Resources on Pastoral Ministry
Effective prayer and compassionate care for others emerges from our own intimate acquaintance with suffering. Only as we face adversity and learn to “rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” will we learn to pray with understanding and care with sympathy. When Paul wrote the Corinthians, he does not praise God “who enables us to escape from every affliction.” Instead, he assures a broken church: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by…
Read More“If an inquirer thinks he ought to settle absolutely every question, great or small, before becoming a Christian, he little appreciates the limitations of human life or himself.” Augustine of Hippo, Epistolae 102.38 in Henry Chadwick’s Augustine of Hippo: A Life (Oxford, 2009), 29. (“St. Augustine in His Study,” by Vittore Carpaccio, 1502)
Read MoreLeadership is influence. At home, church, and work Christian leaders influence for godliness or ungodliness; they build up or tear down, help or hinder Christ’s work In Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders, former director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship, provides standards to measure the quality of our leadership. Have you ever broken yourself of a bad habit? To lead others, one must be master of oneself. Do you retain control of yourself when things go wrong? The leader who loses self-control in testing circumstances forfeits respect and loses influence. He must be calm in crisis and resilient in adversity and disappointment. Do you think independently? While using to the full the thoughts of others, the leader cannot afford to let others do…
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