The Youth In Christian Leadership

The Youth In Christian Leadership You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. This is one of many ways that Jesus describes the bold contrast between Christians and the rest of the world. It is a difference that should be as clear as night and day, but rarely is the case with Christians in the world nowadays. Most non-believers use words such as hypocritical, sheltered, and judgmental to describe Christians. (Kinnaman, 2007) The very things that Christ warned us not to become are the exact same things we are viewed as today. One of the biggest reasons for the skepticism of Christianity today is the ignorance of our own faith. Believers are not getting into the word, and it shows in society. Many Christians cannot answer basic questions when asked about their faith, and even if they can, many are not living out those beliefs. (Kinnaman, 2007) Ignoring our faith has led to a religion of mixed up morals and hypocrites, and has largely contributed to the scorn towards Christianity. These vices are slowly being passed down from the modern adults of today to the developing Christian youth. It is therefore paramount to look for avenues to reverse this situation and get back to inspiring hope in a culture full of cynicism. This will enable us to form a platform for Christian leadership among our youth. Christian leadership as a virtue comes in many forms and traits. A leader is a dealer in hope. (Napoleon Bonaparte) On the other hand, according to (Means, 2000), servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that implies a comprehensive view of the quality of people, work and community spirit. Servant leadership greatly requires a spiritual understanding of identity, mission, vision and the environment. (Greenleaf, 2012) A servant leader is one who is servant first, who has responsibility to be in the world, and contributes to the well-being of people and the community. A servant leader looks to the needs of the people and asks how he or she can help them solve their problems and promote personal development. He or she places his main focus on people, because only content and motivated people are able to reach their targets and to fulfill the set expectations. The concept of servant leadership is crucial for youth in Christian leadership as it enables one understand themselves first so they can learn to understand others and serve them. Thereafter people gain trust in the leader and begin to work towards the intended goal. (Berkley, 2005) The goals of a Christian leader should be to bring glory to God with their existence, evangelize, advance the kingdom, and encourage others to grow in their relationship with Christ. There are certain base characteristics that all Christian leaders must possess if they wish to be stewards of the Gospel, inspire hope among the nations, and ultimately accomplish their goals. Submission to God must be the starting point for each individual. We must allow God to lead us and shape our lives to fit his desires if we wish to leave an impact on this world. This requires one to be daily seeking and engaging with God in prayer and in His Word. It is our actions and choices in life that define how others see us, and ultimately decide the kind of impact we leave on the world. These actions and choices are largely shaped by what we believe in and value. By allowing the Bible to shape them, a spiritual maturity will begin to flourish within the heart of a leader. They will begin to see the world as God sees it, and they will begin to see every person living on this world today as a beautiful and valuable creation of God. (Hybels, 2009) Furthermore, according to (Berkley, 2005) leaders will understand the implications of sin and how it separates us from God, which will create a longing to help others be reconciled. A leader must strive to be an example for others by trying to obediently follow Gods commands and exhorting others to do so, but also must be careful not to fall into judgment. (Berkley, 2005) Instead, they learn to love others unconditionally as Christ would have, serving the people and working patiently with them to help them see the need of God in their life. Raising young leaders for Christian leadership is a challenging process. Raising and developing young leaders mainly entails inculcating Christian values in them at a tender age, encouraging them to participate in church activities so they can understand leadership from a Christian perspective, and ensuring they attain the right academic skills to enable them compete with the world. IMPORTANCE OF PREPARING YOUTH FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP Ministry with young people has never been more important. Ever-increasing local, national and global concerns demand that schools must do more than prepare young people as responsible citizens. (Adair, 2001) says that schools and in particular, institutions of higher learning must prepare young people as emerging leaders with a civic conscience who proactively seek solutions to issues such as increased poverty, the plight of refugees, terrorism, climate change, and corporate greed. With reference to Christian leadership, ministry can be broken down to three parts namely: Youth ministry, Campus ministry and Student ministry. Youth ministry (Fernando, 2000) describes youth ministry as a formalized Church-based program that is clearly centered on young people. He presents a framework for youth ministry based on three goals. These goals are firstly, to foster the personal and spiritual growth of each young person, secondly, to draw young people into responsible participation in the life, mission and work of the church community, and thirdly, to empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the world today. The goals are advanced through six focus areas: prayer and worship, evangelization, community life, justice and service, leadership development, and advocacy (Fernando, 2000, Leaders for tomorrows world pp. 7). These goals build on one another and are paramount for good Christian leadership. In addition, they are important as they help bring up an all-rounded and well-versed Christian leader who can combat the challenges of the modern society. Campus ministry The focus of Christian ministry among the youth is greatly aimed at young men and women in college and university making campus ministry a focal point in developing Christian leaders. Campus ministry has four main elements according to (Nanko, 1997). These are: a focus on young people, the ministry takes place in the context of an educational institution, the various programs attempt to challenge the faith life or spirituality of students into active participation, and the campus minister is central to the effective running of the ministry. Young people in campus should be encouraged to integrate ministry with their field of study so as to learn how to be most effective in society. A good example is seen in Christian universities where students from several disciplines attend chapel on a regular basis to facilitate spiritual growth. This enables the students to develop as Christian leaders and grow to other levels of campus ministry like: missions, evangelism and regular participation in church related activities which facilitates interaction with other young students in ministry. Student ministry This nature of ministry involves working with young people in a school setting. It frequently incorporates many of the programs associated with youth ministry and campus ministry. Such programs include: student leadership development, service-learning and social justice, retreats, prayer and reflection. (Means, 2000) In this respect, student ministry, youth ministry and campus ministry have strong connections. The main differences lie in the explicit leadership focus inherent in all student ministry programs, the mentoring role which teachers adopt when working with students, and the leadership responsibilities that many students exercise when working with fellow students. A good illustration of student ministry is seen in campuses where students take up leadership roles in the church and handle activities such as: praise and worship, bible study, event planning and preaching. This enables the leaders to gain experience in church related activities while under the mentorship of senio r church leaders and teachers. In addition, the leaders learn to take responsibility being in positions of leadership, inculcate discipline within their lives and grow closer to God at a personal level. CHALLENGES IN PREPARING YOUTH FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP In the process of maintaining the authentic character of Christian leadership, leaders face many challenges. Many of them are perennial, given with the very character of Christian leadership as being rooted in God and directed toward the good of the world. These challenges may occur when people assume positions of Christian leadership for the wrong reasons that include: power, prestige, and personal gain rather than as a result of the call of God. These challenges can be further broken down into three key areas: The will of God, the authority of the church and time management. The will of God In most cases, Christian leaders have responded to a genuine call of God, but may have lost sight of their calling and their fundamental character as beings translucent to God. When this happens, leaders are deprived of the animating power of God to continually ground and sustain leadership in the life of God, as stated in (Kinnaman, 2007). And yet, since they are religious leaders, they often have to act as if they have already actualized what they are preaching in their own lives, as if they are bringing the message somehow from God. Instead of real ascent in Gods word, there is a pretense of ascent mostly not intentional, but negligent and usually a result of the pressures of responsibilities, the accumulated force of disappointments, and many other reasons leading to the gradual erosion of faith. (Nanko, 2001) Young Christian leaders face the very real dangers associated with modern culture head on. Increased expectations, time constraints, developing disciples in an increasingly secular society, and an entire host of dangers in personal and professional life abound. Many of the pressures to which young leaders succumb, causing personal burnout and fatigue, are as a result of personal mismanagement. (Berkley, 2005) We each have decisions to make with regard to how much and in what way will own these expectations and perceived pressures. Authority of the church The great authority of the Church resides in the power of the testimony of Jesus. In a modern culture which asserts that truth is relative, it is difficult for a Christian leader to begin to lead a person into Gods will for their life when at a foundational level they do not recognize that the testimony of Jesus is unique and trustworthy. The modern worldview influenced by Western liberal culture, which is common in various forms today, presents a great challenge for Christian leaders as seen in (Hybels, 2009) and can only be controlled by continual spiritual nourishment and constant prayer. Time management Personal time management is crucial to ones successful usage of their time. Dangers are very real in modern Christian leadership. In order to have the strength to stand, young Christian leaders must manage their efforts in such a way as to properly manage themselves. (Nanko, 2001) Christian leaders face temptations of every kind to fall into sin. As the modern culture becomes increasingly celebrity based, young leaders in ministry face the real temptation of pride. In order to avoid burnout, fatigue, and temptation to sin, (Means, 2000) suggests that Christian leaders must remain grounded in the Lords strength and provision. The management of personal and professional time is central to this. We must make time for God, family, and personal rest and development in order to stay alert and healthy for the work of the kingdom. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING PREPARING YOUTH FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP Reading widely and having a good command of language According to (Fernando, 2000), in the coming years we will need well-educated young men and women. Therefore a young, aspiring Christian leader should read widely, ranging from people they agree with to people they dont agree with. All things being equal, the people who can speak with confidence and who can write clearly will rise to the top in any field. (Fernando, 2000) also recommends taking speech classes as well as taking advantage of technology as far as writing is concerned as it gives one a huge advantage in this generation. Identifying ones strengths and making good decisions Identifying ones strengths varies from one individual to another in terms of time. (Means, 2000) says that, In the beginning, you naturally think you can do everything. You cant. Youll learn that the hard way. Find out what you do that God blesses and keep on doing it. A young leader should not get stuck in the trap of thinking that they have to be a pastor or a teacher or a missionary forever as we are past the days when people would stay in the same position for a lifetime. As a Christian leader, one should understand that their only call is to serve the Lord in whatever way he or she chooses. Therefore it is important to remain flexible. Beware of envy and learn how to be all-round In the game of life, we are all constantly being compared to everyone around us. We, especially church leaders are being measured, quantified, and examined to see how well we are doing versus those around us and there is nothing we can do about it. (Adair, 2004), Envy tends to be the sin of moderately successful people and one should pray to be delivered from it as it destroys joy and makes one a miserable person. When beginning church ministry, one is rarely able to specialize and should learn how to be a jack of all trades and a master of a few. Travel In todays world, diversity is the order of the day and the future belongs to those who have multicultural experience. Aspiring Christian leaders should be encouraged to participate in a semester exchange program and study abroad. The experience gained by learning about other cultures, and a different people in a different setting is priceless as (Fernando, 2000) puts it. In addition, it gives one new vision for the global cause of Christ. CONCLUSION Christian leadership is indeed challenging especially for young aspiring leaders but with the right approach and guidance one can succeed in the field. As John F. Kennedy said, Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. It is important for all young aspiring leaders to recognize that leadership is a learning process and that the more one learns, the more they earn the right to lead.

My Personal Learning Style Essay -- essays research papers

My Personal Learning Style Wow! I have a personal learning style! If I had given any thought to my learning style prior to this course, I would have said simply, â€Å"Some things are easy for me to learn, and some things are not.† Now I can say, â€Å"I am a grouper, a top-down learner, an owl, in the C-D quadrants, and my strong intelligences are linguistic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal†. What all this means, still, is some things are easy for me to learn, and some things are not. But there I go again, simplifying the matter. My learning experience throughout grade school was cast in the Traditional method, employing rote, reward-and-punishment, and repetition, repetition, repetition. It was a one-size-fits-all approach, intended to instill good behavior as much as to instruct in the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. We were not encouraged to participate in the process, unless, of course, we raised our hands, and were called upon to do so, and we were not to talk out of turn. We were to be passive and receptive. This was the â€Å"right† way to learn. It is a testimony to the great, unstoppable capacity of the brain to grow that many of us learned anything at all under those circumstances. Four decades of psychological research have taught us there is no one right way to learn. Our minds are as unique as our fingerprints. Our ability to learn is not necessarily related to high or low intelligence quotients, but rather a convergence of four important aspects of our perso...

Medicine and law

Kong-lung, Consultant Forensic Pathologist (Kowloon) Forensic Pathology Service, Department of Health Introduction Obviously, this was to protect the public from quackery. Fees for the doctors were paid by the State. If unsatisfactory results followed a course of treatment that had departed from the orthodox, the doctor responsible would be liable to punishment, which could be very harsh. Similar legal restrictions on medical practice were also found in other early civilizations such as Babylon and India.It is now a firmly established belief that legal and ethical considerations are integral to medical practice in the planning for the care of the patient. With the advances in medical sciences and growing sophistication of the legal framework in modern society as well as increasing awareness of human rights and changing moral principles of the community at large, doctors and other healthcare workers alike are now frequently caught in difficult dilemmas in many aspects arising from dai ly practice.Examples are plenty such as the duty to respect informed onset, truth-telling, breach of confidentiality, disclosure of medical errors, rationing of scarce health resources, biomedical research, organ donation, etc. Besides, there is also growing anxiety both within the medical profession and in the community regarding increasing trends of complaints and lawsuits against doctors. From the bitter experience of many doctors who were engaged in complaint or lawsuits in the past, many of them had resulted from failing of their doctor-patient communication skill or inadequate ability to comprehend and resolve dilemmas in clinical settings.Throughout the history of mankind, medical legislation has continuously evolved to regulate the practice of medicine. The fundamental objective is to safeguard the standards of the medical profession and to protect the public against unskilled vendors of medicine who would be as injurious to the community as other criminals. The Justinian Co de of the Byzantine Empire in 529 AD is probably the earliest law code found to contain clauses to require educational standard and proof of competence of doctors by examinations.It also restricted the number of doctors in each town and penalties were imposed for alphabetic. By 12th century, there were well established medical legislations in Italy, namely the edict of Roger II of Sicily in 1140 and Frederick II in 1224, to prescribe organized medical teaching, set courses, examinations and qualifications. 3 Medical ethics has developed into a well based discipline which acts as a â€Å"bridge† between theoretical bioethics and the bedside. L The goal is â€Å"to improve the quality of patient care by identifying, analyzing, and attempting to resolve the ethical problems that arise in practice†. In addition to our moral obligations, doctors are also bound y laws and official regulations which form the legal framework regulating medical practice. It is now a universal c onsensus that legal and ethical considerations are inherent and inseparable parts of good medical practice across the whole spectrum. The disciplines of law and ethics in medical practice overlap in many areas and yet each has its unique parameters and distinct focus. In Hong Kong, laws on public health and medical practice, essentially an adoption of the English Acts, had been introduced from the early days.The monumental principles that apply generally to medicine or health care at large are: (a) respect of patient's autonomy; (b) the principle of malefaction, I. E. , the duty to avoid harm or injury to patients; (c) the principle of beneficence, I. E. , the duty to do good to your patients, relieve their pain and suffering and to save life if you can; and (d) the principle of justice and act fairly. Meaning of Law and Medical Ethics in a Nutshell The values that encompass the four fundamental principles in medical ethics are self-evident.They are considered to be doctor's prima f acie duties to the patients and society. It is necessary for a doctor to take all of them into account when they are applicable to the clinical case under consideration. Not infrequently, when two or more principles apply, they may be in conflict. For instance, the decision to operate on a case of acute appendicitis involves at least two competing prima facie duties on the part of the doctor. At one end, the doctor is obliged to provide the greatest benefit to the patient by performing an immediate appendectomy.At the other end, surgery and general anesthesia carry risks and the doctor is under the obligation to avoid causing harm to the patient. The solution adopted must base on a balance between the demands of the competing principles by determining which carries more weight in the particular case. In the case of appendicitis, a generally accepted rational calculus holds that the patient is in far greater risk of harm from a ruptured appendix if the doctor do not act, than from th e operation and anesthesia if the doctor proceed to surgery.In its simplest context, law can be defined as enforced rules devised by the State to govern the behavior of its members for the mutual benefits of all. Observance of the rules must be guaranteed by some kinds of sanction erected against the rule breakers. In addition to laws for the general public, doctors are bounded by certain specific rules stipulated in statutes as well as code of professional conduct laid down by the official regulating authority, namely the Medical Council, and administrative codes set by the institutions.Together, they form the legal framework regarding the practice of medicine, violation of which may lead to criminal or civil liability, or disciplinary actions. In addition to legal obligations, there are also expectations of society for the doctors and the goal of the profession eased on long established moral principles of self-evident value, which define the moral framework of medical practice. M edical ethics can be defined as a self-imposed code of conduct accepted voluntarily within the medical profession, the observance of which depends on one's conscience and moral values.Law and Medicine Law and medical ethics are both dynamic and are in a constant state of change with time due to changing circumstances and societal values. Thus, new legislation and court decisions give rise to changes of the law and new ethical issues emerge in response to challenges rated by new technology, law or other influence. There is also wide difference in law from country to country because of factors regarding religion, culture, traditions, political systems and social standards.Broadly speaking, medical matters come into interaction with law in four aspects: (a) legislation and administrative regulations affecting medical practice; (b) court Judgments on problematic or controversial ethical issues in medicine; (c) medical matters or personnel may become subjects of lawsuits when issues of m edical malpractice or alleged medical negligence arise; and (d) use of medical matters s evidence in courts for other criminal or civil proceedings such as cases of homicide, rape, wounding, workman's compensation, insurance claims and the like.Fundamental Principles in Medical Ethics Medical ethics is an applied ethics which involves examining specific controversial issues such as abortion, breach of confidentiality, end-of-life care, rationing of scarce medical resources. The objective is to try to identify the issue concerned, analyze it with reasoned ideas and arguments and arrive at a viable and morally acceptable resolution for it.In the realm of medical practice, it is official to hold rules or principles that are absolute in view of the many variables that exist in the context of clinical cases as well as new issues that arise as a result The Interaction of Law and Ethics in Medical Practice Despite their distinctive roles, law and medical ethics overlap in many areas. It is indeed difficult to dissociate the legal and ethical basis of the professional duties of doctors. For instance, both law and medical ethics address to issues of confidentiality, euthanasia, abortion, use of dangerous drugs, medical malpractice and the like. 4 Volvo. 8 NO. 6

Carolus Linnaeus - An Evolution Biography