Tag Archives: leadership

In praise of holiness

Life, Sola Panel

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I’ve just read an article that I agree with, but can’t relate to. The article, by Carl Trueman, is about the problems with hagiographies (a hagiography is a ‘saint-biography’: an account of somebody’s life that treats them as a hero of holiness and leaves out the naughty bits).1 He argues that hagiographies are bad for multiple reasons: they’re not good history, they promote an unhelpful black-and-white view of the world, and they make readers feel depressed and inadequate when they don’t measure up. I think he’s right. But I just don’t feel his pain. (more…)

The challenge of culture: Bruce Winter talks to Peter Hastie

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Dr Bruce Winter is the Principal of Queensland Theological College at the University of Queensland in St Lucia, Brisbane. He has held this position since 2006 when he left Tyndale House, Cambridge, where he had served as Warden since 1987 and as Director of the Institute for Early Christianity in the Graeco-Roman World.

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Learning to read the Bible one to one

Everyday Ministry

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Russell de Vries has known Jesus all his life. He grew up having been taught the gospel by his parents, and remembers car conversations about the sermon and Bible during the trip home from church each Sunday. The Bible was an integral part of church and home life. Yet in spite of all this, the idea of regularly meeting one to one with someone to read God’s word was a totally foreign concept to Russell. (more…)

The denomination, the pastor and the work of gospel ministry

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Denominations can be a mixed blessing for the pastor: when they work well, they give your ministry wings; when they don’t, they can feel like a straitjacket. In this Pastor’s brief, we look at how you can work with church structures to ensure that gospel ministry prospers.

A wise colleague once told me that regardless of the nature of any particular form of church government, good people will make it work and sinful people will endeavour to corrupt it to their own ends. In other words, while some structures may be better than others, none are ideal, for none can guarantee our freedom to do the work of gospel ministry.

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Leadership: Avoiding the pitfalls: A gospel of leadership

Life

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LeadershipRise was the title on the glossy brochure that I pulled out of the letterbox recently. Aside from my curiosity as to why every second seminar these days has to have the word ‘rise’ in it somewhere, my real question was: How come we’ve got this avalanche of leadership-related books and seminars? One more leaflet in the letterbox and I think I will be well and truly buried.

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