Thoughts and Encouragements for Wounded Helpers
Joined to a Healing God
| |
Thoughts and Encouragements for Wounded Helpers
Joined to a Healing God |
 |
André H. Roosma is a tall guy who loves God and
the companionship of friends & relatives, and who has a heart for
listening and is fond of empowering others. One of his specialties, it is
said, is his ability to simplify and present complex matters in a way
everybody can understand. Besides this, he also likes sailing and researching,
is not afraid of challenging the status quo a bit, and will enjoy a good
piece of ‘appeltaart’ (Dutch applepie) or the warm sunlight of
summer on a heatherfield. 
Relationships, both with God and other people, have played and continue to play an important role in the life of André.
Back in November 1972, some students - members of the
local chapter of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
(IFES) at Eindhoven University - almost covered the university buildings with
big green posters saying “God is not far - Jesus is The Way”. They so drew the attention of André. By January 1973, at a
national retreat conference, he experienced the grace of getting to know God
personally and becoming a Christian.
From 1973 till 1981 - while studying and subsequently working for a big
electronics firm - he had the opportunity to actively serve in this student
chapter as one of its Bible group leaders. Part of the time he also served
as teamleader of the chapter (1976-1978). In this period he got his first
training in Bible study, Christian leadership, Evangelism and Pastoral
care, at local, national and international levels; mainly within the
IFES (the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students).
For many years since december 1981, André held a full-time job for a large Dutch telecommunications company, where he started as researcher and later worked as strategist, internal consultant, market analyst, senior telecoms-architect and innovator. Especially in the late 1980’s, this included a lot of world-wide travel, giving presentations to international colleagues in the field and listening to theirs. In this way, André got somewhat acquainted with various cultures and religions, including Christian work in those situations. His work also got him involved in thinking about organizational behaviour, human resource management and management & leadership issues in general.
From 1982 till 1985 he gratefully completed a three-year
part-time course in pastoral care given by Rev. Jack Bogaard of the pastoral
foundation Shalom in Geldrop (near Eindhoven). This helped to further
strengthen his foundations in the Bible and practical theology. From 1983 till
1991 he served on the participating board of this organisation.
In the period 1990 till 1998 he happily participated in Bible group
leadership and, occasionally, in preaching in a local church in Zoetermeer,
also receiving further training within this denomination, as well as through
various national seminars and home study (it helped that through his work
in Research he was among the first Dutch to have access to the Internet).
In 1996 and 1998, he participated in courses Helping by Blessing and
Helping by Blessing applied to Healing of Sexual Abuse Traumas, both
given by the foundation De Kracht van Vrede.
From the Fall of 1999 till the end of 2001, he had the privilege of
working as a trainee within this foundation, co-working with an experienced
psycho-pastoral worker in pastoral care, helping survivors of incest and other
severe child abuse. He also did some volunteer work for De Kracht van
Vrede - a.o. serving as a small group leader in three editions of the
course Helping by Blessing applied to Healing from Power Abuse (Falls
of 2000, 2001 and 2002), and as its newsletter- and website-editor
(Fall 1998 - Summer 2005, and Summer 2001 - Summer 2006, respectively).
In
the period 1999-2002, he was blessed richly through participating in
Pastoral Care Ministry schools of Leanne Payne (Germany, Nov. 1999,
and the Netherlands, Jan./Feb. 2002) and a similar Journey to Wholeness in
Christ seminar by Leanne Payne’s co-workers Conlee and Signa
Bodishbaugh of Mobile, Alabama (USA) (Germany, Aug. 2001).
Since January 2002, he has been building up his own
part-time practice in pastoral work & training.
From the beginning of December 2002, André decreased his other
activities (those in telecoms) in order to spend more time in counseling
methodology research, set up this website and prepare a new course on pastoral
counseling: Helping by Blessing and (Dis)Connectedness.
As a spin-off, he gives small workshops and lectures with titles like:
Learning to live from the connection and joy that God offers.
Besides training in person, André actively uses the web to equip,
encourage and stimulate others - his three websites thrive as usage has
grown to over 10 000 page views each month.
Dissiminating information, and training and educating others have always
been among André’s passions, so it is no surprise that he really
thrives when sharing about the richness of God’s precious designs and
the tender way in which God can restore what has gone wrong amidst our broken
world.
A central point in the course on (Dis)Connectedness &
Belonging is the importance the Bible attaches to our attachments – with
God, with each other and within oneself –, and God’s joy over us
as a vital given in our identity formation and in any recovery process. This
is remarkably corroborated by developmental psychology and recent neurological
findings.
Regularly, the newest insights from
neurology, psychology and more insights from the Bible are incorporated.
In the Spring of 2009 the course ran in Arnhem, right now (Fall 2010)
it runs in Zoetermeer. Like the six earlier editions since 2003, in various
cities in the Netherlands, it is richly blessed. Over and again it has been
used and is being used richly by God as a vehicle to spread His love and
connectedness, resulting in peace and well-being for many. God surely is
gracious and good!
Since 2004 André is also connected to the Life Model /
Thriving
Recovery (see also Thrive Today) ministry of E. James (Jim)
Wilder et al, upon observing the parallel discoveries. From the beginning of
the Life
Model Forum in 2006 till its end in 2008, he served as moderator of
its Dutch section. He also translated several Life Model materials into
Dutch. With Martien Jan de Haan of Archippus, he was involved in the
translation of Wilder’s book Living with Men (Dutch: Met
vreugde man zijn).
Since the beginning of 2008 André is a member of the ESTD
(European Society for Trauma & Dissociation).
Focus points in André’s psycho-pastoral approach can be found in his Psycho-Pastoral Kitchen.
The year 2008 became a milestone in the Accede! ministry.
As per December 2007, André’s part-time job in telecoms
innovation ended, freeing him to devote all his time and energy to pastoral
work & training within Accede! as well as
within his local Church.
A course in OT Hebrew, in de Fall, gave him the opportunity to extend
his understanding and study of the original languages of the Bible.
Regularly, he is invited as a speaker at various seminars for pastoral
workers, as well as in Sunday (or Shabbat!) services.
Assisted by a team of 6 other pastoral workers in his local church,
he developed a balanced recovery program and led a very successful recovery
group. He is open to help other churches set up similar programs as well.
Since the Spring of 2009, André has been pioneering with a new and revolutionary approach to pastoral care, where the presence of God is seen as the great point of relief and healing. It is called the Immanuel lifestyle, and based on a very thorough Bible exposition. The results are remarkably above those of any other approach. See also the Dutch website: Immanuel pastoraat. English materials on a similar approach by Karl Lehman, E.James Wilder and others in the USA are available from the Life Model website (look a.o. for the booklet Sharing Immanuel).
Your prayers for this ministry are gratefully acknowledged!
 | back to the Accede! homepage |
More information is available from the editor of this site, André H. Roosma, who also welcomes your ideas, experiences or other suggestions. André is reachable via e-mail: andre.roosma@12accede.nl.
André H.
Roosma