Tag Archives: pastors

The power of pastoral visitation

Pastoral Ministry

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It’s not new. It’s not innovative. It’s not trendy. It doesn’t produce immediate results. But it is a key element to church planting and the long-term sustained growth of a church. It’s pastoral visitation. (more…)

Where to, Lord? An interview with Mark Charleston

Pastoral Ministry

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Mark Charleston trains and encourages ministers as part of his work with the Sydney Anglican Department of Ministry Training and Development. He regularly talks to ministers at turning points in their ministry. Paul Grimmond spoke to him recently about his reflections on the issues involved in choosing to move from one ministry to another.

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Preaching the gospel from Ruth

Pastoral Ministry

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Five Festal Garments: Christian Reflections on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther

Barry Webb

Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, 2000, pp. 192.
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Blood, sweat and tears

Pastoral Ministry

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Donald Howard shows us why sermon preparation is still a matter of much-needed hard work.1

There is a joy in pulpit preparation—a sense of expectation which spurs us on. But work is needed:

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A preacher’s guide to sermon illustrations

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Joshua Bovis explains how and why sermon illustrations can be a valuable aid or a distracting hindrance.

Imagine this: a Bible college student is about to preach a sermon in his expounding Scripture subject. His eyes scan the hall and notice the faculty with their poker face expressions. He takes a breath and begins: “I am going to make something disappear before your very eyes, and you shall never see it again!” Reaching into his pocket, he brings out a banana and proceeds to eat it before the students. The man who told me this story laughed as he recalled it, but he had no recollection of the sermon. (more…)

The dangers of valuing preaching

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Can a commitment to expository preaching cause us to deviate from biblical ministry? William Philip draws our attention to three areas where we are likely to shift.

At a preaching conference I attended, there was a bookstall run by some-one from the local Bible college. As I browsed, it struck me that here was a plethora of books on every aspect of what might be called the art or science of biblical preaching: there were books on effective preaching, power preaching, arresting preaching, anointed preaching, Christ-focused preaching, and every other aspect of preaching you could imagine. Many of them—if not all of them—were sound, orthodox, biblical and evangelical, and most of them were probably very helpful books. Nevertheless, as I looked at them, I could not help but feel some disquiet. (more…)

Let’s abolish lay ministry

Everyday Ministry

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There has been much talk of the difference between ‘professional’ ministry and ‘lay ministry’. But are such distinctions helpful? Gordon has a better suggestion.

A slightly arbitrary definition of ‘lay ministry’ is ‘unpaid ministry in the church performed by nonprofessionals’. The idea of ‘laity’ comes from the Greek ‘laos’, meaning ‘people’, distinct from any priestly class. Lay ministry is often associated with church work that is necessary but unpaid. Such unpaid ministry may or may not be formally recognized by a denomination or church, but it is certainly recognized by God. (more…)