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

Elders have a crucial responsibility

We often think of elders being responsible for providing for the church, ensuring that the congregation are led, pastorally cared for, fed with God’s Word.  There is however a crucial responsibility which gets less attention.   In Acts 20:28-31 addressing the Ephesia elders, Paul says: Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy… Continue reading Elders have a crucial responsibility

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

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

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

Self Supported ministers

Southwark Diocese were recently promoting the fact that it is 60 years since the ordained someone as a “self-supporting minister.” As they explain, these are ordained clergy within the CofE who do the same things as any other clergy but are not paid a stipend by the church. This means that they are likely to… Continue reading Self Supported ministers

Pastoral and unpastoral pastors?

The Southern Baptist Convention has recently made waves by deciding to add to its rules that associating churches must not include women pastors on their staff. This links in part to the decision by Saddleback Church to appoint female pastors and Rick Warren’s change of mind on complementarianism.  However, the decision has caused consternation not… Continue reading Pastoral and unpastoral pastors?

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?