) to lead and reveal his ministry during the session;
b) to empower whatever happens;
c) to give us the right thoughts, ideas and words;
d) to provide protection from the Enemy for everyone involved, plus all of our families, friends and personal affairs both during and after the ministry session.
This initial prayer time should be followed by continual silent prayer by all involved during the remainder of the session. It is good for them to keep their eyes open when they pray, to avoid missing the many clues that come from observing what is happening with the person being prayed for.
Step 2: Bless the person. Bless the person with such things as peace, freedom from fear of embarrassment, openness to whatever God wants to do, and whatever else the Holy Spirit leads you to say. Often, the person receiving ministry is extremely ill at ease, sometimes to the point of shaking, fearful-not knowing quite what to expect. Blessing the person with peace usually takes care of such things. If not, you may want to spend more time in prayer, or in sharing your own or another’s experience, to bring trust and calmness. High emotion usually blocks the working of the Holy Spirit. Bringing in calmness and trust is, therefore, an important part of these first two steps.
Step 3: Interview the person. During the interview, we are looking for information that will aid in the healing process. It is helpful to remember that God seems to prefer to lead us through ordinary means rather than extraordinary means whenever possible. An ordinary interview, then, is usually quite important in the process of bringing a person to healing. While we ask questions, however, we need to be constantly listening for information from the Holy Spirit as well. A major key to successful ministry, then, is to listen to God as we listen to the person.
As we start the interview, we should expect God to honor our request that he lead. His leading will usually be through guided “hunches.” Some people seem to think that it is important to distinguish which information comes from oneself and which comes directly from God. I think such attempts are both unnecessary and potentially distracting. If we ask God to lead and he does lead, what difference does it make where he pulls the information from? Information that God pulls from our experience is just as much from God as that which he gives us directly. He freely mixes both types as we minister.
There are several possible starting points as we seek to discover what to deal with first. The most obvious starting point is to check out the problem that brought the person to you. This will usually be some surface-level difficulty, but it has roots at a deeper level in the person’s life. As we ask questions concerning that issue, it is usually important to look for indications of a deeper problem.
