Author: John Morse

Currently mentoring church leaders and conducting pastoral reviews trading as Reflective Journeys. Formerly principal of Tabor Tasmania for 14 years. Previously ordained in Baptist - 12 years and Australian Christian Churches - 8 years .
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An Occasion to Lament!

From time to time in mentoring and supervision, a past deep injury of the soul or spirit surfaces in a session with a client. It arises while reflecting on present ministry, often surprisingly.

Do I refer the client or do I open it up for us to deal with together? I have learnt about boundaries. Yes, I refer as needed, but address issues within my gifts and competencies, occasionally recommending a season of lament to encourage honesty and frankness with God in a respectful and interactive manner. It includes strong prayer, expressing to God about failures and disappointments that are carried and may not have been expressed or vocalised before. Continue reading “An Occasion to Lament!”

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Grace and Truth

I was driving the car listening to an audio tape, in the days before blogs. The narrator was talking about asking questions in a mentoring context. He spoke about Jesus being full of grace and truth and I was thinking about how I work on that with mentees. How do you see yourself having a balance of grace and truth when asking questions of your mentees? He said, “If you see yourself as 80% grace and 20% truth, or vice versa, and you are praying to God that you might be more 50/50, then you’re an idiot”.

That caught my attention rather abruptly. That was exactly what I was praying! He went on “What you ought to be praying is that you will end up being 100% of each”, because Jesus was full of grace and truth. In the mentoring context, grace carries the meaning of having empathy, listening etc. Truth includes being blunt, frank, – naming up things that need to be named up – or being prepared to ask the difficult question.

Continue reading “Grace and Truth”