📝 Worksheet 12.4: My PhilMinistry Skills Role Plan

Course: PhilMinistry Skills — Christian Philosophy for Whole-Life Discernment
Topic 12: Applying PhilMinistry Skills to Ministry Roles

Opening Thought

PhilMinistry Skills are not used the same way in every setting.

A chaplain may need to listen quietly.
A Life Coaching Minister may need to guide with questions.
A teacher may need to instruct clearly.
A mentor may need to encourage and challenge.
A Soul Center leader may need to create a safe place for group discernment.

The wise leader asks:

What is my role here?
What has the person given me permission to do?
What kind of ministry moment is this?
Should I listen, guide, teach, refer, or wait?

This worksheet helps you develop a personal role plan for using PhilMinistry Skills in a way that is biblical, wise, consent-based, non-reductionistic, and appropriate to your ministry calling. This follows the Topic 12 goal of applying PhilMinistry Skills differently in chaplaincy, Life Coaching Ministry, and teaching or discipleship roles.

1. My Current or Future Ministry Role

Check any roles that apply to you now or may apply in the future.

☐ Chaplain
☐ Life Coaching Minister
☐ Pastor
☐ Soul Center leader
☐ Small group leader
☐ Mentor
☐ Teacher
☐ Ministry volunteer
☐ Wedding or funeral officiant
☐ Youth leader
☐ Men’s or women’s ministry leader
☐ Discipleship leader
☐ Other: _______________________________

Write your primary ministry role in one sentence.

My primary ministry role right now is:

What setting do you usually serve in?

☐ Church
☐ Soul Center
☐ Hospital
☐ Hospice
☐ Jail or correctional facility
☐ School
☐ Workplace
☐ Home-based ministry
☐ Online or digital ministry
☐ Coaching setting
☐ Small group
☐ One-on-one discipleship
☐ Other: _______________________________

2. Role Clarity Reflection

Answer each question honestly.

What do people usually expect from me in this role?

What should people not expect from me in this role?

What authority do I actually have in this role?

What authority do I not have?

What boundaries must I honor?

3. Choosing the Right Ministry Approach

Non-Directive Approach: Listen and Draw Out

Use this approach when the person needs presence, safety, permission, and space to speak.

This may fit:

☐ Chaplaincy
☐ Grief
☐ Crisis-adjacent conversations
☐ First conversations
☐ Sensitive identity stories
☐ Gender or embodiment conversations
☐ Family pain
☐ Shame
☐ Trauma-related stories
☐ When trust is still forming

In my ministry role, I should use a non-directive approach when:

Three non-directive questions I can use:

Helpful examples:

“Would it be helpful if I simply listened for a few minutes?”
“What feels heaviest right now?”
“What are you noticing as you say that?”

Semi-Directive Approach: Guide with Gentle Structure

Use this approach when the person wants help thinking, discerning, organizing, or naming a faithful next step.

This may fit:

☐ Life Coaching Ministry
☐ Mentoring
☐ Soul Center conversations
☐ Small groups
☐ Discipleship support
☐ Calling discernment
☐ Follow-up meetings
☐ Growth conversations
☐ Marriage or family conversations
☐ Leadership development

In my ministry role, I should use a semi-directive approach when:

Three semi-directive questions I can use:

Helpful examples:

“Would it help to look at this from several angles?”
“What part of your life is getting the most attention right now?”
“What is one faithful next step before God this week?”

Directive Approach: Teach, Challenge, or Assign Practice

Use this approach when teaching, training, structured coaching, discipleship assignments, or clear biblical instruction is appropriate.

This may fit:

☐ Church class
☐ Training session
☐ Structured coaching plan
☐ Leadership development
☐ Discipleship assignment
☐ Course facilitation
☐ Sermon or teaching setting
☐ When correction is needed and the relationship allows it

In my ministry role, I should use a directive approach when:

Three directive phrases I can use with humility:

Helpful examples:

“Let me teach a framework that may help.”
“I want to gently challenge that assumption.”
“This week, practice this step and notice what happens.”

4. Clouser Ultimate-Belief Prompt

Roy Clouser helps Christian leaders ask:

What is being treated as ultimate?

In ministry conversations, people may treat created things as if they have the final word.

Check any “hidden ultimates” you often hear in ministry conversations.

☐ Success
☐ Approval
☐ Comfort
☐ Control
☐ Romance
☐ Marriage
☐ Family response
☐ Money
☐ Career
☐ Body image
☐ Sexual desire
☐ Gender identity
☐ Emotional relief
☐ Personal freedom
☐ Political power
☐ Social status
☐ Productivity
☐ Trauma story
☐ Diagnosis
☐ Ministry growth
☐ Public reputation
☐ Fear
☐ Shame
☐ Other: _______________________________

In my ministry setting, people are often tempted to treat this as ultimate:

A gentle question I can ask to help someone notice ultimate trust:

Examples:

“What feels like it has the final word right now?”
“What are you trusting to make you okay?”
“What are you afraid would destroy your hope?”
“What would change if Christ carried the deepest weight here?”

5. Whole-Life Discernment Map Practice

Choose one real or imagined ministry situation.

Situation:

Now look at the situation through several aspects of life. Do not force every category. Notice what matters.

Physical / Bodily

What health, sleep, energy, stress, pain, medical, or bodily factors may matter?

Emotional / Sensitive

What fears, desires, grief, anger, shame, pleasure, or emotional patterns may matter?

Analytical

What distinctions need to be made? What confusion needs clarity?

Lingual

What words, labels, stories, vows, names, or narratives are shaping this situation?

Social

What family, church, marriage, friendship, community, or institutional relationships matter?

Economic / Stewardship

What time, money, attention, energy, resource, or priority issue matters?

Juridical / Justice

What responsibility, accountability, protection, fairness, wrong, right, or safety concern matters?

Ethical / Love

Where are love, loyalty, mercy, sacrifice, forgiveness, betrayal, or self-giving involved?

Faith / Ultimate Trust

What is being trusted, feared, worshiped, hoped in, or treated as final?

6. Reductionism Warning

A reductionism happens when one real part of life is treated as the whole truth.

In the situation above, I must not reduce the person to:

☐ A diagnosis
☐ A feeling
☐ A sin pattern only
☐ A trauma story only
☐ A gender question only
☐ A body issue only
☐ A family role only
☐ A political category
☐ A social label
☐ A personality type
☐ A ministry failure
☐ A productivity problem
☐ A spiritual problem only
☐ Other: _______________________________

One reductionist statement I should avoid saying:

A more whole-person statement I could say instead:

Example:

Reductionist statement:
“You just need more faith.”

Whole-person statement:
“Faith matters deeply, and you are also carrying exhaustion, grief, family pressure, and fear. Let’s seek God’s wisdom for one faithful step.”

7. Consent and Safety Prompts

Before offering prayer, Scripture, teaching, or a discernment exercise, practice asking permission.

Write three permission-based ministry phrases.

Examples:

“Would prayer be welcome right now?”
“Would it be okay if I shared a Scripture?”
“Would you like me to simply listen, or would you like help thinking this through?”

8. Referral Awareness

PhilMinistry Skills do not replace pastoral care, counseling, medical care, legal protection, trauma care, crisis intervention, or emergency support.

In my ministry setting, I should refer or seek help when I notice:

☐ Suicidal thoughts or self-harm risk
☐ Threats toward others
☐ Abuse or domestic violence
☐ Child abuse, elder abuse, or vulnerable adult abuse
☐ Severe depression or panic
☐ Psychosis or disconnection from reality
☐ Addiction crisis
☐ Medical emergency
☐ Unsafe home situation
☐ Coercive control
☐ Legal danger
☐ Trauma symptoms beyond my role
☐ Other: _______________________________

People or resources I can contact when referral is needed:

My referral reminder:

Referral is not failure. Referral is wise love.

9. Fill-in-the-Blank Ministry Language

Complete these sentences in your own words.

When I need to listen, I can say:

“I’m here to _________________________________________________.”

When I need to guide, I can say:

“Would it help if we _________________________________________?”

When I need to teach, I can say:

“Let me share _______________________________________________.”

When I need to refer, I can say:

“This matters enough that ____________________________________.”

When I need to slow down, I can say:

“Before we move too quickly, let’s ____________________________.”

When I need to point to Christ, I can say:

“The hope of the Gospel reminds us ___________________________.”

10. Scripture Reflection

Read this Scripture slowly:

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”
Proverbs 25:11, WEB

What does this verse teach about timing, tone, and role?

Where do I need to grow?

☐ Speaking less quickly
☐ Speaking more clearly
☐ Asking permission
☐ Listening longer
☐ Teaching with humility
☐ Offering structure
☐ Referring sooner
☐ Avoiding shame
☐ Avoiding vague encouragement
☐ Naming biblical truth with courage
☐ Other: _______________________________

My personal growth sentence:

With God’s help, I want to grow in:

11. My PhilMinistry Skills Role Plan

Complete your role plan.

My ministry role:

My most common ministry setting:

My usual approach should be:

☐ Mostly non-directive
☐ Mostly semi-directive
☐ Mostly directive
☐ A wise mix depending on setting and permission

I need to be especially careful not to:

I need to practice asking:

I need to remember that people are not merely:

I need to point people toward Christ by:

One faithful practice I will begin this week:

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Give me wisdom for the ministry role you have entrusted to me.

Teach me when to listen, when to guide, when to teach, when to challenge, when to refer, and when to wait.

Help me see people as whole embodied souls before you. Keep me from reducing them to one problem, one label, one feeling, one failure, one wound, or one crisis.

Give me courage to speak truth and humility to speak it at the right time.

Help me ask permission with respect, offer presence with love, use Scripture with care, and guide people toward faithful next steps.

Let my ministry be rooted in the Gospel, shaped by wisdom, guarded by safety, and filled with resurrection hope.

Amen.

Final Reflection

Write one paragraph describing how you want to use PhilMinistry Skills in your ministry role.

Simple Practice for This Week

Choose one ministry conversation this week.

Before you speak, quietly ask:

What is my role here?
Does this moment call for listening, guiding, teaching, referral, or waiting?
What is being treated as ultimate?
What part of the person’s life might I be tempted to overlook?
What is one faithful next step before God?

Then write down one thing you learned: