Tag: calling

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

Irrevocable gifts and calling – the danger of out of context Bible verses

One of the biggest dangers to healthy life is our ability to rip Bible verses out of context and misapply them. One such example is this verse: 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable[1] I’ve heard this verse used by people to justify continued support for people who seemingly had a gifting or… Continue reading Irrevocable gifts and calling – the danger of out of context Bible verses

Testing a calling – how decisions are made

As you know, we are in a bit of a transitional phase, on the 31st December, I left my previous pastorate and we are now taking a little bit of time to look at different possibilities to see where God is leading us next. The possibilities really divide into two categories. On the one hand,… Continue reading Testing a calling – how decisions are made

I could be in Boris Johnson or Keir’s shoes right now – I’m glad I’m not!

It’s 1995 and I’m in a room with half a dozen other people. We all have one thing in common. One day we would like to be Prime Minister and with the arrogance of youth we each believer that we uniquely have the ability to make that dream come true. Move forward to 2021 and… Continue reading I could be in Boris Johnson or Keir’s shoes right now – I’m glad I’m not!

Leadership is not about the committee you attend

Imagine if the way that your family functioned was that the husband/dad went down to the garden shed and made some decisions. Maybe he called round a few other men to join him for this meeting. Then afterwards, they came out and pronounced their wisdom. You can be by conviction a complementarian and still feel… Continue reading Leadership is not about the committee you attend