The Pastoral Refreshment Conference is just a couple of months away and I am getting excited about it. For anyone who hasn't come across the conference it is a unique thing. It's not about leadership skill or theology, it's about the soul care for leaders and spouses. Main speaker Andrew Page is the person whose ministry I would most have liked to have been under myself. After 20 years leading Innsbruck Baptist Church he isn't so well known in the UK but is one of the best Bible teachers in Europe. He is speaking on joy, struggles and growth in discipleship in leadership.
Read moreOvercoming the Odds
what if most of a congregation have plateaued? Or enough that they tip the balance of power in a church to mean that leaders are always frustrated when they try to bring initiatives that would get them moving again. That's a bad Catch 22 – you want to help people move on, but the very ones you want to help will always resist because the things that would help them will also challenge their comfort zone.
Read moreSecurity or adventure?
I am constantly amazed at how many people choose security and the known at the expense of adventure and faith. When and why did you decide that you were "Not the kind of person who...."?
I think this is almost THE discipleship question. The person who - wittingly or unwittingly - chooses (apparent) security does so precisely at the expense of adventure and faith. You can't have both.
Read morePlateaux
My need is to remember that there are real Christians who don't know how to read the Bible or to develop an increasing hunger for God. That's not their fault if they don't know how. It is the responsibility of leaders to help people see they are on a plateau and given them practical strategies for getting off it.
Read moreWhen is holiness a bad thing?
When I exalt myself I am no longer utterly dependent on Christ. And that is which is rebellion. The shock of Luke 18 is that even our attempts at holy lifestyle are unimpressive to God. There are attempts at holiness that need to be repented of! There are moral lifestyle choices that actively cause us to not trust Christ, because we think they are what constitute our righteousness.That's not an argument for immorality, but it is for not trusting in your morality, still less your sincerity. Non-Christians too readily say "God will accept me because I am sincere." Christians too readily say "God will accept me because I am morally pure." Wrong on both counts.
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