Personal Characteristics: Examine your profile in these three areas. List three strengths that your profile indicates you bring to ministry.
fidelity to tasks and persons
perceptive counseling
involvement in caring
Select an area of growth indicated by your profile. Be specific about how you plan to work on that area during the year. What resources are available to help you?
Acknowledgement of limitations is indicated as a definite area for growth for me. There are a number of ways in which I need to change in this regard. While I believe I have too keen of an awareness of my own limitations, I don’t generally live by those limitations because I have a hard time believing they are acceptable. Instead I press myself to exceed all expectations and overcome all limitations, and when I fail, which is only natural, I berate myself unendingly. At the same time, unbelievably enough, pride can be an issue for me; I need to learn to humbly confess my shortcomings and wrongdoings instead of ignoring them or blaming them, as I sometimes do, on circumstances or my propensity to depression. I’m honestly not sure what all I can specifically do to change in this area. I am seeing a counselor, though, and this is one of the things that we’re looking to improve.
Special Concerns: Examine your profile in this area. Which characteristic concerns you most? Be both concrete and realistic about what you intend to do in this area this year. What resources are available to you?
Self-protecting behavior was the one of these three potentially negative characteristics that I actually scored lowest on, but it is the one that I see most in my life, and it is the one that has worried me for quite some time. I think it goes hand in hand with my inability to accept the fact that it’s okay for me to have limitations. I expect myself to be perfect at everything, and because I know that I won’t be, I tend to strategically protect myself. Other than the tendency to be disorganized, every sentence in the descriptive paragraph for this trait describes me. Again, I’m working with my counselor to find some ways to improve in this area, but things I can imagine being potentially helpful would be attempting to get a more realistic view of myself and celebrating my strengths instead of constantly focusing on my weaknesses. I am very sensitive to criticism, also, so I think putting myself in a situations where I can receive constructive criticism and survive it without self-destructing would be a good exercise for me. This is already happening in some ways in my classes and my mentoring group.
Perceptions of Ministry: Examine your profile in these four areas. From these four areas, list three strengths that your profile revealed.
balanced approach to world missions
openness to pluralism
encouragement of world missions
Are there one or two characteristics you want to develop more fully this year? Be specific. What resources are available to help you? What is it that you plan to do?
I would like to bring my theologically oriented counseling more in line with my perceptive counseling, which will mostly mean being more purposeful about discussing theological and scriptural connections and incorporating talk about God’s plans and purposes as I listen to and advise others.
I would also like to see my ideals and actions be more consistent when it comes to my thoughts on aggressive political leadership. My convictions in this arena are not nearly as established or as strong as the profile seems to indicate they are, but I would like to explore what exactly those convictions are and then align my actions with them. That will require some contemplation of the theological implications of my politics and the political implications of my theology. I hope to be able to look into those issues more, with the guidance of scripture, my mentors, and the writings of those who have considered these issues in depth.
Respond to the feedback from the following assessments: (provide at least one insight, any concerns, and plans for follow up actions).
NEO – The assessment’s results were not surprising in any way to me; they reflected my own understanding of myself. The concerns that I have relate mostly to the N domain, on which I scored very high. I can definitely see myself reflected in its indications that I tend toward strong emotional reactions which can sometimes be debilitating. Also, in the E domain’s description, the statement that I am “less prone to experience feelings of joy and happiness than most women” did not surprise me, but it does sadden me because it does seem so accurate.
EQi – Again, no surprises here. Assertiveness is a definite area of growth for me. I am often quite passive for varied reasons—I tend to value others more than I value myself, it is especially difficult for me to reveal my innermost thoughts and feelings to others, and I am overly afraid of rejection. And while I’ve always know I am empathetic and emotionally self-aware, I had never clearly seen just how much I am susceptible to carry those potentially positive characteristics to extremes which can be difficult or harmful. I need to learn to better separate myself from my own emotions, and I need to maintain some distance between others’ lives and my own.
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