How long does it take to create a culture of prayer in a church? No matter how much your church needs a culture of prayer, it won’t happen after a single sermon on prayer, or an announcement of your vision or one dynamic prayer meeting.
Adobe Stock Photo. Do not publish.
There are a lot of us Baby Boomer pastors and Christian leaders around. And it’s cliché, but we aren’t getting any younger. It’s a quiet question that many are asking, but they are asking it nonetheless: What age should I retire?
iStock
I suggest that the pastoral ministry of hospitality has excellent potential for improving the local church’s health. My argument here rests on my analysis of New Testament passages and my personal experience as a pastor and seminary professor.
Adobe Stock Photo. Do not publish.
It happens to most of us. Ministry gets really hard, and we get wounded. Our wounds then become scars, on which other scars later develop. If we’re not alert and self-aware, our heart gets hardened. Be aware of these signs of increasing hardening in your life.
There’s a special sort of awkwardness that comes from not knowing how to be there for a friend in need. But that time of shared grief and presence is extremely important to a friendship. In this month of focusing on what it means to be comforted by God, it is good to turn biblical wisdom to caring for others as well.
