4 Ways to Prepare for Ministry
Perhaps you’re looking for boxes to check, some way to easily measure your progress toward the pastorate. Now you’re left feeling a bit frustrated. So what now?
Articles on Church Leadership
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The church is led to maturity on her mission through intentional, earnest, persistent intercessory prayer. A man of God leads from his knees!
Explaining and defining terms in preaching are both important—but that's not all a preacher is to do.
How to Avoid Pastoral Arrogance
There are two things that a new pastor experiences that can help knock the smirk off an ego‘s face.
Catechesis is meant to be a robust witness to biblical faith and practice, a tool which in the hands of skilled practitioners to be used to instruct, form, and make mature disciples.
Why Expository Preaching Is Important
When you do expository preaching you get a sermon's symmetry and structure from the biblical text.
Dear Pastor . . . Let’s Cultivate Honesty in Our Churches—Starting with Us
We don’t have our Christian lives fully together. In Christian ministry, we necessarily stretch the pastoral metaphor because we shepherds are, inevitably and undeniably, still sheep.
3 Ways to Prepare for the Battles of Ministry
How do we strategize together as leadership communities for the battle?
It is deeply wounding to be accused falsely and to be treated as if you dishonored the Lord when you haven't.
The Biblical Foundation for Church Partnerships
In thousands of cities across the globe, churches large and small haven’t considered the amazing things God could do through them in partnership with others.
Church, State, and the Authority of Jesus
Imperium means supreme power or absolute dominion, and it gets at the idea of where the buck stops in a society.
An Open Letter to the Pastor about Embracing Weakness
The Lord, in his love and mercy, shows us that we are weak, and he often does it through affliction. But it is a certain sign of his love.
Impatience, tiredness, zoning out, interrupting—these are just a few of the things that can lead to poor listening.
What Do They Know? Learning From "Secular” Leaders
When God speaks through his world, we call it general revelation or common grace.
What All Healthy Churches Have in Common
The most important things about a Christian church are always the things that make it a Christian church. The things that are unique about your church or mine can never be the most important things about it.
Jesus is king. Jesus obeys. How do we hold those two truths together? And what does it teach us about any authority we’ve been personally given?
What Ministry “Freshness” Means
More than anything else, we want to guard our relationship with God with a sense of urgency, and deal with anything that hinders that relationship. Our primary desire is God.
Dear Pastor . . . You Can Serve Both Your Ministry and Your Kids
It is not easy to be fully committed to the people we minister to and to our families at the same time. But the strain of doing both (the balanced life) is our cross.
What Makes the Preaching the Word Commentary Series Unique?
The Preaching the Word commentary series is unique because I’ve asked all the contributors to have preached the content of their commentary viva voce, or live.
A Pastor’s Guide to Celebrating Christmas as a Church
Christmas sermons and services should evoke the question, “What do these things mean?” to which the pastor then heralds the eternal answers.
Dear Pastor, Cherish Christ More Than You Cherish Serving Him
God is the beginning and end of the universe. Cherish him more than you cherish serving him. Cherish him more than you cherish telling others about him.
Pastors’ Wives: 5 Misconceptions
Misconception #1 You have it all together. You’ve worked through all your issues. Sure, you may struggle, but not with anything major (whatever that may be). Oh, sister, may I encourage you? On this side …
An Open Letter to Pastors Whose Sermons Always Sound the Same
If familiar themes are constantly preached, the pastor may be addressing issues most relevant to his people or he could be unwittingly serving perceived priorities of his people rather than the priorities of Scripture.
7 Tips for Pastoring Your Children
If you’re a pastor and a father, you already know how hard each is, and how much harder the two in tandem can be.
Why You Should Join an Imperfect Church
We need the body of Christ to grow and to know what it means to be a mature Christian.
What Makes Pastoral Ministry Enjoyable?
Pastoral ministry—while having its unique challenges—is also filled with particular, and sometimes unexpected, joys.
10 Things You Should Know about Leadership
There is not a square inch of knowledge that doesn’t belong to God.
Aim to be mistaken for an elder before you are appointed an elder. All pastors are elders, and every elder is a pastor.
The Real Cost of Building a Healthy Church
A call to ministry is a call to die—to self, to sin, to selfish ambition, to idolizing your own success, and to enhancing your own image.
Podcast: Help! I’m Married to My Pastor (Jani Ortlund)
In this episode, Jani Ortlund discusses the joys and challenges of being a pastor's wife for nearly five decades.