I’ve been handling a couple of recurring themes over the past few weeks. First there has been the question of the Christian Sabbath and then there has been the question of whether or not pastors have jobs, whether they work or whether their role is leisure. The two issues dovetail neatly into another question that… Continue reading The pastor’s role and the Christian Sabbath
Category: Leadership
How should we talk about the pastor’s role?
I’ve written a couple of articles disagreeing with a particular description of pastoral ministry. First, in response to Tim Suffield, I said “Yes and no” to the statement that as a pastor you don’t have a job. I said both “yes and no” because I agree that there can be particularly unhelpful connotations if we… Continue reading How should we talk about the pastor’s role?
How we talk about the pastor’s role matters
Last week, I engaged with Tim Suffield on whether pastors have jobs or not. Someone who engaged more supportively with Tim was John Barach. He tweeted: My response was that this is all sounds very pleasant but isn’t how Scripture describes the call to pastoral ministry. He responded by saying: In our conversation he developed… Continue reading How we talk about the pastor’s role matters
Yes your pastor does have a job … and it matters
Tim Suffield has written this provocative piece about pastors not really having jobs. There’s much I would agree with here but I think there are a couple of things to push back against. So, first of all here’s why I agree with Tim. Yes, it is true that the pastor doesn’t have a job. Our… Continue reading Yes your pastor does have a job … and it matters
Who has right of way?
It’s been fascinating seeing people’s response to a minor change in the Highway Code. The underlying philosophy is that responsibility should increased based on the power of your vehicle. The specific result is that the code now says that a pedestrian crossing a road junction has priority right of way over drivers turning into the… Continue reading Who has right of way?
Learning lessons means knowing what the person you are learning from is seeking to achieve
The other day I wrote about Katherine Birbalsingh’s policy of bringing her SLT in for a 7am meeting every day. Katherine had argued that people should pay attention to this policy on the basis that if someone was successful, then we would do well to learn from them. I argued in response that just because… Continue reading Learning lessons means knowing what the person you are learning from is seeking to achieve
Are we learning the right lessons?
Controversial head teacher Katherine Birbalsingh has been making waves again. This time by writing about how staff at her school start work at 7am, with a Senior Leadership Team meeting scheduled in for first thing. A lot of people have reacted angrily to this and there have been a lot of comments about the implications… Continue reading Are we learning the right lessons?
Foundational reading for urban ministry … The most important book
This should perhaps be obvious and go without saying but the most important book you need to be reading if you are going to engage in urban pastoral ministry is the Bible. Still, it is worth repeating because sometimes although we know that in theory, we become too focused on the other tools we think… Continue reading Foundational reading for urban ministry … The most important book
Self Supported ministers
Southwark Diocese were recently promoting the fact that it is 60 years since the ordained someone as a “self-supporting minister.” As they explain, these are ordained clergy within the CofE who do the same things as any other clergy but are not paid a stipend by the church. This means that they are likely to… Continue reading Self Supported ministers
We need pastors who have never read the Brontes …and who never will
I saw this Tweet the other day. I think I get the point the tweet author is making. I can’t say for certain. I’ve watched a TV adaption of Jane Eyre as a child and seen trailers for similar adaptions of Pride and Prejudice but I’ve read neither book. I write as someone with post… Continue reading We need pastors who have never read the Brontes …and who never will
Faithroots 