Augustine As Mentor : A Model For Preparing Spiritual Leaders

Aurelius Augustinius, St. Augustine, was born in 354 A.D. in Tagaste, a town in North Africa. Born just over a century before the fall of Rome, Augustine would live his entire life within the Roman empire. Augustine was a great Christian thinker and wrote numerous works which survive today, and offer us a vivid glimpse into the period. His works and thoughts on Christ, the nature of God, the role of the Church, and myriad other topics, shaped much of medieval thought. He would remain a major influence for 1000 years after he died. Two of his works stand out as possibly the most important of his writings: City of God, and Confessions. Augustine's Confessions is the first ever

I agree with Augustine on his spiritual principles. It is essential in the Christian faith to study the scriptures to gain wisdom and knowledge on how one is to live life. I refer to scriptures from the Holy Bible; scriptures that encourage us to seek knowledge from God. In the book of James 5:1, we are told to seek wisdom from God, not from the books written by men. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him,” (Holy Bible) and here we are advised in the book of I Corinthians 3:19-20, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (Holy Bible)

In The Confessions, Augustine goes on a journey to discover the truth, and purses the ideals of how he should live and what he finds value in. In his pursuit for the truth and his journey through life, Augustine is faced with obstacles that significantly shaped who he is, forming his very thoughts contained in the novel. The obstacles Augustine had to face through his life was the confrontation of sin and why humans perform sinful actions, the passing of his friend, and the passing of his own mother.

In today 's culture the congregational expectations on a pastor are quite different from the vocational spiritual disciplines required for faithful pastoral ministry. The office of the pastor, for the congregation, has become nothing more than a managerial position of running a religious organization. In response to this Eugene Peterson offers his take on the distinctive work of the pastor and the practices that shape pastoral integrity. In his book, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, Peterson outlines the practices of prayer, Scripture and spiritual direction as the backbone of faithful pastoral ministry. The following will discuss these practice, there benefit to pastoral ministry and why Peterson call to these practice are important to pastors today.

Hull, Bill. The Disciple-Making Church: Leading a Body of Believers On the Journey of Faith. Updated ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010.

In these brief three pages, there is a bold calling for spiritual authority, and ways friends of Jesus can authentically experience and acquire that authority. In the beginning, Anderson explained that spiritual authority is manifested from personal experiences and not “secondhand authorities” (pages 50-51). Next, he addressed certain characteristics that “make one fit to be a minister of the gospel” (pg. 51). Finally, he provided a glimpse on what it takes to be an Authentic Child of Light by walking well in the Light. In these three pages, I felt like Margaret Fall in which these words cut to my heart and I wept.

The theological issue that most perplexed Augustine in his youth was that his mother Monica was Christian. He had turned his back on Christianity in his days as a youth and always tried to hide his views about Christianity. His mother never give up and always prayed that one day he would return Christian. I believed his Mother prayers had a lot to with him converting to

We need to be with people where they are without the need to ‘fix’ them, rather, trusting God to do what He is doing in their lives, hoping that He uses me as part of the process. I know that I will be learning and growing with those whom God sends me.” Pastor Renfro was then asked how has he evolved or grown as a servant leader. He responded, “Each of us follows a circuitous, sometimes difficult pathway in ministry, we learn, we grow, we become more aware of ourselves as people and as ministers. I am a country preacher, and although I have a wealth of formal education and training, I continue to grow and evolve daily, as a person, and as a minister.” Renfro continues, “the most difficult thing to overcome is our own tendency to be ostentatious - a lack of genuineness and openness; you need to go deep in faith and in ministry; my own history, as a country preacher, took a great deal of energy to integrate and allow this to be my greatest strength.” When asked what he believed are the advantages/disadvantages of being a servant leader, Renfro responded, “a strength and advantage would be to possess a non-judgmental presence, to allow people to be the who, what, and where they need to be in our encounters; the disadvantage in that is some people might consider this position as too indeterminate, lacking in absolutes.” Renfro commented on the partnerships he has forged in his life of servant leadership, starting with being a Clinical Pastor Supervisor (certified to teach at the graduate level), a Diplomate of the College of Pastoral Supervision, a nationally certified Professional Chaplain by the Association of Professional Chaplains, and also an Ordained Bishop in the Church of

God’s primary way of developing leaders was through mentoring. The most positive and effective technique to prepare people for life and leadership is through mentoring. As Christians, we are charged to “help the weak and encourage the timid” and to “serve and care for the flock.” A task impossible for church leaders to personally mentor so they assist prospective mentees in finding qualified godly mentors, as

Throughout this course I have experienced differentiated levels of self evaluation and faced challenges involving my own moral compass. I have probably mentioned before that the Augustine readings were my favorite readings pertained in the course assignments. I found them to be both challenging, yet comprehendible. My favorite topic was Book XI from the ‘Augustine Confessions’ because I felt like it veered off of the typical “religiousness” of the course into a more abstract way of thinking. When Augustine speaks about time, it made me think really hard about the concept that is time, and what it means to us in aspects such as past memories and future endeavors. I stated in one of my blog entries that “[i]f the past is just a memory, and the

The first major milestone of St. Augustine’s conversion to the Christian faith was his realization during his adolescent years that his behavior was pointlessly reckless and rebellious and far from God’s design for his life. Born to St. Monica, St. Augustine was raised in a faith filled home. He was integrated into the church from a young age and was raised in Christian institutions during his

At this point in his life, Augustine is recognized for doing many things for the Church as a priest, author, and defender of faith. As an author he wrote Confessions, his spiritual autobiography, and City of God, his great work describing the Christian philosophy throughout history. In this magnificent work,

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, was one of the greatest philosophers of the roman period. He was raised in a religiously divided home, but through time he found his own truth. He was always an excellent student. He fully mastered the Latin language, however, he never did well with Greek. Saint Augustine was also a man who had a way with words. After his teenage rebellious stage, he found an unorthodox religious group that he decided to become involved with for a while. He traveled the area and ended up staying in Milan for a while. This is where he met Bishop Ambrose and began to listen to his teachings. This caused for Augustine think about his life and ultimately converted him to Christianity. After converting, he wrote books such as: Confessions, The City of God, and De Doctrinia (On Christian Doctrine), along with many others. Saint Augustine was and still is a great Christian influence in the world today.

In this paper, the student-writer will discuss the methods that are taught in In Effective biblical counseling: A model for helping caring Christians become capable counselors by Crabb (1977). The student-writer will also use what is taught in this book with the skills that are expressed in Creating a Healthier Church; Family Systems Theory, Leadership, and congregational life by Richardson (1996) and Blessed Connections: Relationships that sustain vital ministry, by Schwanz (2008). The student-writer will compare and contrast the skills that are mentioned in these books to establish a well maintained way in which to ministry to clients, and meet their needs as a counselor.

Theologians, Biblical scholars and Christians all over the world often wrestle with two extremely important questions about their faith. These questions are, "What is God like?" and "How should we live in response to God?" Some feel that we need others to direct us, some feel we need them to challenge us, but everyone agrees that we need others. That is exactly how Saint Augustine struggles to find his faith and beliefs. He found it extremely difficult to come with a conclusion when it was staring at him straight in the face, but just as he did, we draw up our own conclusions with the guidance of others.