Leadership
Leaders Who Last
LEADERS WHO LAST (Margaret J. Marcuson, 2009). Here’s one of the best little (150 pages) books on pastoral leadership with an American mainline church /Alban Institute flavor to emerge in the last decade. They say every sermon/book should be summarizable in one sentence. Here’s mine for this one: ‘Your pastoral leadership style/conflicts can’t be understood […]
Counselling and Hope
‘It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!’ (motto of some Christian and other Counselling Centres). “‘Nothing is too hard for the Lord’ may be the most important statement in the Bible” (Walter Brueggemann). What do you make of all that?
The Community of the Forgiven
I love the idea of the church being a community of the forgiven. The truth which is bandied about – and which I used to see on bumper stickers – of Christians being ‘not perfect, just forgiven’ makes me cringe because it is so often seen as an excuse for our own hypocrisy. At the […]
The Church – Dysfunctional Family
A friend sent this quote from novelist Frederick Buechner. “The church often bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the dysfunctional family. There is the authoritarian presence of the Minister — the professional who knows all the answers and calls most of the shots — whom few ever challenge either because they don’t dare or because they […]
Seminaries and Sex
March 5th, 2010 Originally broadcast March 27, 2009 KIM LAWTON, anchor: A new report from the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality claims that most clergy in the United States are not adequately dealing with sex and gender issues in their congregations. The group says part of the problem lies with theological seminaries which are often […]
Where have all the Protestants gone?
So-called mainliners led the fight for social causes such as civil rights, equality for women and other key issues of the day. Now that American society has embraced such norms, liberal Protestant groups have become marginalized. Or have they? READ ON
Churches calculate their risks
How much of our time is [risk management] eating up? And how much time are we spending doing what God wants us to do? READ ON
A Text For Pastors/people-helpers
‘Crowds gathered to hear Jesus’ teaching and be healed, but he would go into the desert…’ (Luke 5:15-16). A key to understanding burnout-as-emotional-exhaustion – ‘overhelpfulness’ (sometimes so helpers can feel good…). What happens in deserts? Nothing. The best thing we can do for some people is leave them alone to help themselves… Evangelicals, note: for […]
Theology and Sermons
From a friend: ‘I think one reason to hold back a little on going full-throttle about [including biblical scholarship in preaching] (apart from boring people to sobs) is Fowler’s stages of faith development… it’s not always pastorally helpful to all the “stage 2 and 3” people in the congregation to ramble on about higher criticism. […]
Seekers Who Don’t Want to Go to Church
God Discussion: The Place for Seekers Who Don’t Want to Go to Church – news, opinions & reviews http://www.goddiscussion.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About this Site …. This site is about reason, something that the America of today is losing in the radical unreason of the lies mixed with tiny bits of truth inherent in the soundbytes of […]
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