Okay, Tammy, here are some examples of issues students have brought up to you this week. Let's work on how you should respond.
'Tammy, InterVarsity is not feeding me spiritually.'
'Tammy, you're going to lose these people if you don't personally invite them to participate or involve them in what's going on.'
'Tammy, I don't think the leaders are doing a very good job.'
How to respond to criticisms from students:
Step #1: Repeat after me: do not take it personally. Repeat that over and over and over in your head. Just because they've said your name or they're talking specifically to you, doesn't necessarily mean you're to blame or that it's an issue you have to take on alone head on.
Step #2: Listen carefully. Ask clarifying questions. Dig deeper to find the core value beneath the complaint. The fact that they're talking to you and bringing it up in the first place indicates that there's some kind of significance or truth.
Step #3: Find out what the student has done so far to try and address this complaint personally. Remind them that they are InterVarsity, not you, the staff worker. The community is only as good as those who are willing to do something about it.
Step #4: Pray. Ask the Lord to fill you with compassion. Thank Him for the students' honesty and willingness to come to you with their thoughts and feelings in the first place. Ask the Lord to help you be mindful of these needs but not let them become burdens that prevent you from working towards bringing God's kingdom to campus.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Fresh perspective.
There are many ways I like to pray, but prayer walking is not one of them.
You'd think because of my sensory preferences of information gathering and tendency towards the kinesthetic learning style, that I'd enjoy it very much. Walking, going, and being at the locations of sources of prayer seem like it'd spark a lot of creative and interesting ways to pray as opposed to sitting in a circle in a room with people holding hands.
And it's true.
I've discovered that it's prayer walking in groups that I don't like. The prayer walks I've experienced in groups involved confusion around where to walk or which way to walk; the awkwardness of praying out loud so that the people you pass along the way give you strange looks; and not being able to hear someone's prayer, just for a few examples.
God finally nudged me hard enough to take a prayer walk on campus that I had been putting off all summer.
Fine, I said, but I'm going by myself.
And God replied, When did I say you had to go with anyone? I simply said to go.
Oh. I guess that's right.
So I went.
God's big nudge had come at a time where I was really frustrated with students for not doing things excellently, with myself for not being able to coach them or lead them well, and with the lack of fruit I was expecting and hoping to see after a few years of hard work. I was at a breaking point, and knew I needed to do something to empty me of myself and be filled with compassion for RIT.
I committed an hour of my time on campus. I simply wandered around a part of campus, stopping every once in a while to write down what I observed and what I heard. Towards the end of that hour I used the contents of this list as springboards for prayer.
I've only done this prayer walk once so far. It wasn't an earth-shattering event, but it felt like it was groundbreaking for my hardening heart. There were no evangelistic moments or divine appointments, but my obedience out of the desire to meet with the Lord created a shift in my posture. There were no revelations or inspired images, but there were small, new discoveries of things I thought I knew.
Like bubble tea in The Market. Or that there's a second floor of Global Village where the Study Abroad office is.
God's nudging was for me to do this on a weekly basis, so I'm hoping to get into the habit of spending an hour each week for this kind of prayer walk, exploring a different part of campus.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
You'd think because of my sensory preferences of information gathering and tendency towards the kinesthetic learning style, that I'd enjoy it very much. Walking, going, and being at the locations of sources of prayer seem like it'd spark a lot of creative and interesting ways to pray as opposed to sitting in a circle in a room with people holding hands.
And it's true.
I've discovered that it's prayer walking in groups that I don't like. The prayer walks I've experienced in groups involved confusion around where to walk or which way to walk; the awkwardness of praying out loud so that the people you pass along the way give you strange looks; and not being able to hear someone's prayer, just for a few examples.
God finally nudged me hard enough to take a prayer walk on campus that I had been putting off all summer.
Fine, I said, but I'm going by myself.
And God replied, When did I say you had to go with anyone? I simply said to go.
Oh. I guess that's right.
So I went.
God's big nudge had come at a time where I was really frustrated with students for not doing things excellently, with myself for not being able to coach them or lead them well, and with the lack of fruit I was expecting and hoping to see after a few years of hard work. I was at a breaking point, and knew I needed to do something to empty me of myself and be filled with compassion for RIT.
I committed an hour of my time on campus. I simply wandered around a part of campus, stopping every once in a while to write down what I observed and what I heard. Towards the end of that hour I used the contents of this list as springboards for prayer.
I've only done this prayer walk once so far. It wasn't an earth-shattering event, but it felt like it was groundbreaking for my hardening heart. There were no evangelistic moments or divine appointments, but my obedience out of the desire to meet with the Lord created a shift in my posture. There were no revelations or inspired images, but there were small, new discoveries of things I thought I knew.
Like bubble tea in The Market. Or that there's a second floor of Global Village where the Study Abroad office is.
God's nudging was for me to do this on a weekly basis, so I'm hoping to get into the habit of spending an hour each week for this kind of prayer walk, exploring a different part of campus.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
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