Relational Intentionality
Why Is God OK With This?
Ever watch a child look around and see no one paying attention, then walk up and smack their sibling? I often wonder why did the child think “this is a good idea?” It usually plays out the same way. They hurt someone and get in trouble. Yet, they rinse and repeat. Our hearts often devise…
Read MorePreventing Ministry Team Burnout
by Steve Treash, Overseed Field Director The concept of “burnout” originated in the 1970’s with a psychologist named Herbert Freudenberger who used the term to describe what he saw among the volunteer staff of a medical clinic in New York City. The volunteers were young, enthusiastic and on a mission to serve the City’s poor…
Read MoreReviving the Church: Building Bridges with the Next Generation
There has been a noticeable decline in church attendance among younger generations, largely because many in these groups don’t trust authority. Unlike their parents and grandparents, they’re skeptical of institutions that were once considered pillars of trust. Why? Several factors contribute to this shift—years of abuse, misuse of power, and scandals involving deception, exploitation, and…
Read MoreProtect Your Family’s Privacy
By Deryk Richenburg We’ve all been there. You are welcomed to a new church, and someone comes up and asks you, “Can you and your family come up front so we can congratulate you?” Or later on, “Can you and your family come up so we can thank you?” Or the myriads of other times…
Read MoreProtect Your Family Time During the Busy Christmas Season in Ministry
Our 35 years in pastoral ministry (all at one church, in a suburb north of Boston) spanned all our child-rearing and launching years, from the first newborn to the last wedding. Looking back, we are not plagued by regrets that we shortchanged our kids in order to serve our congregation. However, to fact-check that impression,…
Read MoreFind Joy and Stay Connected During Advent as a Pastor’s Family
By Jere & Brenda Vincent, Family Builders Ministry The Advent season is often one of the busiest and most demanding times for ministry families. Between services, events, meetings, and the daily pastoral responsibilities, it’s easy for pastoral families to find themselves physically present yet emotionally or spiritually drained. We know firsthand that in the bustle, it…
Read MoreConflict in Ministry Marriage: Challenging Your Husband with Respect
Letting a fallen sinner lead is always difficult – and sometimes no easier when he’s your husband AND the pastor of your church. It’s often confusing and frustrating for us, as pastors’ wives, to know how to support our husbands when we question a decision he has made. We sometimes struggle to know who is…
Read MoreAlpha as a Way to Build Community
In the two previous installments of this series on Alpha ministry in the local church, I’ve looked at Alpha as an evangelism tool and as a discipleship tool. Now, let’s consider Alpha as a community-building tool. Once a church grows beyond “family size,” in which Sunday morning attendance ranges from 3 to 75, it often…
Read MoreAlpha Can Help Revitalize Your Church
I’m not sure I could overstate how much Alpha has impacted the revitalization of our church. In the more than 25 years that we have continuously offered the Alpha course, hundreds of people from all walks of life have taken it and entered the Kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We have mostly…
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 More