One of the things that I’ve been thinking quite a bit about recently is how a church develops pastoral care as it grows from being a small church plant, a group of young friends that know each other well to being a medium to large sized established multigenerational and multi-cultural church. You can listen to… Continue reading Developing pastoral care systems
Tag: elders
What really are the qualifications of an elder/pastor?
I’ve been thinking about this because there is a trend amongst theological educators to talk about the need to emphasise spiritual formation as much as theological training for potential pastors. However, when you look at what the Bible says about the qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy 3, it says that they are to… Continue reading What really are the qualifications of an elder/pastor?
A little proposal, what if we got rid of the distinction between elders conpletely?
My friend Steve Kneale recently wrote in praise of unpaid elders. He began by talking. about the problems with different descriptions for paid and unpaid elders. I agree 100 percent with him. In fact the one thing I’d want to do is make explicitly clear that there is no Biblical foundation for the presbyterian distinction… Continue reading A little proposal, what if we got rid of the distinction between elders conpletely?
Cities need walls but they need more than walls
The other Sunday I was preaching on Nehemiah 11. It struck me that there was a crucial link between what was happening here and what the situation was described as back in Nehemiah 7 where we are told: 4 Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had… Continue reading Cities need walls but they need more than walls
Church leadership should reflect not mitigate the home
I’m a complementarian in regard to church leadership because I believe two things, first that this label best describes the pattern for relationships between husbands and wives in the home. Secondly, that the local church is mean to function as an extended family. Let me expand on that a little. First, complementarianism is based on… Continue reading Church leadership should reflect not mitigate the home
People Matter: God’s safe and satisfied people
This is a written version of my sermon from last Sunday on Nehemiah 7-8. In the early parts of Nehemiah, one theme seems to get hammered home “walls are important.” If you are trying to put together kids clubs activities, that can become a challenge. There are only so many different ways you can build… Continue reading People Matter: God’s safe and satisfied people
Calling a new pastor -how do you get to know the right person?
So far in terms of the steps we’ve talked about, we’ve looked at things that we might classifiy as the traditional formal elements of recruitment, interviews and preaching. We’ve also looked at how you can do a bit more of a deep dive to research a person’s gifting, theological outlook etc through online research. However,… Continue reading Calling a new pastor -how do you get to know the right person?
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
Recruiting well. Appointing new pastors.
One of the ways in which elders take responsibility for providing and protecting is by recruiting well, whether that is into a leadership position in the church from within, such as appointing additional elders and ministry leaders or it is recruiting people to join the staff team including a paid pastor. Now, I have come… Continue reading Recruiting well. Appointing new pastors.
People in your church that you should be talking about at elders/leaders meetings
I recently saw a post from Steve Kneale about who you should talk about at elders’ meetings. I did not disagree with the post but rather I thought it might be helpful to show another way of cutting things. Those moving in These are people who are new to the church or not yet members. … Continue reading People in your church that you should be talking about at elders/leaders meetings
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