Help your people to understand why we all need to work constantly with God's help to develop Christian character.

• Because of the fall of all mankind in Adam and Eve, everyone suffers certain consequences. In this life we are never all that God intended us to be.
• When we first sinned, we suffered spiritual separation from God, intellectual impairment, emotional pain, warped values, and harmful behavior. And, of course, we all must die physically.
• Therefore, every Christian worker is an incomplete person who needs constant inner renewal, healing and growth to become more like Jesus Christ.

Member-care specialist, Dr. Ronald Noll, identifies four areas of human life in which Christian workers must grow spiritually, if they are to become effective in helping others to know Christ better:

1. Bonding — love and relationships.
2. Boundary-setting — responsibility and limits.
3. Bad and good — forgiveness and acceptance.
4. Becoming mature in Christ — adulthood and authority

Find Romans 5: 12-21. What are the ultimate sources of our human problems and their spiritual solutions?

Find Ephesians 4: 11-16. What must every Christian worker be able to do for others?

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For an highly readable book that blends sound theology with the insights of member care, see Henry Cloud, Changes That Heal, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, 1994.

For use outside the USA, see also the Character Development Workbook, based on the above, published by Campus for Christ, International Community Resources, PO Box 72.007, San Clemente CA 92674 USA, fax 714 361-7579.