Pastoral
Ex-Pastor ‘Joe’: A Follow-Up Note…
[to an Internet group of Australian Baptist pastors]… These days when I’m asked what is the major human factor predicting ‘success ‘ (whatever that means 🙂 in ministry, my response is ‘They chose their parents well!’ Freud said, ‘The child is psychological father to the adult….’ Building on Freud, Erik Erikson described eight stages of […]
A Pastor’s Termination
>From a church-leader friend in the U. S. : (May 2002) The voice on the other end said, “This is ___________. I’m sitting under a tree in a park near our home [many states away from Colorado} and you are my first call. I never thought I would have to call you with what I […]
Percentage Of Clergy Who Misbehave
Fr. Paul Stuart, the director of vocations for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, was quoted in today’s paper as saying.. “In the worst cases of pedophilia from the dioceses in the United States, we are seeing between 0.4 and 1.5 per cent of the clergy being exposed for any form of sexual misconduct over a […]
Case Study: Try Harder
Jake was the solo pastor of Grace Church. Although Jake did not have much use for the local ministerial association, he found himself attending its meetings most months. He felt the same kind of nagging obligation to attend that many of his parishioners likely felt on Sunday mornings. And there was, he had to admit, […]
Bullied & Abused Lives In Ministry
A Christian Support Group for Damaged Ministers International and Inter-Denominational Bullying and Burnout Stress is well recognised as being an increasing problem in the workplace today, and burnout is a word that most people will be familiar with. Although the reasons for workplace stress are many and complex, there is still little recognition of bullying […]
Helping Those Fallen And Are Hurt In Ministry
Dear Pastor Rowland, Recently I have a pastor friend who due to over-stressed in his ministry ended up molesting a church member. I believe he is not a sex maniac or have premeditated motive. When he confessed his sin, his Sr Pastor and denomination leader make no effort to restore and help him. The denomination […]
An Example Of Spiritual Abuse
Head of mission society to a single missionary returning home after five hard years on an Asian mission-field: ‘You realize you’re a failure don’t you?’ Twenty years later that piece of ‘encouragement’ still haunts her! Shalom! Rowland Croucher
Case-Study: Clergy Gambling Addict
Here’s a combination of three stories, with real names and places altered: Lionel is an Australian Anglican clergyman, forty-ish, who’s had several good ministries in rural parishes in a couple of Australian Anglican dioceses. The two main issues he brought on retreat: his thorny relationship with bishops, and his gambling problem. Lionel was brought up […]
Killer Church Fight
After a lawsuit, a knife attack, and a tragic death,what good could come from this fatal conflict? Mark Tabb “Brother Al, I need you to come down here.” Al Grounds recognized the voice of his long-time friend, Sheriff John Cooper, on the other end of the line. “There are some papers on my desk for […]
Why Pastors Leave Parishes
‘Is it still fun?’(1) For the majority of those who are no longer in parish ministry, whether by choice, or because their ministry was prematurely terminated, the answer to this question was ‘no’. One ex-pastor who had served in his denomination for nine years said, ‘I was sick and tired of having a joyless ministry’. […]
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