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From Eastern Orthodox Church to Adventism
No full texthttps://adventismandorthodoxy.com/
11/26/24 → 11/28/24
Polvdiv, Bulgari
Reaching by helping: Individual and institutional practices associated with prosocial evangelism
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Self-Care Through Clinical Pastoral Education for Emotional Healing of Pastoral Staff in the United States: A Case Study For Exploring Relationships
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I have observed that many pastors are suffering from problems experienced in the past and in the present. The problems are both personal (e.g., lack of self-care and depression) and national (e.g., lack of support for social recovery from hurricanes and other natural and socioeconomic catastrophes). Some of the problems experienced by these pastors are because they have not had the opportunity to identify the traumas they experienced in their lives and that still affect them now. In addition, many of them do not have a place where they can share their problems with their colleagues, be heard, supported, affirmed, and so that they can achieve emotional health. They have not been able to develop an emotional, physical, and spiritual self-care program; they are not aware how this “burnout” feeling is affecting their lives physically, emotionally, professionally, and spiritually. This experience of anxiety and sadness affects their ability to relate to other people. One contributing factor is that most pastors are not taking care of themselves.
Methodology
This project drew from both the Bible and Ellen White’s writings, as well as my own Adventist foundations in order to meet the pastoral needs of CPE student pastors and to develop an understanding of relationships in fostering both spiritual and emotional self-care. The specific topics selected for the study of foundational ideas from the Bible and Ellen White’s writings include the following: (1) Seeing Elijah as a spiritual leader of Israel helps to recognize his emotional failures and post-traumatic stress as emblematic of pastors who have been traumatized by natural disasters and socio-economic depravations; thus, 1 Kgs 19:9 was presented as a definitional narrative; (2) presenting the ministry and life of Jesus as an example of self care according to Matt 11:28, (3) using conflictive dialogues with other people (Matt 26) to illustrate how to achieve better relationships; and finally (4) illustrating the influence of generational patterns illustrated by the biblical examples of the life experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. -- The project also included multidenominational/multiethnic studies with a special focus on pastoral self-care, as well as the influence of inter-generational patterns of life trauma and familial systemic experiences. -- This project included six male and one female CPE chaplain interns taking their CPE unit at Bella Vista CPE training center under the Clinical Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) model that includes the therapeutic aspect of training as a central principle (Lawrence 2017, 8). These individuals were Adventist pastors, responsible for churches in the western area of Puerto Rico. The study also included one female CPE chaplain intern, a Baptist pastor working as a hospice chaplain in the Miami, Florida area. The six pastors were taking their fourth CPE unit, and the hospice chaplain was taking her first CPE unit. The group included four senior adults (55+) and three middle-aged adults (35–54) with different educational levels. Two had Doctor of Ministry degrees, four had Master’s degrees in Pastoral Ministry, and one had two Master’s degrees (Ministry and Theology). Six participants shared the same rural and small city social contexts (the western Puerto Rico area), and one was from the Miami, Florida metropolitan area. I documented the spiritual, emotional, and professional needs, as self-reported, for the study participants. -- The study helped the participating pastors identify their emotional trauma (intergenerational and otherwise) and evaluate how that trauma affected their ministry and motivated them to develop a self-initiated work on them. -- This training program, as evidenced by a post-survey, improved the self-reported emotional and spiritual health of the pastors.
Results
This research project showed that participation in the CPE training was one of the contributing factors of the self-care tool. The responses obtained from the survey given to the participants prior to the CPE training showed a variety of traumas experienced by the participants, including family loss, emotional abuse, personal and work difficulties, as well as negative experiences in community settings. Five of the seven participants (71%) reported having experienced parental abandonment, and three of the seven participants (42%) reported having experienced some type of abuse and emotional trauma. In other words, the results of the survey given prior to the CPE training reported that all the participants were experiencing some type of trauma. In addition, the pre-survey showed that the traumas experienced by the participants were influencing their ministry and personal life and were affecting their interpersonal relationships, emotional well-being, self-esteem, and professional capabilities. All seven participants (100%) reported that the traumas they were experiencing prior to participating in the CPE training were negatively influencing their ministry and interpersonal relationships. Six months later when the participants completed the pos-survey, the results showed that the CPE training had been important in increasing the emotional growing process: six of the seven participants (85%) reported that the CPE training had helped them grow emotionally, four of the seven participants (57%) reported that the CPE training had helped them enter into an emotional growth process, and five of the seven participants (71%) reported that trusting God, in combination with the CPE training, had played an important role in obtaining emotional relief. In addition, this project showed that CPE training is a therapeutic experience that helps participants identify their traumas and gives space for growth and emotional relief through self-reflection processes, group dynamics, and acquisition of self-awareness. -- Furthermore, the CPE training prompted the participants to be motivated to replace the misconceptions they had about themselves, which affected their emotional health, and to replace them with positive convictions, which motivated them to make behavioral changes and encourage notable personal growth in self-care. Responses from the post-survey appear to reflect a higher level of introspection, emotional awareness, and ongoing healing process compared to responses from the pre-survey. This could suggest progress in the emotional growth and recovery process in the participants and that the CPE training is one of the contributing factors of self-care. According to the participants’ responses, six of the seven participants (85%) recognized the CPE training as one of the contributing factors of self-care and as an experience of emotional relief. This research project also showed that the acceptance of God and the practice of faith in God, in combination with the benefits obtained from the CPE training, were determining factors in the self-care process. In addition, after participation in the CPE training, the results showed an increase in the emotional growth process and interest in seeking help. Seventy-one percent (71%) of participants reported that the CPE training helped them to initiate an emotional growth process and that they intended to seek help.
Conclusions
The results of the survey given to the pastors who participated in the CPE training showed that CPE was one of the contributing factors of self-care and an emotional relief resource that helped them identify their traumas and understand how their traumas were influencing their life and ministry. In addition, the CPE training helped the participating pastors gain more emotional intelligence through the processes of confrontation, affirmation, and constructive criticism that emerged in the group meetings. The CPE experience also provided for continuous processes of self-reflection and self-exploration that emerged during the six months of training that provided a space for emotional relief for the participants
“YOU HAVE BECOME TO ME A DECEITFUL BROOK” – JEREMIAH’S CHALLENGES TO GOD
Get PDFJeremiah’s reproaches against God are exceptional in Old Testament prophecy. No other prophetic speaker dares to confront God so harshly and so often. The main passages considered in this article are Jer 4:10; 12:1–6; 15:15–18; 20:7–10; and 32:24–25. Jeremiah’s accusations cover a wide range of motifs: deception (נשׁא ) with false messages, a lawsuit (ריב) about the success of evildoers, unreliability (root כזב), seduction (פתה), and absurd commands. Several times God responds to his prophet—a sign that he respects Jeremiah’s complaints and tries to overcome his queries. The dialogues between YHWH and Jeremiah mirror questions and problems of a believing community which struggles to find hope and to understand its past. The prophet is a model for openly addressing God—even with lament, complaints, and challenges. God reacts mildly to most of Jeremiah’s confrontations, yet Jer 15:19 shows that Jeremiah crossed a red line with the reproach of untrustworthiness. In this way, the prophet’s challenges and the divine responses contribute to seeing YHWH anew; as one deeply empathizing with his messenger, attending to his problems, and supporting him in every instance. Jeremiah’s reproaches become an invitation to pray for all his addressees
PIONEER WOMEN ADMINISTRATORS IN THE INTERAMERICAN DIVISION OF THE ADVENTIST CHURCH (1906–1940)
Get PDFThis article focuses on previously unpublished data concerning pioneer women who helped establish and govern different levels of the Adventist Church between 1906 and 1940 in what is now the Inter-American Division. The article begins with information obtained from different yearbooks, and then traces the identity and work of pioneer Adventist women in documents such as General Conference minutes, newspapers, civil registries, and through information provided by their descendants. It also highlights the contributions of these women as the first local missionaries and founders of the Sabbath School (1880s) and Young People’s Missionary Volunteer (YPMV) (1900s) departments. It also highlights how these pioneer women served missions, conferences, and unions in various capacities. This historical review of Adventist pioneer women in Latin America and the Caribbean is divided into two periods: 1902 to 1921, and 1922 to the 1940s
HISTORY IN THE MARGINS: PARATEXTUAL NOTES IN CODEX KORIDETHI (Θ 038)
Get PDFIn this article I examine the paratextual features of the ninth- century four-Gospel manuscript Codex Koridethi (Θ 038). I argue that a thorough study of this manuscript’s paratextual features gives fascinating insight into its history. There are thirty-three marginal notes contained within this manuscript, nine of which are in Greek, and twenty-four in Georgian. These notes are unusual because they do not relate to the biblical text. Instead, they attest to various prayers, endowments, and laws which the community found important enough to record in this holy book. The notes are broken down into three categories. First, several give historical data which makes it possible to trace the history of the codex. Based on these notes, I argue against Beermann and Gregory (1913), who claimed that some marginal notations date to the ninth century. Instead, the earliest objectively dated inscription comes from the eleventh century. Next, I discuss the pietistic notes within the manuscript, which show how the Koridethi community used the manuscript to communicate with God. Finally, I highlight how several legal documents copied into the manuscript should cause us to rethink how Christians in medieval times understood holy books
