Rowland Croucher
WHEN GOD KEEPS TO HIMSELF
In our present day church culture which is mostly preoccupied with strategies for success, there is a need to ponder those moments when it appears that God has moved out of range. Instead of a miracle every day or at least a deep sense of the Lord’s Presence, a day dawns when there is nothing. […]
Pastors: Is It Time To Back Off?
How many of your great ideas have crashed and burned lately? Have any ministry wheels fallen off at high speed? What do you do with the disappointment, or the frustration, or the anxiety which accrues at a marvellous rate of knots when things don’t quite work out as you planned? Mind you, any pastor who […]
BEWARE THE SPIRITUAL TOURISTS
Pastors can usually pick them at forty paces. It often comes as a hunch backed up by some simple observations. Evasive answers about their last church, a gentle refusal to give away too many personal details, often an absence of personal warmth all convey a largely hidden agenda. Now this is not to suggest that […]
Parker Palmer: The Promise of Paradox
Parker Palmer is an American Quaker mystic/educator. Usually a genial/gentle soul who tries to find language to ¢â‚¬Ëœbuild bridges and not walls ¢â‚¬â„¢, this time in the introduction to the 2008 edition of his first book he writes caustically about those Christians who send to eternal damnation others who do not use the same words as […]
COUNTRY CLUB TO MISSION BASE: THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF THE PASTOR
Whichever way we look at it, all the talk about church growth is not being matched by actual on the ground growth in many places. It’s a paradox really. Never have there been so many books, tapes, videos and conferences all focussing energetically on the most effective ways to grow the church. This is the […]
Surviving the Culture of Criticism
A few years back a pastor who left his congregation under a cloud defined rather wistfully the kind of church he would like to be called to in the future: one where he would be accepted for who he was, where the leadership had great vision and where there were no critics. He is still […]
THE BODY LANGUAGE OF YOUR CHURCH
Silly as it may seem, most people already have formed a few ideas about your church before they ever go on site. And they will form a few more should they manage a visit to a service. The body language of your building speaks with great clarity and the messages conveyed may not necessarily bring […]
PAPUA, INDONESIA: TENSIONS HIGH AS MILITARY ‘SWEEP’ PUNCAK JAYA
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin Wed 21 Jul 2010 Since late May TNI (Indonesian military) and BRIMOB (militarised police) forces have been conducting ‘sweeping operations’ in the central highlands Puncak Jaya region of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). This was ostensibly to flush out the ‘separatists’ they blame (without evidence) for two recent attacks. Indonesia keeps Papua […]
THE DIGNITY OF EACH DAY
How would you like to have a dollar for each time you have sung, “This is the day that the Lord has made…”? You could probably retire with a beach house, a convertible and a healthy parcel of shares. Hopefully there will also have been some high level rejoicing and gladness (if the actual words […]
KEEPING THOSE CONFIDENCES
From time to time difficult moments arise for pastors because they know too much rather than too little. The trusted pastor will be the listener to many conversations where personal secrets, disappointments, failures and traumas are shared by the needy, the lonely and hurting. These confidences are often unveiled as part of a desperate search […]
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