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
Tag: elders
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?
What is eldership about?
I’ve recently joined the eldership team of our church. The process has been significantly different to my previous experience including when we joined our previous church and when I had a look around at potential church jobs back in 2021. This partly reflects the fact that I was not being considered for a paid role… Continue reading What is eldership about?
Pastors and planters -wives and families
Mez McConnell has written an article for prospective planters where their wives are less keen on the prospect of urban/estate church planting. What should they do. Mez’s essential point is that there needs to be complete unity in sharing the calling between husband and wife. I agree with this. In fact, I remember one planter… Continue reading Pastors and planters -wives and families
He’s the good good shepherd
I love Psalm 23 and it was really helpful to hear a speaker talking about this at a recent church leaders’ retreat. On Sunday I shared my own attempt at a paraphrase of the Psalm. It’s been particularly on my mind over the past few days as it seems to link with a few particular… Continue reading He’s the good good shepherd
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