Video Transcript: Wildfire Accelerants in Clients and Ministers

🎥 Video 7B: Wildfire Accelerants in Clients and Ministers

Hi, I am Haley Steiner, a CLI presenter.

This course is taught by Professor Brian DeCook.

A small fire can become a wildfire when accelerants are added.

In conflict, accelerants are words, actions, assumptions, emotions, habits, and spiritual distortions that make the conflict spread faster and burn hotter.

Peacefire Coach Ministers must learn to recognize accelerants in the people they serve.

But they must also recognize accelerants in themselves.

James 1 teaches that every person should be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.

That passage is not only for clients.

It is also for ministers.

A client may bring accelerants into a session.

They may bring blame.

They may bring sarcasm.

They may bring contempt.

They may bring fear.

They may bring a rehearsed speech.

They may bring a desire to punish.

They may bring selective information.

They may want the minister to take their side immediately.

They may say, “Just tell me I am right.”

In that moment, the Peacefire Coach Minister must not add more fuel.

The minister can listen with compassion without joining the Wildfire.

The minister can validate pain without validating revenge.

The minister can honor harm without assuming every interpretation is accurate.

The minister can ask careful questions without becoming cold or suspicious.

A helpful question might be: “What happened, and what meaning have you attached to what happened?”

Another question might be: “What response would look most like Christ right now?”

Another might be: “What would make this situation safer, wiser, and more truthful?”

But ministers also carry accelerants.

One minister may be conflict-avoidant. That minister may rush peace so they can feel relief.

Another minister may love justice. That minister may become intense and push hard before listening well.

Another minister may have unresolved wounds. That minister may identify too strongly with the client and lose objectivity.

Another minister may want to be seen as wise. That minister may speak too quickly.

Another minister may want a dramatic breakthrough. That minister may push for confrontation before the person is ready.

These are not reasons to quit ministry. They are reasons to become humble.

Peacefire Ministry requires self-awareness.

Before the minister asks, “What is feeding the client’s Wildfire?” the minister must also ask, “What might feed my Wildfire?”

Am I irritated?

Am I anxious?

Am I trying to rescue?

Am I trying to win?

Am I trying to prove my value?

Am I trying to make this conflict end because I do not want to sit with pain?

The fruit of the Spirit gives us a different way.

Galatians 5 describes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Those are not decorative qualities.

They are ministry safeguards.

Patience slows the spread.

Gentleness lowers the heat.

Self-control keeps the minister in role.

Faithfulness keeps the minister from using shortcuts.

Love refuses both cruelty and cowardice.

Peacefire Coach Ministers do not become passive observers. They become calm, discerning, prayerful helpers.

They notice the fire.

They name the accelerants carefully.

They refuse to add fuel.

They invite the person back to Christ.

This week, as you build your Peacefire practice, create an accelerant audit.

Name the common accelerants clients may bring.

Then name the accelerants you may bring.

This is not about shame.

It is about readiness.

A wise minister knows that conflict can ignite quickly.

So before stepping into the room, the minister returns to the Peacefire and prays:

Lord, help me not add fuel.

Help me listen with love.

Help me speak with truth.

Help me stay in my role.

Help me serve with the mind of Christ.