One key to ministry longevity is pursuing personal holiness. There is no way around it. Holiness is foundational to the pastoral calling and must never be compromised or short-circuited.
Church Life
Mental Health Awareness Month is a good reminder that you, pastor, need to advocate for your mental health in a community that will be supportive as well. By doing so, you can model and lead your congregation in caring for those with mental health needs through service that honors Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ gives us a clear path to conflict resolution in Matthew 18:15-35. In these scriptures, our Lord lays down the steps His church should follow to resolve whatever conflicts it experiences, from interpersonal disputes to heretical teachings.
Every pastor should aim to find avenues of personal connection, including texting, calling, emailing, and home visits. Here are 6 tips to enhance pastoral visitation.
God made us in His image, but we are not the substance of God. Therefore, anyone who spends all life fixed on the self will not last. With eyes fixed on Christ and hearts full of love for him, may we recover the lost art of denying the self for the sake of others.
If you have been at a church for seven years or more, the rest, refreshment, and reset that a sabbatical can provide may be missing in your ministry plan for longevity and personal and relational health.
Developing a sound mind and self-image is crucial to mental and spiritual health. As God-appointed shepherds, pastors should care for people’s spiritual and mental health. This, in turn, will be vital in assisting believers in discovering their life’s meaning in accordance with their objective, unchanging, and eternally secure identity in Christ.
How should you respond to difficult people who return to your church? Here are four biblical principles that should shape your response.
In the American church context, we sometimes put pastors on pedestals, creating a ministry culture in which the pastor is the center of attention. The result is that the pastor forgets he also needs the same nourishment as those under his care. I want to share some thoughts on preventing a culture of pastoral idolatry …
Many valuable tools come with warning labels, such as “Handle with Care,” to highlight the dangers of misuse. As you plan your next short-term missions trip, consider these eight dangers and the tips we offer to minimize their impact on your trip.
Jesus wants to free us from excessive self-scrutiny, from false accusations that hover over us and haunt our fragile, tender hearts. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Do what you can and leave it with him.
Dealing with other people’s expectations can be complicated, especially for a pastor or ministry leader’s wife. It’s important to consider how we handle the expectations of the people we serve.
This article is part 7 in a series about pastors and their practice of the personal spiritual disciplines. While the practice of family worship involves at least one other person, it usually relies primarily on the discipline of one individual for it to happen. Pastor, in your home, this would be you.
Christians often overlook that Isaiah 53 describes the death of the Messiah and his return to life! Isaiah 53:10 affirms, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him, he has put him to grief.” Could anyone write a clearer presentation of the Gospel than this? And to think that it was written …
We are coming up to Easter, undoubtedly one of the busiest weeks of the year for a pastor. How are you to manage your duties so that your family, especially your kids, don’t get church fatigue or, even worse, church resentment?
The day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday offers powerful spiritual lessons for believers. When disaster strikes and our hopes are dashed, we must be patient and wait for God because He can bring good out of evil in his own good timing.
Two millennia of Christian believers have championed the great prophecy of Isaiah 53. They see it rightly as portraying the death of the Messiah. But this marvelous chapter also contains something that even Christians often overlook.
Golgotha was an ugly place, and Jesus was crucified between two ugly criminals. I remind the reader of the contrast between Jesus’ transfiguration and his crucifixion. That foretaste of His glory stood in stark contrast to the portrait of His suffering on Golgotha.
The Gospels say Jesus and the 11 left the room of the Last Supper and went across the Kidron to a place called “Gethsemane.” We must not lose sight that Jesus’ suffering, which was not limited to his later beatings and pain on the cross, began here in Gethsemane, under some lovely olive trees.
For Christians, it is a time to celebrate what some believe is the most important holiday of the year, Easter. During your busy preparations, take a few minutes to read this list of three things a pastor’s wife should remember during the Easter season.
