3 ways to turn against your pastor
‘Most people don’t set out to dislike their pastors. Something just happens. Oh sure, there are generally disagreeable folks who seem to possess the spiritual gift of discouragement and are always looking to find faults, but most pastors I know who have congregants (or congregations) turn on them felt utterly ambushed. It takes time to trace the outworking of anger and even sometimes ousting to the root causes, and very often these causes are things that could’ve been headed off at the pass given communication, clarity, and charity.’
Clear your desk!
In a similar vein, after hearing of another deeply sad loss of a pastor at the hands of a church who – I’m sure totally unintentionally – have an effectively abusive system at work, this is a timely one from John Benton.
Reconciled to the remainders
This is a good reminder that sometimes we simply won’t be able to resolve issues in the church.
How do introverts guard against selfishness?
Whether you agree with the specific outworkings of this or not, I think the principle Piper outlines regarding personality types as spiritual gifts is exactly right. The question is not, ‘what do I feel like doing?’ It’s more, ‘how can I make the way I am serve the glory of God and benefit his people?’
5 effects of expository preaching on a church
‘To publicly herald God’s Word is an act of worship (2 Tim. 2:15), and a stewardship for which we’ll give an account. Here are five ways expository preaching beautifies Christ’s bride.’
Some thoughts about Kurt Cobain, Nick Cave and a ministry fail
‘Many young people today, it would seem, are looking for some serious earth, and if the only serious earth they can find has a serious house built upon it, then so much the better. Sure they’re not necessarily looking for old time religion, nor are they anything but dismissive of its more culturally conservative and theologically orthodox expressions. But they are looking for serious earth nonetheless.’
From the archive: Making sure prayer happens at the prayer meeting
‘One thing we want to do is make sure that we actually get to the business of prayer at every prayer meeting. All too often, prayer meetings are dominated by news and chat with not so much prayer going on. So, how do we make sure our prayer meetings involve mostly prayer? Here are a few things we try to do.’