Articles for tag: Church: Preacher and Congregation

January 28, 2017

Christian Standard

Beauty in the Battle

By Larry W. Timm When the sun rose on Thursday, October 29, 2015, my family hummed with anticipation over our quickly approaching family vacation to Florida. After the sun set that cold night, we were stunned and afraid and gathered together in a hospital room in Illinois. The terrifying journey from happiness to horror started that morning when my wife took our 14-year-old daughter, Jayne, to see a pediatrician. After struggling through a lingering cold, Jayne had noticed a lump on her neck; if she needed antibiotics, we wanted to get the prescription before beginning our trip. Her appointment led

January 14, 2016

Michael C. Mack

10 Things You Can Do for Your Senior Minister This Week

By Michael C. Mack 1. Pray for him daily. 2. Encourage him with notes, tweets, or in person (but not right before the service begins). 3. Help him focus on sermon prep by limiting interruptions during the week or giving him announcements shortly before he preaches. 4. Take on pastoral care responsibilities. A class or group should be the front line of pastoral care. 5. Be a minister. You are part of the priesthood of all believers, a minister of reconciliation, an important part of the body of Christ. 6. Treat him as a person and as an individual. Remember

November 11, 2015

Christian Standard

The Secret-Driven Life

By Jim Tune (This column was first posted November 5, 2014.) To be real is to risk. I know many preachers who feel a deep reluctance (often well-founded) to reveal who they really are to those they lead. Henri Nouwen suggests that pastors are the least confessing people in the church. The expectations demanded of pastors in our Western culture are often unattainable, unsustainable, and soul-withering. I admit that I have sometimes allowed my own fear of vulnerability to push me into hiding. The trouble with life in the shadows is the double life it promotes in the shadow dweller.

January 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Faithful and True

By Mark R. Laaser If you were Satan and wanted to bring down the church””all churches and all denominations””what would you do? Attack leadership, of course. Thanks to the Internet, Satan now has that technology, and he is using it. I call addiction to Internet pornography among pastors the tsunami that is threatening to engulf the church. I am an ordained pastor who struggled with sexual addiction, and by the grace of God, found freedom in March 1987 when I went to an inpatient treatment program. Thanks to the intervention of the Holy Spirit and the best clinical resources available at

November 3, 2014

Christian Standard

Are We Encouraging, or Discouraging Them?

By Larry Monroe How we respond to an applicant for our job can help or hinder his or her future in Christian service. Nowhere is this more important than with how we handle résumés and written job applications. It happens all too often””a résumé is sent in response to a posted position at a church or parachurch organization. The candidate eagerly awaits a reply, wondering what may lie in store for him in some exciting new ministry opportunity. The candidate waits, and waits, and waits. Soon he sends a follow-up note, and then he waits some more.  Too often no

April 25, 2014

Christian Standard

Ministry Confidential

By Eddie Lowen “Can I speak to you, confidentially?” A church leader is asked some form of this question at least several times a year. Normally it comes from within the church, but it can also be voiced by nonattendees. For relationally gifted leaders with a pastoral bent, requests for confidential conversations are more frequent. The most important response to a request for confidentiality is the initial one. Many church leaders feel an ethical or pastoral obligation to grant the request without qualification. With no clue about what will be reported or confessed, many church leaders indiscriminately reply by saying,

August 6, 2012

Christian Standard

10 Ways to Encourage Your Minister

By Victor M. Parachin   So this is the pastorate? Is this the ministry? To be misunderstood, unappreciated, alone, and misquoted with no hope of correction? This is a painful, lonely business. That lament was a journal entry made by pastor David Fisher shortly after he began ministry. Fortunately, Fisher, author of The 21st Century Pastor, weathered that difficult time. Other ministers, however, are not as fortunate. Recent polls reveal high-level dissatisfaction and discouragement among those in the ministry: “¢ 1,700 ministers leave ministry every month, an annual exodus of more than 20,000 “¢ 50 percent of ministers quit within five years of

July 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Confronting Burnout in the Ministry (Part 1)

By Daniel Sherman “I”m exhausted! I don”t think I can endure one more day.” You might be surprised at how many ministers feel this way. If you are a minister and you are worn-out, you are not alone. Church leaders need to be a constant source of support and encouragement for a minister so he doesn”t become a member of the “former ministers” group. But we need to be careful not to equate exhaustion with burnout. Exhaustion may be a symptom of burnout, but it isn”t burnout. Burnout is a gradual process of loss during which the mismatch between the needs of

March 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Love “em into the Lord”s Work!

By Steve Reeves In my opinion, a young preacher”s first ministry experience lays the groundwork for either a long, healthy ministry career or a short-lived series of job hops that leaves churches and families in a serious state of dysfunction. I”ve heard that the average tenure of a minister is three to four years. It was seven years only a decade ago. What seems to be the problem? While I”m sure there are immature “church-hopping” ministers, I guess there are at least as many “minister-chasing” churches. Most young ministers have school-age children, and I doubt many of them want to

February 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Our Journey with Grace

By Pam Parmenter Two and one-half years ago, on our Monday-morning walk together, my husband confessed to me that he had lied to the elders of our church. Later that day, he confessed to the elders. On the next Sunday evening, he lost his job. He came home with tears in his eyes and said, “Honey, I”m so sorry. I lost my job.” I took his face in my hands and said, “Yes, but look at you. You”re clean.” In that moment, I believe God let me glimpse what he sees when we confess and repent of our sins, because

February 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Works Without Grace Are Dead

By Todd Parmenter As the economy faltered and recession began in 2008, offerings began to shrink at the church I served. Some members lost jobs, some others relocated because their jobs moved, physical needs of people in the congregation increased, and a general malaise of uncertainty hung in the air. We cut expenses wherever possible, including some painful staff layoffs. We tightened our belts and ramped up efforts to teach the congregation good financial skills. But still we struggled to pay all the bills, and eventually we couldn”t. In September 2008, the church couldn”t pay both the mortgage and the payroll

February 13, 2012

Christian Standard

What We Learned

By Brad Neal I remember feeling the anguish surface again. The pain of dealing with a fractured ministry, and the resulting fallout, all came rushing back when it came time for public restoration. Was this the right course? Would members trust us? The easy path would have been just to leave it in the past.   Take sin seriously. The restoration process takes time. In our case, two years. It takes time for the seed of repentance to bear the fruit of a changed life. It also takes time for those who are hurt to be ready to trust again

February 12, 2012

Christian Standard

Celebrating the Restoration of a Broken-World Brother

By Don Green About two years ago one of the ministers of the church I attend was asked to resign following a confessed sin and an acknowledged act of deception. Within days of his confession and resignation, he initiated conversations with some of his ministry friends that ultimately led to the creation of a restoration team. The minister was Todd Parmenter who served with Lincoln (Illinois) Christian Church. I was privileged to serve on this restoration team. We served together for 20 months in one of the most rewarding experiences in my more than 40 years of ministry.   Resources

November 18, 2011

Christian Standard

Advice for New Ministers and Their Churches

By Mark W. Hamilton Too often neither new ministers nor the churches they serve understand all the ways to help make their first year successful. Every year here at Abilene (Texas) Christian University, men and women receive degrees in theology and head off to their first work in a congregation. They pack a U-Haul, say goodbye to friends, eat their last West Texas barbecue and jalapeño cornbread, and embark. They are soon hip-deep in teenage angst, finding replacement teachers, or visiting the sick. They will try to remember what we have taught them about Scripture and systematic theology and church

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