A freely available article from Anvil journal offering an evangelical affirmation of homophile relationships when exclusive life-long intention is present. Abstract: This paper offers a critique of the ‘binary’ nature of much biblical interpretation and ethical belief in the Church, rejecting simplistic ‘either-or’ approaches to both. Instead there is offered an interpretation of key biblical […]
pastoralia
Questions to find ways into community ministry
I’ve found a set of questions from Carl S Dudley in Basic Steps toward Community Ministry (or here) seem to sum up well the kinds of things that I have discovered I want to know early on in a pastoral or missional ministry in a community. So here they are, consolidated from several chapters. Step […]
In our minds eye as we plan …
It’s kind of obvious once you think about it, but it is worth reflecting on and making it a matter of conscious decision-making. The reality is that it’s simply a deliberate commitment to a pastoral awareness of who I am curating for. Another part of that process, particularly if I am working in a venue […]
Getting feedback as a liturgical leader
This is out of a stable that tends to interpret ‘worship’ as sung, stage-led. Nevertheless the attitudes and ideas are transferable. The important thing that comes out is about leading in vulnerability and how to manage that personally. YouTube – Feedback.
Conflict as friend rather than foe
I found Joyce Huggett’s book “Conflict, friend or foe” helpful because it helps the reader realise that conflict is inevitable and can be positive if handled aright in the right circumstances. This article goes over some of that briefly. What is helpful is the summary of the implications for church leaders. First, leaders need to […]
Starting in a new church
The Alban institute are pretty helpful in resourcing practical theology: they produce a range of books that are focussed on ministerial issues and which are mostly helpful and insightful as well as theologically well-grounded. Part of the offshoot of that is articles relating to books which are short and helpful in themselves. This is one […]
People are Resources
A very common problem in human thinking is to objectify things and forget that we or other people are subjects as well as objects. We forget, for instance, that we are part of the environment; it isn’t just out there; it is us too. The pastoral equivalent is to think of congregants as recipients of […]
Church-Futures.com:-Future-Church-Scenarios
I’m convinced that one of the challenges in church leadership is to begin to think about how we might respond to the outcomes of trends that we can already discern at work. This is something that Tom Sine (cf The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time) has been doing since […]
The Alban Institute – 2010-06-28 Why Blog?
I’m aware of a number of church leaders from Bishops to curates to pioneers and assorted not-so-regular ministries who blog. And in terms of why and what I recognise in what they (and I) do in this quote: Blogs are a perfect medium to tell stories about what faith looks like in practice. Testimonies, stories […]
The POWR of Planning Worship
This is a nice little article on the processes of planning worship. It offers a model for structuring the planning conversations which flows and captures the main tasks. As we gained skill in practicing this conversation, moving from planning to ordering, then into worship and the reflection that followed, … This process guides the planners […]