There is one crucial ingredient for dealing successfully with stress:
a
strong sense of self worth, which results in a firm personal identity.
Each life can be seen as a unique point on one grid among many other points
and other grids. You should strive to grow into and share all that only you
can be in your singular lifetime; such a life as yours has never been before
and will never be duplicated! Being your best self is the best service you
can do for someone else.
It is too easy to become what commanders and other chaplains want you to be.
Strive, instead, to remain true to yourself without neglecting your duties
and responsibilities.
Those who find satisfaction in ministry:
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Have such a firm grasp on their own self-identity that they may
seem to be overconfident.
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Tend to "bite off more than they can chew", but it does not choke
them!
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Are risk takers, particularly in their relationships with others.
They risk telling the truth!
Recently 5,000 persons from one distinct faith group (Lutheran) responded to
a questionnaire entitled "What Contributes to/What Detracts from Effective
(Christian) Ministry?" This survey contained 461 statements and was sent to
pastors, professors and laypersons. The results were tabulated as follows:
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A firm personal faith evident in a pastor's life and ministry was
determined to be the most important quality in a ministry.
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A second quality that was looked for in a pastor was that of
being self-confident; someone who could instill confidence in
others by reaching out to them, but not overwhelming them.