Empowering the minister

To minister to people with cancer, “you’ve got to have the right attitude; you’ve got to have a servant’s heart,” says Rev. Michael A. Langham, director of pastoral care for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Tulsa.

“There needs to be spiritual preparation. However long we spend in prayer -- five minutes or 60 minutes -- I would suggest you spend the same amount of time letting God tell us what he wants us to do. We’re going to be called upon to love the unlovable, to love people who don’t love themselves or us.”

He asked those gathered at the Ecumenical Day, Sept. 27 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City, to imagine a time in their life when they were miserable – when things were going from bad to worse. Now imagine, he said, amid everything else, receiving the news that you have cancer.

People with cancer may be experiencing anger, bitterness, and they may lash out.

“We have to love them anyway,” Rev. Langham said. “None of us are perfect. There is only one perfect person who ever walked the earth. We all have strengths and weaknesses. What we must have is a desire to give of ourselves.

“If we’re going to minister to people, God’s going to call us to come out of our comfort zone from time to time. We cannot wear our feelings on our shoulder. If we let something they say offend us, we’ve failed in our ministry.”

He urged those gathered to study and pray the Bible often, to be involved with their church, and to live the church teaching.

“We should never proclaim anything we’re not striving to live,” he said. “Any time we tell people to live in a way we are not living, we risk being hypocrites.

“If we have a personal problem that may interfere with our ministry, it’s better that we don’t go,” he said bluntly. “They are going to pick up on it, and you risk having the door shut in your face.”

Studying up on scripture isn’t just for building faith, it also helps us to know what we’re talking about. Rev. Langham suggested that ministers always be prepared to explain how the scripture they are reading is applicable to what the person with cancer, and his or her family is dealing with.

Service, he said, takes effort. “Ministry is not convenient. Very rarely will these opportunities for ministry come about because you have extra 30 minutes with nothing to do.”

The minister not only has to be prepared to give of his or her time -- including travel time – but they must be prepped for building a relationship. “Ministering means building a relationship.”

“What they really want to know is, does he care? The only way they’ll know if I care is if I build a relationship with them. Learn about that individual. I read their nutritional assessment. You never know if what you read will make a connection. I read that a woman loved Pepsi and Snickers. When I met with her, I told her I liked Pepsi and Snickers too, and she rolled in her bed laughing. It could be something very small. Let them know you care about the person they are.”