I’ve frequently took to talking about the way that churches need “mums and dads”. I think this familial language moves us away from much of the power dynamic that afflicts the egalitarian- complementarian debate. I think that both egalitarians and comolementarians alike have missed something in their own way – the need for mums. So,… Continue reading Mums and dads in church … The boundaries
Tag: deacons
In defence of Executive Pastors
I saw this article the other day and I’m not completely unsympathetic to the concerns. However, I’m not completely convinced by the arguments either. So I thought it was worth saying something in defence of the executive pastor. It’s worth saying two things up front. First of all, the term tends to refer to a member… Continue reading In defence of Executive Pastors
Men and women in church leadership revisited
I recently picked up on Evangelical Times’ article and podcsst about women teaching and preaching. As I noted, the podcast doesn’t really offer us a Biblical case for the position and assertions taken. However, some people do, in the You Tube comments section attempt to have a discussion about what the Bible says. One claim… Continue reading Men and women in church leadership revisited
Wanted -church mothers
For some time, I’ve been arguing that both complementarians and egalitarians alike have been letting the church down by failing to give proper place to women in the church. For complementarians, the failure has perhaps been more obvious. The focus has been so much on saying “this is what women cannot do” that the result… Continue reading Wanted -church mothers
New Testament Church Leadership?
Is there a specific approach and structure to church leadership that we find in the New Testament? Different movements at different times in history have attempted to recover New Testament practice. For example, the Brethren were convinced, that this meant removing a paid class of clergy and replacing them with plural oversight. They also believed… Continue reading New Testament Church Leadership?
Ministry nuts and bolts: Who should be trustees on your church leadership
Most churches in the UK are set up as charitable trusts. There are a number of ways to do this but increasingly, the most common is as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This then raises the question of who should serve as trustees for the church. There seem to be three main options that churches run… Continue reading Ministry nuts and bolts: Who should be trustees on your church leadership
Ministry nuts and bolts – how do we learn about wider leadership responsibilities?
Steve Kneale recently posted a blog article about one of the things that they don’t teach you at Theological College. The specific thing he is dealing with is church finances but there is a wider point I think which is that for church leaders, especially those in paid roles, there are wider leadership responsibilities than… Continue reading Ministry nuts and bolts – how do we learn about wider leadership responsibilities?
Building myths
This article is a guest article from Bob Sharples. Following on from my article recently about the myths around assuming that getting a building is a solution to your long term problems, Bob highlights to further myths that churches can believe about owning their buildings. This is not a case for or against owning your… Continue reading Building myths
Men Women and Leadership … in practice
I hope you’ve found the recent #FaithrootsLive series helpful. The aim has not been to court controversy but help us to think better about how to honour Christ and love his church. Here’s the last in the series where we Consider some of the potential objections and criticisms of complementarianism Begin to think about how… Continue reading Men Women and Leadership … in practice
Male and female leadership questions (5) Implications for church life
First of all, I think we can rule out two extremes. We cannot take the egalitarian approach but nor can we endorse the traditional Brethren approach and a number of traditional approaches which in effect fail to recognise that women are equal in nature. We should recognise that sadly churches have got this badly wrong… Continue reading Male and female leadership questions (5) Implications for church life
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