Pastor
Alpha as a Discipleship Tool
Jesus’ model of discipleship involved both teaching and on-the-job training in ministry. The content of his teaching centered on the meaning of the Kingdom of God; his training of his disciples immersed them in actual ministry to others in His name, with the power and authority of His Kingdom. In my experience, much of the…
Read MoreA Pastor’s Relationship to his Children
“You always put the church ahead of us!” Those were the angry words hurled at our friend by his adult daughter. The young woman had become estranged from both her pastor father and her faith a few years before, and despite repeated attempts by both parents to heal the break, she remains alienated. This pastor…
Read MoreA Pastor’s Relationship with Self
You are on a plane taxiing for takeoff; the flight attendant takes the microphone and makes the familiar announcement: “In the unlikely event the plane suddenly loses cabin pressure, oxygen masks will automatically deploy from the panel overhead.” She then demonstrates how to place the mask over the face. She concludes by emphasizing that adults…
Read MoreA Pastor’s Relationship with God: How Is Your Soul?
The conversation would always begin with the same question; “How is your soul?” After we exchanged greetings and placed our order, Bob would zero in with that simple question, “How is your soul?” With gentleness and genuine concern, he pinned me to the wall. Even though I knew the question was coming, there was no…
Read MoreA Pastor’s Relationship with the Church
We typically describe a pastor’s relationship to his people in leadership terms, such as shepherd or overseer, and rightly so, but leadership authority Ronald A. Heifetz offers us a new description. He claims that leading institutional change is a process of “disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.” This is a profound observation. In…
Read MoreConflict in the Church – Part 2 Managing Conflict
When I first experienced intense church conflict, it took me by surprise. I had never known anything like it in my life. As I related in Part 1 of this series, Minimizing Conflict, the clash occurred in the tenth year of my first pastorate. A small but influential group of long-time parishioners, mostly from one…
Read MoreConflict in the Church – Part 1: Minimizing Conflict
Conflict reared its ugly head during my tenth year as pastor of a mainline Congregational church. Prior to my arrival a decade earlier, the church been in steep decline for 30 years, and when I arrived, it was functioning more like a country club. The message from the pulpit was increasingly theologically liberal. Because this…
Read MoreA Choice
Logan Saunders is not a New Englander by birth. It is a choice. Originally from Virginia, he and his wife Lindsay were curious about serving up north. After graduating from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, they decided to spend a year at NETS (New England Training and Sending Center for Church Planting and Revitalization) in Vermont…
Read MoreA Different Outcome
Overseed coaches Mark Warren and Matt Furr are also lead pastors of two New Hampshire churches. Mark noted “Matt and I have been coaching pastors for three years. We are hopeful about impact but are waiting to see what God will do. Revitalization is hard and a long haul. It can beat-up pastors so much…
Read MoreAsking Questions Before Accepting a Call: Look Before You Leap
As I coach pastors around New England, I hear many stories about their naiveté during the interview process and what they learned the hard way, only after accepting a call. I can relate because I myself accepted a call too quickly, to the church I served briefly in retirement. I failed to ask about unhealed…
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