These reflections were prompted by a conversation with my dad who has been reading through 1 Samuel over the past few weeks. We were talking about Saul and his response to David’s popularity, his jealousy when David is praised for killing more Philistines than him. On one level, there’s some practical questions. How should a… Continue reading Leaders at risk
Tag: calling
Who will you send?
It’s been pointed out that the only way that you know if you’ve been called to pastoral ministry is not through an inner prompting, though some may experience this, it’s also not about having a few friends saying that they think you might be good at it. Rather, it’s about having a local church who… Continue reading Who will you send?
God did not make you a pastor to keep you going to church
I want to pause and think about a type of comment that I’ve heard a few times over the years. It goes something along the lines of. “Perhaps the reason that God made me a pastor was to keep me in church.” Such comments are perhaps tongue in cheek but personally I’m not convinced they… Continue reading God did not make you a pastor to keep you going to church
What is the Biblical basis for financially supporting pastors?
Having spent ten years as a paid pastor in a church, I’ve spent the past year and a bit in a slightly different position. I’m currently self-supported which means I’m responsible for raising my own support. There are a lot of positives and benefits to this. One reason I was keen to spend some time… Continue reading What is the Biblical basis for financially supporting pastors?
What approval are you looking for?
In my last article I said that whilst seeking approval can become idolatrous, it is not always necessarily so. Sometimes it is right to be concerned for recognition and approval. In this article we’re going to dig a little bit more into that by focusing on elders and church leaders. What type(s) of recognition/approval should… Continue reading What approval are you looking for?
Discerning a calling – transition and grieving
The other week, I shared some articles looking at how we discern a calling into Gospel ministry. My particular concern is to encourage people to look into urban gospel mission. I’m keen to seek out people who would be willing to work with us to see churches planted and revitalised on estates and in inner… Continue reading Discerning a calling – transition and grieving
Discerning a calling (3) Questions to ask
I’ve been sharing some posts recently on how we discern a calling for Gospel ministry. Partly I’m hoping that these will be generally useful but I also have a specific concern in mind. Regular readers of Faithroots will know that my passion is to see gospel workers planting and leading churches here in the urban… Continue reading Discerning a calling (3) Questions to ask
Discerning a calling (2) Why we need to look backwards
Some of the questions you will want to ask when helping someone to discern a calling focus on what has happened in the past? Can’t we just forget the past and look forward to the future? Well, there’s certainly a risk that we can refuse to consider people for ministry now because of what has… Continue reading Discerning a calling (2) Why we need to look backwards
Discerning a calling (1) A process for the local church
The place where potential pastors, youth and children’s leaders and women’s workers are likely to be identified is in the local church and that’s exactly where it should be. A healthy church wants to encourage members of the church family to use their gifts to serve the Gospel. In some cases, this will mean considering… Continue reading Discerning a calling (1) A process for the local church
Discerning a calling to the urban West Midlands
My desire is to see gospel communities planted into our urban inner city and council estate neighbourhoods in the West Midlands. I believe that if this is going to happen then we’ll need two things. First of all, we’ll need indigenous church leaders from working class estate contexts and multi-ethnic contexts to be raised up,… Continue reading Discerning a calling to the urban West Midlands
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