Leadership
Letter From An Ex-Nun
Another case study/testimony, this time from an ex-nun. Dear ‘net friends, Hi, I’m Mary Jane (not really – that’s my pen name), alias Sister Mary Jane, ex-member of a religious congegation. I’ve been on ‘the outside’ for 14 years and have been re-contructing my life. I can now say I’m more contented than I’ve ever […]
Baptists
(The following is an edited abridgment of a 32-page booklet by Rowland Croucher, ‘Baptist Church Membership’, available from the Australian Baptist Publishing House, Sydney). Baptists begin a discussion about themselves by trying to understand the ‘Good News’, the ‘gospel’. In essence, Paul says (Philippians 2:10-11), the ‘Good News’ is that ‘JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!’ That’s […]
Towards A Spirituality For Ministry
The bishop of Belley, Jean Pierre Camus, wanted to know if Francis de Sales was really as holy as he seemed to be. So he drilled a hole in the wall of his bedroom in the episcopal residence to spy on him. What did Camus discover? Only that Francis was the same in secret as […]
What Pastors’ Wives Wish Their Husbands And Churches Knew About Them
Research about pastors’ wives conveys both good news and bad news. First, the bad news. Roy Oswald of the respected Alban Institute, Washington D.C., says stress and burnout among clergy wives is as high as for pastors – and that’s high! As resident ‘holy woman’ she’s a walking target for everyone’s unconscious expectations of what […]
Sexual/Spiritual Abuse: A Case Study
This ‘believe it or not’ true story, is to be posted to our list as a case-study for clergy/church leaders. (‘Jane’ is not her real name, and to preserve her anonymity a few details of her life have been changed. But it’s a true story). Jane, one of my clients, came for a ‘This is […]
There’s More To Life Than Work
[Some notes from pastors’ and leaders’ conferences in Melbourne, led by psycho-physiologist Dr. Archibald Hart, Dean of the Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary]. Work and Family. Our primary calling is not to serve people or meet their demands but to be available to God: to know him and worship him. So we must […]
Buildings, Church
The Protestant predominance of ‘ear’ over ‘eye’ has created great music and poetry, but not great architecture. (Paul Tillich) You’ve heard the story of a coastline where there were many shipwrecks. Some locals formed a rescue mission, bought a boat, and got trained to save shipwrecked people. They did it very well for a while, […]
Charismatic Renewal
Here’s an article on an important modern movement within Christianity I wrote about ten years ago. What has changed? Charismatic renewal is not going way. According to David Barrett, editor of World Christian Encyclopedia pentecostals and charismatics numbered an estimated 100 million worldwide in 1980. He says that number jumped to about 150 million by […]
Spiritual Adultery
In my work as a counselor-of-clergy, one of the most baffling questions is: why do so many clergy and people-helpers commit adultery? I’m writing a major paper on this issue, which will be posted in due course: together with another article on ‘Sex and Singles’… Where do we start? Here’s one place: the need of […]
Letter To An Ex-Pastor
From our clergy/leaders’ mail-list. Join us for more… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Australian Baptist pastor emailed me saying he’d just resigned, and didn’t know where he and his family were going from here. Here is a note I wrote him. Perhaps you could pass it on to an ex-pastor you know… Dear pastor/friend-in-transition, Thanks for your email. […]
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