Are You An Enabler Or Reprover?

Here are  good questions with the answer  by T. M. Moore in an article written for the Chuck Colson Ministry Center. I absolutely believe Pastors often choose to be enablers of the works of darkness [don't ask-don't tell]  by their parishioners because they compromisingly believe it to be  more beneficial over  having the character and  courage to reprove them.
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" Why do you think pastors are reluctant to “correct with great asperity of zeal” the sins of their people?  Could this be related to....wanting to be loved by men more than by God?"

The Book of Pastoral Rule

Gregory the Great (ca. 540-604)

“For indeed it is the duty of a ruler to shew by the voice of preaching the glory of the supernal country, to disclose what great temptations of the old enemy are lurking in this life’s journey, and to correct with great asperity of zeal such evils among those who are under his sway as ought not to be gently borne with; lest, in being too little incensed against faults, of faults he be himself held guilty.”

There has been a drift in preaching these days away from confronting sin toward comforting and encouraging the faithful. These must go hand in hand, however; for we can give no true comfort or encouragement to those who insist on holding to their sinful ways. Unless pastors are willing to preach against sin, they will, Gregory says, bear the responsibility for all the sin that ravages the souls of their flock. Better to face sin boldly, and call for repentance, than to allow it harbor in the heart of the Church (Ps. 66:18).

http://worldviewchurch.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&ctrl=archive&task=view&mailid=101&key=73ace81cd18f6bdd2564233fa0315e5e&sub=11774-c9045dc3ee05317dcbd3651f4e7dbd4b

The Alignment Factor

Tony Morgan shares that churches not growing or who are in decline are simply maintaining the status quo while hoping it generates different results.  Here’s his picture of a fully-aligned church with the fundamentals that produce growth.

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•The primary purpose or mission of the church is established.

•A focused ministry/discipleship strategy has been established to accomplish that vision.

•All of the church’s ministries and programming are intentionally designed to fit into that strategy.

•The church is structured with staff and volunteer leaders and teams around the strategy.

•Resources like money, facilities and space on the master calendar are distributed to maximize impact rather than to maintain fairness.

•There’s a web and communications strategy in place to keep everyone focused in the same direction.

•The teaching includes life application that identifies specific next steps to engage people in a discipleship journey that mirrors the overall strategy of the church.

•Rather than celebrating when lots of people gather, the success of any special events or initiatives are measured by how they help people engage in this journey.

•The church is capturing stories and measuring data to determine if the strategy is working as intended.

http://tonymorganlive.com/2010/12/13/big-churches-getting-bigger-the-alignment-factor/

ETS and Wrights NPP

The Evangelical Theological  Society [ETS] chose the theme of "Justification By Faith" for their 2010 gathering of scholars. Obviously, Wright's New Pauline Perspective was the centerpiece and Wright was the invited guest.

 In his report about the this years ETS meeting, Dr.Craig Blomberg made the following observation concerning the much debated issue. His assessment is more than thought provoking......Selah!
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"Church and parachurch groups that make sweeping prohibitions against their members imbibing anything of the new perspective at best simply don’t understand it and at worst are quenching the Spirit’s work in their midst. In fact, the more likely danger for most evangelicals, especially those who most severely criticize the new perspective, is that they will miss the necessary applications of Paul’s warnings to their own proclivities to draw theological boundaries too narrowly between insiders and outsiders, to overly elevate their cultures, nationalities, and tribalisms to a place for inappropriate boasting, and to invoke mandates as to what people must do or believe to be insiders far beyond anything demonstrably biblical, and thus unwittingly mirror precisely a majority of first-century Palestinian Jews (and so-called Jewish Christians), whose views Paul in turn anathematizes!"

[Craig L. Blomberg is distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He is the author, co-author or co-editor of fifteen books and more than eighty articles in journals or multi-author works]

http://www.koinoniablog.net/2010/11/blombergets.html?

Great Quote

  "Truth without love is dogmatism.
  Love without truth is sentimentality.
Speaking the truth in love is Christianity."


- Bob Russell

http://trevinwax.com/

Are Professional Ministers Really Thieves?

This indicting quote is from Raymond F. Culpepper,  General Overseer of The Church of God, Cleveland Tennessee. He posted a brief article addressing the state of the Church back in March '09.

I underlined the specific point for special empahsis.

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"Every year, David B. Barrett of the World Evangelization Research Center in Richmond, Virginia, and Todd M. Johnson of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary publish an update on the status of world Christianity and major religious trends....Overall there is a small but steady growth in giving.... to Christian causes.

Tragically, one finding is that more money is being stolen by 'professional ministers' than given to global missions."



http://forwardtogetherinchangingtimes.com/goblog/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=STATE-OF-WORLD-CHRISTIANITY-2009.html&blogger=Raymond&Itemid=1

http://forwardtogetherinchangingtimes.com/

Average Tenure for A Pastor to Serve A Local Church

"Albert Mohler, in a 2009 episode of his talk show, asked, "Why Do Pastors Leave the Ministry?" noting the troubling trend that evangelical ministers are staying in congregations for shorter windows of time, with an average of about three years in a call."

http://www.reformation21.org/articles/gratitude-for-grace-in-ministry.php

How Would John Piper Encourage A Depressed Pastor?

John Piper recently announced an extended sabbatical due to many unhealthy dimensions of his marriage and ministry.As one of my heroes, this brother modeled a seasoned faith as well as mature manliness by confessing such human weakness. Scripture identifies this virtue as grace based humility.

For this reason, he is more than qualified to speak to the issue of ministerial depression since it often accompanies the sifting temptations associated with public confession and feelings of personal failure.
[rgh]

1) I would listen to him first.


I'd ask, "What has it been like? How did you get to this point?" That's a past question. And I would ask, "What's it like now? What are you feeling? What does 'burned-out' mean for you? Is it, 'I'm not sure I believe anymore'? Is it, 'I have no energy to get out of bed tomorrow '? Is it, 'I'm so discouraged. My people are not being changed at all'? What's the nature of it?"

So I would ask questions and listen. That would be my first approach.

2) And then, based on what I heard there, I would probably counsel him to step back and get some perspective.

Ask your church for a leave: a week, a month, three months. And if they love you and value what you do, they might give it to you.

Be honest with them. Don't try to pull the wool over their eyes. Go to your leaders and say, "Here's my situation. Give me counsel." They may then ask you to get some counsel. They may send you to a renewal place. Or they may just give you time.

Make sure you discern the physical, emotional and spiritual components of this.

3 ) Then I would encourage him that great saints go through this.

Elijah seemed to be like that. He seemed to be burned-out when he ran from Jezebel and said, "I've had it. I'm done. I'm not going to do this anymore."

And isn't it interesting that in James 5 we're encouraged to pray by looking at Elijah. James says that Elijah, who was a man of similar nature to us, prayed that it would not rain for three and a half years, and it did not rain for three and a half years. And the whole point of saying that is to say, "You remember Elijah don't you? He was discouraged. He was a man of emotions that were up and down." And James is saying to ordinary folks: "Elijah went through it. You're going to go through it. He prayed. You can pray."

So I would try to encourage him that a feeling of being burned-out happens to saints, so that he doesn't feel picked on.

4) And then I would try to take him to the preciousness of Christ and the preciousness of the ministry.

 I would try to help him dream a dream again, that he can come through this and God can give him a new lease.

I have had numerous pastors testify to me that discovering Christian hedonism has been revolutionary to their ministry. Christian hedonism says that the desire to enjoy the ministry and to enjoy God is a good desire. In fact, it is an essential desire, according to Hebrews 13 where a sad pastor is bad for his church and a happy pastor is good.

Now Christian hedonism can put a weight on you and make you feel guilty if you're sad, or it can release you to say, "You mean this is OK to want to enjoy what I'm doing?" And many pastors have found hope in Christian hedonism. And so I might take him there and try to show him some of those texts.

5) And I would pray with him.

Copyright 2010 John Piper. Website: desiringGod.org

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101104/how-would-you-encourage-a-burned-out-pastor