Conversations with pastors from a wide variety of contexts resonate with the theme explored in this article. There are structures in some aspects of contemporary church life that make imperatives out of beneficial non-essentials. And a sure sign of spiritual growth trying to be achieved through human effort is a burn-out attrition among leaders and …
I have been trying to learn (since it was pointed out to me in painful circumstances) that saying things about members of the congregation in a negative way as a form of ‘in joke’ is wrong. That lesson has been hard to apply because of the familiarity we have with each other as a church, …
God uses people as a means to the end of having people meet and come to have Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Pastors have a particular role as one of those means. It is possible for focus on the pastor and their personality and leadership to become the point at which people stop. They’ve …
Pastoral ministry is not a therapeutic activity, it is a means that “can help to create a people worthy to tell the [Gospel] story and to live it.” Hauerwas and Willimon write so well that every line is pleasure to read, and is so well constructed its hard to lift little grabs of text because …
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