Church Leadership
The End of Youth Ministry? Why Parents Don’t Really Care about Youth Groups and What Youth Workers Should Do about It by Andrew Root Baker Academic, 2020 240 pages (paperback), $22.99 Andrew Root, a leading voice in the academic study of youth ministry, has published a timely book for many struggling youth workers. While this […]
He was just a young man when he started preaching, and newspapers soon called him the marvel of our age. Over the course of his life, he preached more than 18,000 times. His sermons were dramatic: he cried, he danced, he even screamed to make his points. The largest churches could not hold the crowds […]
The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart by Harold L. Senkbeil Lexham Press, 2019 290 pages (hardback), $21.99 After nearly three and a half decades of parish ministry and two dozen more teaching and as the executive director for spiritual care for DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel, Harold Senkbeil, trusted […]
As a pastor, I get all kinds of advice. There’s always someone, somewhere, who thinks it’s their job to tell me how to do mine. (I sometimes wonder if lawyers or doctors get the same kind of “help.” I know football referees do!) Over the past week, I’ve been told via e-mail, magazine columns, blog […]
“The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry” by R. Kent Hughes and Douglas Sean O’Donnell
From counseling parishioners and visiting the sick to leading worship services and preaching sermons, pastors must become specialists in a variety of ministry duties. While seminaries can help with some of the training necessary to prepare these pastors, there’s only so much they can do. What then can a young pastor do to learn some […]
James Eglinton, the Meldrum Lecturer of Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh, has given the church a much-needed translation of Herman Bavinck’s thoughts on preaching and of his only published sermon, “The World-Conquering Power of Faith.” Eglinton, whose dissertation, Trinity and Organism (T&T Clark, 2012), reinvigorated Bavinck studies, opens the door in this volume […]
If you've ever felt like the pastor of your church didn't really understand what it was like to be just a "regular Joe" with a family, a job, and responsibilities that were more pressing than his insistence that you live a radical life for Jesus, then you need to read this interview with Matt Redmond. […]
In his noteworthy book Hipster Christianity, Brett McCracken describes the modern faddish approach to the Christian faith as being "more concerned with its image and presentation and ancillary appeal" than with real substance. "It assumes that mere Christianity isn't enough or isn't as important as how Christianity looks and is perceived by the outside world." […]
In this issue we consider pastoral ministry in relation to the evangelical quest for "The Next Big Thing." Inevitably, that thing’whatever it turns out to be’is based on youth culture and the modern fascination with celebrity. According to our opening interview with Professor Thomas Bergler, it may be that the evangelical church itself created the […]
Evangelicals are paying more attention to the church now than they did in the twentieth century. Much of this comes as more and more Christians tire of pragmatism and historically unprecedented "seeker" strategies in the church. It is a sign of health that a number of books now line Christian bookstores on the doctrine of […]
If there is one thing that marks out this present age it is the quest for The Next Big Thing. One can see it all around in the wider culture: there is a whole genre of TV programs dedicated to finding the next pop star; companies like Apple make their money by constantly reinventing the […]
I love what Charles Spurgeon said about John Calvin. He very sincerely agreed with his theology but he wouldn't follow the man himself. He believed Calvin pointed people to the gospel of Jesus Christ, so he grew from his teaching and preached the doctrines of grace to his church, but he didn't desire to be […]
September 2003 marked a turning point in the development of Western civilization. It was the month that Adbusters magazine started accepting orders for the Black Spot Sneaker, its own signature brand of ‘subversive’ running shoes. After that day, no rational person could possibly believe that there is a tension between ‘mainstream’ and ‘alternative’ culture. After […]
Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, London, was once a bustling public space for soapbox speeches. Today, there are rarely more than fifteen or twenty people gathered in that corner of the park at any one time, mostly cranks and unsuspecting tourists. Television and Internet have changed the public square tradition as every city's "Speaker's Corner" […]
Pastor as Ultimate Need-Meeter:The pastor is a sensitive therapist/social worker, understanding the congregation's needs and meeting these needs in extraordinary ways. Even the best versions of this model need to beware: only Christ is truly heroic and able to do for people what they really need done. Pastor as Entrepreneur: The church exists to support […]
