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Leadership

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‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

Church Growth and Pastoral Stress

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

CHURCH GROWTH AND PASTORAL STRESS What has church growth thinking and practice got to do with the clergy’s ‘not being a happy lot’? I believe there are at least four ‘presenting problems’: (1) ‘Numerolatry’ I have yet to meet the healthy pastor who is not gratified by an increase in his or her congregation, nor […]

In search of pastoral excellence

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

The following is the Appendix from my book ‘Your Church Can Come Alive’ – 34 marks of a healthy church. Available for $12 plus a couple of dollars etc. for postage, (Please contact me by email: simply click on the ‘Contact Us’ button top right on your screen for details). There are also two videos […]

Ideas About Church

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

I’m willing to pay for a good idea. At a Carl George conference in Melbourne on HOW TO BE A CHURCH CONSULTANT I jotted down the following. They’re not all good ideas yet (some are more appropriate to the American than the Australian scene) but there may be something you find yourself mulling over: TWO […]

How many Australians go to Church?

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

How many go to church each week in Australia?Following the estimates/guestimates by several of us recently, I checked with about the best source for up-to-date info on questions like this – Rev. Dr. Philip Hughes, of the Christian Research Association. His summary: 1. When we *ask* in our research how often someone goes to church, […]

Ambition, Excellence & Success

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

Modern notions of ambition, excellence, and success are very slippery indeed. They assume you’re ‘more OK’ if you ‘get to the top’ than those not-so-OK who don’t. ‘Ambition’ comes from the Latin ‘ambire’ = to go around (canvassing for votes). It’s what politicians do. It’s the massaging of one’s ego by power or adulation. It’s […]

Do I Have to Join a Church?

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

Do I Have To Join a Church? This question is asked more by young people than those who are older. And it’s a good question. These paras are excerpted from my book  GROW! Meditations and Prayers for New Christians  (JBCE) Shalom! Rowland Croucher ~~~ Can you be a good Christian outside the Church? That’s like asking ‘Can […]

Do I Have To Join a Church? [2/2]

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

Do I Have To Join a Church? [2/2] And now some quotes from some interesting authors on the subject: Shalom! Rowland Croucher (http://jmm.aaa.net.au) ‘If you have God and everything else, you have no more than having God only; everything else without God equals nothing’ (A medieval mystic) God has ordained three institutions for the ordering […]

True Community

By and others ⋅ May 23, 2002 ⋅ Post a comment

TRUE COMMUNITY True community is born from ‘love that risks the sorrow of rejection for the love of acceptance. Community implies participation; participation implies action.’ True community means walking in the light, being open, and perhaps vulnerable with one another. Perfect love casts out fear. The root of war, Thomas Merton has taught us, is […]

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