In an article titled Why Do So Many Pastors Leave the Church? The Answer Will Shock You, one paragraph stood out to me: 90% feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands and 90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they…
I am frequently amazed by our authors at Energion Publications. I suppose that other editors and owners are likewise amazed, but I think we have a very special group. Just the other day I received notice from an author that he had signed his contract, but that he wanted to donate his royalties to our…
Dave Black posted some notes on the difference between being a cessationist and a continualist (his term). I agree with his comments. Most commonly when we talk about “cessationism” we are talking about the gifts of the Spirit. Do these gifts, particularly the more spectacular of them, continue to operate in the church today? (I…
Dave Black writes about a book on 1 & 2 Timothy and notes that Timothy was not a pastor. Historically, this is quite accurate. I find it interesting the things that “church folks” think must be done by a pastor. At one conference where Jody and I were invited to teach, there was a call…
I want to call attention to a post I read this morning, Can a Dying Church Find Life? Six Radical Steps to “Yes” (HT: Allan Bevere). Then I want to call attention again to a series of responses to a set of interview questions given by some Energion Publications authors on renewing mainline congregations. The…
T. E. Hanna (discovered via Facebook) has a guest post by Dana Bruxvoort titled Why the Gospel Without Justice Isn’t the Gospel. While the title caught my attention, phrases like “filling in the holes in my gospel” and “doing nothing was no longer an option.” Missions not optional? Let’s spread that idea far and wide!…
The fact is, we want to be bigger, and we really can’t be bothered with the health and well-being of other denominations — after all, their gain is our loss, right? He tells about how he got in trouble with his trustees … and fellow pastors. And I love it! Read the whole thing.
What should a church that grows out of the New Testament witness look like? Dave Black posted a list of items on his blog today, and I, with his blanket permission, extracted the list to the Jesus Paradigm web site. (The site supports Dave’s book The Jesus Paradigm, which I publish.) I hope you will…
I tried not to steal the headline from the article by Rev. Robert Rynders in UM-Insight, The Church Isn’t Dying, It’s Already Dead, but this post is largely to tell you to go read that post. After reading his article and thinking about the good things I’ve seen happening in some United Methodist churches —…
The best advice I’ve heard on this topic is provided in a short post by Elizabeth Esther. Takeway? Be a listening ear.