Ten Fears of Church Leaders

I have not hidden my love for pastors and other church leaders. And I have said and written on many occasions that these church leaders often have a very difficult work. In fact, I recently told a large gathering of seminary students to consider very seriously their calling. No one should enter the ministry unless the calling is clear and secure.

As I converse and hear from church leaders across the country and beyond, I often hear of their challenges and fears. We all know that God has commanded us not to fear but, in our humanity and sinfulness, we do lapse into fear. I certainly did as a pastor, and I still succumb to that sin today.

So what are the most common fears of church leaders today? Here are ten I hear often, listed in my perceived order of frequency.

1. Fear of critics. Leading a church means the leader will have critics. Sometimes the criticisms become so frequent that it seems easier not to lead. For pastors and other church leaders, the steady inflow of negative comments becomes emotionally, spiritually, and physically draining.   Continue at Thom Rainer

Caring Enough to Wonder if What Just Happened, Happened

Mark Driscoll’s recent apology has provided for some thoughtful and edifying discussion.

And as we discuss, it’s best for us to remember a few things: We need to love and pray for him. We need to remember that we’re not omniscient. And we need to hope for the best and pray accordingly.

And in doing so, the church as the opportunity to grow from this. Questions are being raised. Ideas are being circulated. But there have been too many erroneous assertions and objections in the mix.

Here are a few categorically unhelpful ideas buzzing throughout evangelicalism regarding the Driscoll apology:

1. “Concern for the genuineness of one’s repentance is equivalent to a refusal to forgive.”

Continue at Eric Davis

10 Ways to Listen to Christian Leaders

If you’ve read my blogs here, you know I, like Dr. Rainer, am an introvert. I’m inclined toward aloneness, quiet, and listening. I listen a lot, actually—especially to people in positions of leadership. I’m convinced that if you want to learn about leaders, you should listen to their words.

1. Do they greet others? The best leaders I know say, “Good morning” and ask, “How are you?” They understand that relationships facilitate achieving a vision, but that’s not why they speak to others. They’re just kind people who know that others matter. They recognize the affirming power of a few words, for a few moments, to a few people. A leader who walks past others without greeting them is simply too self-absorbed.
2. Do they speak more about themselves or about others?  The focus of a leader’s words reveals the leaning of the leader’s heart. In the course of a day, do you hear about their activities, exploits, knowledge, and renown more than you hear about others? Good leaders point to others, knowing that their responsibility is to build an organization bigger than themselves. Their very words honor the teams that make their effectiveness possible.   Continue at Chuck Lawless

Seven Warning Signs of a Leader’s Fall

Simon Peter is one of my favorite Bible characters. He is so real . . . so human. He was the leader of the apostles, named first in the lists of the disciples in the New Testament. Still, though, he fell in a dramatic way (Luke 22:31-62).

The story of Peter’s fall is filled with warning signs for today’s leaders. Though these signs don’t always happen in a linear fashion, each one should cause us to slow down and evaluate our lives.

1. Being overconfident – Jesus told Peter the Enemy would sift him, but Peter strongly affirmed his commitment to go to prison or to death for Jesus. Surely Peter meant those words, as evidenced by his later willingness to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Within hours, though, he would deny knowing Jesus. Peter was overconfident and didn’t know it – and that’s the danger of overconfidence. Believing “it won’t happen to me” is a huge warning sign.
2. Suffering emotional and physical fatigue – The disciples were to watch and pray in the garden, but instead they slept. The emotional fatigue of mounting opposition to Jesus had taken a toll. Exhaustion increased their vulnerability to the Enemy’s arrows. Under the wearying strain of a leader’s responsibilities, we, too, sometimes let our guard down.  Carrying too many burdens and getting too little rest can lead to serious consequences.
3. Failing to pray – “Pray,” Jesus commanded the disciples in the garden. Even if they wanted to, still sleep came easier than prayer. The problem here is simple: prayerlessness reflects self-dependence rather than dependence on God. Anytime we’re not praying, we are susceptible to a fall. In fact, prayerlessness usually correlates to acting first and following God second – as Peter did when he first defended Jesus with a sword.
4. Growing distanced from Jesus – Peter followed Jesus after His arrest from a distance. That distance was obviously geographical, but his heart would quickly grow distant from Jesus, too. His actions soon to come would make that point. He who had stood with Jesus and said he would die for Him wouldn’t stand for Him when challenged. Our distance from Jesus may be marked more by less Bible reading and fewer prayers than public denials, but any distance can set us up for a fall.   Continue at Chuck Lawless

Questions for Our Pro-Abortion Friends, Church Leaders, and Politicians

What shall we call the unborn in the womb?

If the entity is a living thing, is it not a life? If your person began as a single cell, how can that fertilized egg be something other than a human being? Isn’t it more accurate to say you were an embryo than that you simply came from one? 

So when does a human being have a right to life?

Shall we say size matters? Is the unborn child too small to deserve our protection? Are big people more valuable than little people? Are men more human than woman? Do offensive linemen have more rights than jockeys? Is the life in the womb of no account because you can’t hold him in our arms, or put him in your hands, or only see her on a screen?

Shall we make intellectual development and mental capacity the measure of our worth? Are three year-old children less valuable than thirteen year-olds? Is the unborn child less than fully human because he cannot speak or count or be self-aware? Does the cooing infant in the crib have to smile or shake your hand or recite the alphabet before she deserves another day? If an expression of basic mental acuity is necessary to be a full-fledged member of the human community, what shall do with the comatose, the very old, or the fifty year-old mom with Alzheimer’s? And what about all of us who sleep?

Shall we deny the unborn child’s right to life because of where he lives? Can environment give us value or take it away? Are we worth less inside than outside? Can we be justly killed when we swim under water? Does where we are determine who we are? Does the eight inch journey down the birth canal make us human? Does this change of scenery turn “its” into persons? Is love a condition of location?  Continue at Kevin DeYoung

A Question of Character

One of the great lacunae in many of the current debates surrounding ministry in the contemporary world is the issue of character.  In the world of confessional Presbyterianism, our focus is generally on elaborate theological integrity and intellectual accomplishments, reflecting the ideal of an educated ministry.   We tend on the whole to take character on trust, based on a few written references provided at time of licensure and ordination.   My observations of the YRR world is that intellectual accomplishments are less significant (read: adherence to three or more of the five points of Calvinism is sufficient to qualify) compared to numbers of converts or what one might call 'contextual skills' which I find difficult to describe without sounding as if I am being pejorative.   Yet in both cases, character is arguably a much neglected category.

It was very different for earlier generations.   In the early nineteenth century, Princeton Theological Seminary professor, Samuel Miller, wrote a book entitled Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits: Addressed to a Student in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J.  The book is a fascinating, and frequently hilarious, description of behaviour which Miller found to be appropriate in a minister.  Some of the prohibitions now sound simply quaint: ministers should not, for example, spit on floors.  Still unacceptable today, one hopes, but not a major problem in the ministerial circles I mix in.  Nor should they engage in 'loud or boisterous laughter' (according to Miller, 'a mark of ill-breeding'), cough into a handkerchief and inspect the residue, or pare their nails in company.  Continue at Carl Trueman

A Question of Character Part 2

Obey Your Pastors and Submit to Them

Few passages are more commonly misread, or simply avoided, than Hebrew 13:17:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.

It shouldn’t surprise us that this passage often goes avoided. This is bound to happen in a culture where postmodernism rejects all claims of authority and where examples of abuses of authority are not hard to find in the news.

To make matters worse, a surface reading of this passage seems to sanction some form of authoritarianism, an unqualified obedience and submission to pastors in all matters. But that’s not the message of this passage, as we will see.

What follows are a few important thoughts on this passage, beginning with a closer look at the idea of “obeying.”

Here is how W. E. Vine defines the Greek word “obey” (πείθο):

In Hebrews 13:17, believers are commanded to obey their leaders. The word used is peithō which has the usual meaning of “convince” or “persuade.” The “obedience” suggested is not by submission to authority, but resulting from persuasion. Peithō and pisteuō, “to trust,” are closely related etymologically; the difference in meaning is that the former implies the obedience that is produced by the latter.

Peithō, “to persuade, to win over,” in the passive and middle voices, “to be persuaded, to listen to, to obey,” is so used with this meaning, in the middle voice, e.g., in Acts 5:36-37 (in v. 40, passive voice, “they agreed”); Rom. 2:8; Gal. 5:7; Heb. 13:17; Jas. 3:3.  Continue at Obey Your Pastors

Cripplegate - A Guide to Our Series

The blogging medium is perfect for making a polemic point without the constraints of the format of a journal article and without the length of a book. But the downside is that a step-by-step argument spread over several days can lose its momentum and seem sort of piecemeal. Plus there is simply the practical issue: where do you find the links to the entire series?

The Cripplegate has run a few such series, so I thought it would be helpful to give all the links in one spot.

Eric Davis, who pastors a church that he planted in Jackson Hole, WY, did a series on common mistakes church planters make:

1. An introduction and an overview of the series: Cautions for church planters.

2. A warning about the idolotry of “mission”: Church planters and missionolatry.

3. A warning about church planters willing to do whatever it takes to grow: Church-planting and pragmatism.

4. A warning about losing sight of the importance of the Sunday morning sermon: Church-planting and pulpit priority.

5. A warning about seeing church planting as the end for which God created the world: Church-planting and idolatry.

Josh Thiessen did a series on training the next generation of church leaders:

1. An introduction to the series: The next generation.

2. The art of informal discipleship: Part 1.

3. Formal discipleship: Part 2.

4. Elder training: Part 3.

Read the rest HERE

Partnership or Compromise?

As discussed in last year’s MB Herald, it looks like some influential Canadian Mennonites have decided to go ahead and partner together to educate the next generation of church leaders…

WCMS is an inter-Mennonite partnership that facilitates the offering of graduate and professional theological education in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The primary role of WCMS is to link the church constituency with the resources of various Mennonite educational institutions. At this time, students can gain graduate theological education by seeking admission to the MA Theological Studies offered by the Canadian Mennonite University or the Certificate of Christian Ministry offered through Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (MBBS) of Fresno, CA or Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) of Elkhart, Indiana. WCMS can also facilitate academic advising and coaching for those who train for vocational ministry. WCMS seeks to provide continued professional education for pastors and pastoral candidates through pastoral round tables, workshops and other special events.
[www.cmu.ca]

The WCMS centre, located on the Canadian Mennonite University campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is supported by the following Mennonite organizations:  Keep Reading >>>

Thinking through the Tension of Congregational and Elder Authority

I have long appreciated the ministry of 9Marks. They have consistently provided extremely helpful resources for the local church. In a recent article they demonstrated another commendable quality: they talk about tough issues.

The title of the article: How Congregations with Authority Submit to Elders tells us something of where this is headed. You have a situation where the church is led by the elders while the congregation serves as “the final court of appeal.”

The author, Bobby Jamieson, asks two helpful questions:

If the congregation as a whole is the final court of appeal, what does it mean for a church to submit to its leaders?

and

Do you see the dilemma? If the Bible located church authority exclusively in the elders, the idea of submission would be simple: the elders would make the decisions, and the congregation would submit to those decisions. But what does it mean for a congregation to submit to its elders when the congregation itself holds final authority?   Keep Reading>>>

Balancing Three Elements of Church Leadership