Times When Pastoral Leadership Begins to Unravel
Some of the greatest challenges that pastors face right now are through subtle leadership issues. When we’re guarding our hearts and lives, what should we make sure we don’t drift into?
Articles on Church Ministry
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Listening Might Be the Best Evangelism Tool You’re Not Using
Gospel fluency isn’t just about talking. It’s about listening as well. This requires love, patience, and wisdom. We need to learn to slow down and listen closely to the longings of their hearts.
2 Things Pastors Can Learn from Spurgeon’s Preaching
One of Spurgeon's great strengths is that he would always seek preach Christ to people where they were at and to their needs.
Dear Pastor . . . Your Leadership Is Needed in the Pulpit
Pastor, the work of shepherding God’s people naturally involves and requires good leadership. There’s no more important place for that to happen than in your preaching ministry every week.
What Are the Sacraments, and Why Do They Matter?
One of the most important aspects of church life is the celebration of the sacraments—the Lord’s Supper and baptism. But despite this importance, there is much misunderstanding about them.
Dear Pastor, Slowing Down Might Just Save Your Ministry
Coleman M. Ford, Shawn J. Wilhite
In the past five years alone, how many reading this have questioned your calling, lost ministry friends and co-laborers, or have grown generally weary?
3 Crucial Qualities of All Good Sermons
Pastors need all three of these views in order to give an accurate account of what God is doing and will do.
An Open Letter to the Church on the Issue of Infertility
Recognizing that many couples in your church community are infertile will invariably change the way you think about your community.
How Do We Define “Success” in Ministry?
We do the work of pastoral ministry so that our people might treasure Christ together. That’s the often unheralded yet beautiful definition of “success.”
2 Ways Leaders Can Exemplify Humility to Those under Their Authority
Make it your personal ambition to build up those around you, and let them flourish in their gifts.
What Our Individualism Costs Us
In Western culture, the high regard for autonomy and obsession with individualism has come at a cost: community. Tthis lack of community has contributed to rising loneliness.
Dear Pastor . . . You Should Follow More Than You Lead
Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer
We challenge people to lead, we train and equip them to lead, and we celebrate and praise them for leading (or condemn them as the case may be). Followership, in contrast, is almost completely ignored.
What to Remember When Looking for a Church
When you come to church with a consumer mindset, you’re actually never able to fully commit or fully love it.
Coming Soon: ‘The Biggest Story Curriculum’
Releasing in June, The Biggest Story Curriculum will incorporate a host of integrated print and digital components to teach kids key Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation.
Dear Pastor . . . Pride Is a Subtle Enemy
How frequently does pride come with us into our studies and sit with us as we prepare our sermon? How often does it choose our subject and more often choose our words and ornaments?
How to Make Time for Your Family as a Pastor
Even the busiest pastors can make it a priority and count it a privilege to spend quality time with their families.
Want to Be a Missionary? Check Your Motives
We don’t just need more warm bodies called missionaries; we need qualified people sent by healthy churches who are equipped to do missions well.
Dear Pastor, Sermon Prep Is Worth the Effort
Sometimes it can be hard to remember that in the Lord’s goodness and grace he has called us to take up the most significant and fulfilling task in the world—to be a pastor-teacher.
Practical Tips for Expository Preachers
Alistair Begg shares five tips that he learned from an older minister when he was a theological student.
How Is the Church Doing at Caring for One Another?
Are we caring for one another the way the Bible instructs us to do so?
Dear Pastor . . . the Sabbath Was Made for You Too
The exhaustion that comes from trying to hold things together in such a hostile climate eventually takes a toll on pastors.
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?
Why Use Written Prayers? A Personal Reflection
I understand and respect the hesitations that some believers have regarding the use of written prayers—either privately or publicly. I have close friends who fall on both sides of this discussion.
Explaining and defining terms in preaching are both important—but that's not all a preacher is to do.
The church is led to maturity on her mission through intentional, earnest, persistent intercessory prayer. A man of God leads from his knees!
Are You Dissatisfied with Life? Take Communion
The Lord’s Supper is a gift where Christ himself presents himself to us, and he wants us to think about who he is and who he is to us. We are hungry and thirsty people.
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.
Introducing the ‘Big Picture Bible Crafts’
Combined with reading the Bible, hands-on activities are a great way for small children to engage with and learn truths from Scripture.
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.