mgpcpastor's blog

I like to maintain that my influence as a pastor will be such that the first Sunday after I leave will be pretty much the same as the last Sunday I’m here. (Give or take a few tears)
People usually look at me oddly when I say such things and wonder if I’m leaving.
You’ll have a pretty fair idea what the church were doing because they agreed with you and what they were doing because they were humouring you when you see how quickly they revert to former practices after you’re gone.
John Piper provides this quote from John Newton on the dispensability of ministers:

I hope that he and you and I shall all so live, as to be missed a little when we are gone. But the Lord standeth not in need of sinful man. And he sometimes takes away his most faithful and honoured ministers in the midst of their usefulness, perhaps [for this reason] among others, that he may show us he can do without them. . . . Blessed is the servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing, with his loins girded up, and his lamp burning. (p. 280)

David Murray asks which is ‘The Pastor’s Worst Day?’ and nominates that it’s probably Monday. He suggests seven joyful points on which to ponder in order to encourage the pastoral spirit when it may be most inclined to slide into Monday melancholy.

1. Preparing Joys
2. Preaching Joys
3. Pastoring Joys
4. Provision Joys
5. “Professional” Joys
6. Personal Joys
7. Perpetual Joys

Read Murray’s explanation of these points here.

Joshua Harris believes ”Paul Tripp Has Cool Shoes & Writes Good Books”. I’ve preordered Tripp’s latest book ‘What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage’. Harris provides a list of Tripp’s eleven books with links.

At Church Matters, Deepak Raju encourages the idea of ‘Picking Fruit Off of a Tree’.

One of the ideas I’ve learned on our staff is to be strategic about the men I disciple and invest in. One of our staff pastors has often talked about being deliberate in investing in low-hanging fruit—men who show a lot of potential, who demonstrate a teachable heart and desire to grow, and with a little investment will themselves be able to invest in others. These low-hanging fruit quickly become disciple-making disciples!

Someone will read this and comment that Raju is marginalising the needful by giving attention to those who have immediate potential for fruitfulness. Please read and think about the biblical model established by Jesus and realise that this is not an either/or situation. It is simply counter-productive to neglect training those who would be capable of joining the work of disciple making and pastoral care in order to focus on those who requirement for pastoral care will mean that they ordinarily would not be fruitful in those areas for some time. This is indicative of a mission mindset in contrast to one of maintainance. A maintainance mindset will be going backwards.

Justin Taylor features a Mark Driscoll video about ministry idolatry that features application on ministry idolatry. I don’t have an hour to watch the video at the moment, but these eleven questions about ministry idolatry do hit home:

1. Attendance idolatry: Does your joy change when your attendance does?
2. Gift idolatry: Do you feel that God needs you and uses you because you are so skilled?
3. Truth idolatry: Do you consider yourself more righteous than more simple Christians?
4. Fruit idolatry: Do you point to your success as evidence of God’s approval of you?
5. Method idolatry: Do you worship your method as your mediator?
6. Tradition idolatry: What traditions are you upholding that are thwarting the forward progress of the gospel?
7. Office idolatry: Are you motivated primarily by God’s glory or your title?
8. Success idolatry: Is winning what motivates you at the deepest level?
9. Ministry idolatry: Do you use the pressure of ministry to make you walk with God?
10. Innovative idolatry: Does it matter to you that your ministry be considered unique?
11. Leader idolatry: Who, other than Christ, are you imaging?

Tim Chester gives us a followup to his earlier post ‘The context of pastoral care: the gospel community’, with ‘The content of pastoral care: the gospel word’. A short, simple and wise piece of advice.

There is a twofold problem in the heart: what we think and what we desire or worship:
* we choose to worship other gods instead of God
* we choose to trust other interpretations instead of God’s word

The key thing is to speak good news to people, not just ‘tell them off’. We don’t simply say, ‘You should not do that.’ That’s legalism. It kills. We say, ‘You need not do that because Jesus is bigger and better.’ That’s gospel. Good news. It brings life.

That’s your lot.