On
the 20th of November all men and women who are involved
in active ministry at “Awakening” Church of God got together
for a leadership seminar. This is the second seminar for leaders for 2004. Training the leaders of the church for more effective ministry and deeper life with God is one of the main objectives of those seminars which take place twice a year. Those seminars aim to get the leadership of the church to reflect on their own character and commitment to the ministry. They are motivated to re-evaluate why and how they do things in a
spirit of
accountability and honesty. The main speaker of the seminar was Petia Zlatarova, who is an academic dean of the Bulgarian Theological College. She lectured on “Stages of faith”. The ministers were challenged to think critically about the way they define and grow in “faith”. The most important thing that the material revealed is we all experience “stages of faith”. It was important to notice that faith itself does not grow and develop but the person who confesses it moves thought different stages of personal development and respectively through different stages of realizing and practicing his/her faith in God.
Each of the 25 participants were challenged to find out where are they in their walk with God and were motivated to move on a further stage of living their faith – stage that requires deeper understanding God and his will and stronger determination to serve others.
The final part of the seminar was and interactive discussion. It was also highly
stimulating. People were sharing about their faith experiences and breakthroughs
that have brought them to a higher level of faith. At the end pastor Luchev wrapped
everything up by explaining where the congregation of Awakening Church of God
is in respect to the faith and gave suggestions to how each of the ministers
are to facilitate faith growth in the life of those they serve. The leadership seminars are wonderful time of edification and personal growth. We are looking forward to the next seminar. It will surely be another exiting experience for all participants.
