Handling Criticism
Criticism is part of ministry life. Not the most pleasant part. And, hopefully, not the most dominant. But it’s there, as anyone who has been in ministry for a few years can attest. Sometimes it’s the gentle rebuke of a loving friend; on other occasions, the disgruntled moans of a member of the church – […]
How Do You Spot A Gospel Minister?
Rector of St Ebbe’s Oxford and one of our co-founders, Vaughan Roberts takes us back to basics with some cutting observations from Colossians 1 on the nature of genuine gospel ministry. 1) The authentic gospel minister serves God’s people. “I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is […]
What Is Pastoral Ministry
Richard Coekin is the Senior Pastor of Dundonald Church and the Director of Co-Mission, a church planting movement in London. This post is an extract from his book Gospel DNA (pages 104–107), published in 2017 by The Good Book Company. You can buy a copy here. When the Bible praises God as the “Shepherd” of Israel, he’s praised for […]
When Pleasure Becomes Business
At the end of John’s gospel, Jesus commissions Peter to lead the fledgling church, and, as is so often the case when dealing with Jesus, his priorities are surprising. Before signing him up to any preaching training courses, before explaining the vision statement or growth strategy, he asks a question that would seem irrelevant to […]
Whose Servant Are You?
“I love study and I love giving talks,” said the eager young man across the table at the interview. “In fact, I can hardly wait to get into the ministry.” But my colleague pulled him up short, with a very penetrating question. “And do you equally love the people you speak to?” Eventually, the reply […]
An Internship with a Difference
Matt Waldock, formerly a ministry trainee and now a church planter and pastor, shares how City Church Manchester has crafted a particular form of ministry traineeship for these economic times. A lot has changed since I was a ministry trainee in 2004. When I graduated from Lancaster University, the concept of ministry trainees was an […]
Self-Management and Productivity
Introduction Christians, perhaps more than most people, get stressed about time. This is not surprising, given the combination of the urgency of gospel ministry and the finite length of available time, which we find in passages like this: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a […]
God Isn’t finished With You Yet
Graham Fairbairn shares his story. For many Christians, the desire to investigate full-time gospel service is probably most strongly felt in their teens, twenties and early thirties. This is a time in life when anything seems possible and a more settled period of life with weighty family, work and financial responsibilities has not arrived yet. […]
Prayerful Intentionality
There is so much about the Christian life that I love. To be awakened every morning to hear God’s word and speak with my loving Father in prayer is an immense privilege. To worship in the company of others and sing God’s praise is heart-warming and spiritual. To live with God’s moment-by-moment presence is assuring. […]
How Ministry Trainees can be a help and a hindrance
At a prayer meeting I recently had the privilege of joining, we flicked through a passage from 1 Thessalonians 2. Paul here is reflecting on his short, but rich time with the people of Thessalonica (cheeky picture below if you can’t visualise it). He spent just four weeks with this group, and as a result […]
A challenge to those retiring
This blog post has been very kindly offered by David Howell, who decided retirement was the time for taking up new challenges… Aged 62, having retired from school teaching two years previously, I was reluctant to mothball the gifts God had kindly given me. At the suggestion of the Senior Minister, I joined my church […]
When Feet Almost Slip
Christian ministry is a life of service – of that there can be no doubt. We follow a crucified Saviour: the one who was willing to come from heaven to lay down his life for those he loves and we are called to emulate that Philippians 2, sacrificial, other-centredness in all we do. When we […]
