Tag: Pastoral Ministry

Ministry Monday

On By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Here are some challenging posts that I’ve been saving by Paul Tripp.   Though written for pastors, they would be helpful for anyone.  I’ve included excerpts; follow each link for the whole post.

Lost the Awe
I am convinced that many of us live and do ministry day after day without any awe whatsoever. We live days, maybe even weeks, without wonder and amazement even in gospel ministry. What should stun us doesn’t stun us any more. What should leave us in silent, amazed worship has become so familiar it barely gets our attention in clutter of all the other things in ministry that command our attention. We walk through our daily ministries without an overwhelming sense of gratitude. We don’t notice the glory displayed all around us that points us to the one glory that is truly glorious: the glory of God.

If You Think You’ve Arrived
If you think you have arrived, you prepare material from above for people who sadly still need what you no longer need. Are you desperately hungry for the truths that you regularly prepare to expound to others?

If You Still Think You’ve Arrived
Communion with Christ is fueled by humility. Communion with Christ is fueled by sadness and celebration. Communion with Christ is propelled by an accurate sense of who you are, what you need, and a celebration of the One who gives it. Awareness of sin and the promise of salvation daily drives you to Christ, not to rush through a passage in his Word and say a quick prayer, but to sit at his feet and grieve your sin and give praise for the grace that meets you in it. Assessments of arrival crush personal worship.

No Pastor Is Greater Than His Master
As you consider these diagnostic questions, remember the grace that frees you to look at yourself and your ministry with humility and honesty.

  • Where in your ministry is there evidence of self-glory?
  • Where are you more dominant than you should be?
  • Where do you fail to listen when you should?
  • Where do you attempt to control things that you do not need to control?
  • Where do you find it hard to delegate ministry to others?
  • Where are you tempted to speak more than you should?
  • Where do you fail to recognize and esteem the gifts of others?
  • Where are you unwilling to examine your weaknesses and to admit you failures?
  • Where are you tempted to think of yourself as more essential than you actually are?
  • Where do you care too much about people’s respect, esteem, and appreciation?
  • Where to you find it easier to confront than to receive confrontation?
  • Where are you less than thankful for the ministry partners whom God has connected you to?
  • Where are you too confident of your own strength and wisdom?

Ministry Moments

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Here are two good posts on the fulfilling the Great Commission, plus two posts on leading funerals:

5 Ways Established Churches Should Think Like Plants – Brandon Levering (via The Gospel Coalition)  An experienced friend once commented that planting a church is like trying to build a boat from scratch . . . when you’re already in the water. It’s not just all hands on deck—you don’t even have the deck yet to lay hands on. The context of urgency and camaraderie that comes from working so closely together at those early stages often creates a more pervasive culture of service in a church plant.

The Great Commission Is Bigger Than Your Church – Bobby Jamieson (via 9 Marks)
Because each of our churches is engaged in a mission that is bigger than any of them, we should proactively partner with other churches in order to fulfill it.

7 Tips for Preaching a Stranger’s Funeral – Dustin Neeley (via The Gospel Coalition)
Since I am doing ministry in a fallen world, this won’t be my last funeral. It won’t be yours, either, so stay prepared. Your next call could come this afternoon.  Are you ready?

How To Lead an Unbeliever’s Funeral – Jared Wilson (via The Gospel Coalition)
No one has ever asked me, “Is my loved one in heaven?” because they all assume he or she is. In these moments I remind myself that I am an invited guest to this family’s mourning. It is better to speak my piece about the true gospel and rely on the Spirit to work the logic internally against mourners’ assumptions than to directly and personally contradict with a “Well, actually” to people who are sorting out their grief and trying to offer comfort.

Ministry Moments

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Here are some good posts for pastors:

It’s A Strange Thing Being A Pastor – Julian Freeman
Ultimately we labour and long for results that we can never achieve. Being a pastor is a lifelong journey to a place of utter dependence.  This is strange work, being a pastor. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

7 Ways I Want To Improve As A Pastor – Ron Edmondson
Pray more fervently – I believe in prayer. I want to be a person of prayer.

People Want A Pastor – Interview by Colllin Hansen
What are the costs of bigger and better church programs for every stage of life? What is the pastor’s role in relation to the members?

3 Reflections on Leading Your Family Well – Dustin Neeley
At our house, we call them “Monday Funday.” It is the day we play outside, eat Chinese food at a mall, and don’t talk about the church. Our church knows about “Monday Funday” because I mention it in sermons, tweet about it, schedule around it, and unless someone is bleeding out in their kitchen, I do my best not to violate it.

Ministry Moments

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Here are some good posts for the pastor’s personal life:

6 Traits of a Pastor in Awe of God – Paul Tripp (via The Gospel Coalition)
What traits does the awe of God produce in the heart of a pastor that are vital for an effective, God-honoring, and productive ministry? Here is a list of six.

Why Church Leaders Should Always Be Full To Overflowing – Trevin Wax
You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food. – Charles Spurgeon

How To Pull Out of the Burnout Spiral – Interview with Bob Osborne (via The Gospel Coalition)  When I find myself heading for burnout, more often than not I’ve lost the rhythms of rest and repentance and start to chase my idols. I take my sights off of Christ and become self-focused – simply put, I try to take God’s place on the throne.

The labour of the Christian ministry is well performed in exact proportion
to the vigour of our renewed nature.
– Charles Spurgeon

Ministry Moments

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Here are some good posts on preaching:

Sermon Prep: A Week In One Life – Stephen Um (via The Gospel Coalition)
A glimpse of what my weekly approach looks like, followed by some suggestions for continual growth in our preaching.

Expressing Beautiful Truth In One’s Preaching – Trevin Wax
Too often we preachers spend all our time making sure we’ve understood the meaning of the text and can communicate it faithfully. Precious little time is spent thinking about how we can communicate that meaning beautifully.

A Word To Those Who Preach The Word – R. Kent Hughes (via Tim Challies)
There is nothing quite like it—the Holy Spirit filling one’s sails, the sense of his pleasure, and the awareness that something is happening among one’s hearers.

Do You Expect A Response To The Preaching of the Gospel? – Roland Allen (via Justin Taylor)
To preach the Gospel requires that the preacher should believe that he is sent to those whom he is addressing at the moment, because God has among them those whom He is at the moment calling: it requires that the speaker should expect a response.

Ministry Moments

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Here are some good posts for a pastor’s personal life:

Why Church Leaders Should Always Be Full To Overflowing – Trevin Wax
Too many of us settle for the “teaching” aspect of ministry without having passed through the “study” and “obey” parts.

Lost the Awe – Paul Tripp (via Gospel Coalition)
Sins robs that sense of divine wonder meant to shape every person’s life and every pastor’s ministry.

How To Pull Out of the Burnout Spiral – Collin Hansen interviewing Bob Osborne (via Gospel Coalition)
When I find myself heading for burnout, more often than not I’ve lost the rhythms of rest and repentance and start to chase my idols. I take my sights off of Christ and become self-focused—simply put, I try to take God’s place on the throne.

In an effort to get the work of the Lord done,
we often lose contact with the Lord of the work.
— A.W. Tozer

Ministry Moments

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Here are some encouraging posts for pastors of smaller churches:

The Kingdom of God in the Middle of Nowhere – Trevin Wax

Thank God for Smaller Churches and Their Leaders – Thom Rainer

Rural Ministry Is Not Second Rate – Jared Wilson

I’d love for more young guys to nail Starbucks and the corner pub and shopping malls and public transportation to the cross and go plant and pastor where you’re more likely to hear a cow moo than a car honk. Country folk are real folk.
And they need the gospel too.
– Jared Wilson

Ministry Moments

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Here are some helpful posts on preaching:

The Greatest Preachers – Wayne Gruden (via Jared Wilson)
According to Grudem’s definition, we can all be great preachers! Indeed we must be.

Preaching Texts You Do Not Understand – Carl Trueman (via Reformation 21)
We’ve all been there. Here are some helpful thoughts.

Pastors, What You Preach Is Already Decided – Charles Spurgeon (via Desiring God)
We can’t make it up out of our own heads.

The Most Transformational Word – Paul Tripp (via Gospel Coalition)
We must preach grace to ourselves.

Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ministry Moments

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Here are some helpful posts for pastors related to prayer:

Tim Kerr has a series of posts on interceding for our congregations – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Michael McKinley suggest 8 ways to pray during our sermon preparation. I made a copy to use as I work on my own sermons.

Finally, Michael McKinley also gives six helpful ways to help people pray.

A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, and the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.
– John Owen

Ministry Moments

On By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Today, I am starting a new weekly feature.  My plan is to feature some good posts on pastoral ministry each Monday.  It will be similar to Passion Points, except the posts included in Ministry Moments will be primarily for pastors.  I was playing around with a second blog for pastors, but I really don’t have time to write two blogs, so I’m just going to include a pastoral ministry category in this one.  I suspect most of the readers of this blog are not pastors, and if that is you, you can just slide past this one each week.  For the pastors, here are some good posts to consider:

On Constantly Taking Your Church’s Temperature – Jared Wilson
That voice in your head that keeps rehearsing the disappointments and flaws of your church is not from the Lord.

Christian Leader, Are You Forgetting Something – Sam Crabtree
God is not given the praise he deserves when we ignore or deny the work he is doing in people.

The Subtle Art of Sabotaging a Pastor – Jared Wilson
How the devil might (and often does) tempt a pastor….

Spiritual leadership is knowing where God wants people to be
and taking the initiative to use God’s methods to get them there
in reliance on God’s power.
– John Piper