Category: Leadership

Church membership

Occasionally I have conversations with church planters and revitalisers about whether or not they should have church membership. There are actually quite a lot of Christians who don’t agree with the idea of membership and say they would refuse to join a church. How do churches do membership? Every church has some form of membership.… Continue reading Church membership

Spotting and developing potential leaders

How do we identify potential future leaders in the church?   A lot has been made of the “Blokes Worth Watching” approach associated with Philip Jenkins, Sydney Anglicans and ministry schemes in the early years of this century. This has been seen both positively and negatively with on the one hand, many in conservative evangelical circles… Continue reading Spotting and developing potential leaders

Ephesians and Church leadership

We want our church leadership to be Biblical. Usually by this, we mean that we want to appoint people to the offices we find in Scripture and mirror the structures we find there. The problem is that there is often a lot of disagreement here because in fact the New Testament doesn’t really have that… Continue reading Ephesians and Church leadership

DNA: Why you might want a church handbook and how to go about it

An independent church is likely to require a constitution in order to satisfy charity law.  This is a legal document.  Many churches, in addition to this will provide something based on the constitution intended to be more accessible to the congregation.  They may refer to it as a handbook and it is likely to include… Continue reading DNA: Why you might want a church handbook and how to go about it

Training Elders

Tim Suffield writes here on the importance of training elders.  I don’t really have much to add to what he has to say.  I agree with him that we should train and equip all elders at a church, whether they are on staff or not. I agree with him that this is not first and… Continue reading Training Elders

Should a pastor blog?

Sinclair Ferguson doesn’t seem to think so.  Recently a clip of an interview with him was circulated where he argued that the time spent writing your blog article could have been spent visiting an elderly lady in the congregation. I have an obvious interest to declare here because I write a blog and have done… Continue reading Should a pastor blog?

Can you be an effective pastor without being a reader?

This was a question shared on Twitter recently as a poll. The originator suggested that by being a “reader”, he meant beyond the bible and commentaries.  Responses both in the voting and in comments suggested that most people assumed that wide reading was if not essential at least very important for pastoral ministry. Some people… Continue reading Can you be an effective pastor without being a reader?

Paying the pastor

John Benton’s latest article on the Pastor’s Academy site talks about the importance of looking after pastors well, particularly when it comes to pay. He references Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians 6:6 in support of his point. Now, there’s some good points in the article.  Whilst, elders in the church should not be greedy, lovers… Continue reading Paying the pastor