The calling and confidence of church

Most Monday mornings I feel like resigning.  Did I explain God’s Word well enough?  Was my sermon understandable? Was I faithful to the biblical text?  Should I have used more illustrations?  Would another minister do a better job?  Is it all worth it? Monday morning blues can be quite typical for those in the ministry… Continue reading The calling and confidence of church

Six characteristics of a healthy church

I’m sure you know of the couple who woke up one Sunday morning and the wife said to her husband, “Get up or you will be late for church!”  Her husband replied, “I really don’t feel like going to church and I don’t like the church people that much anyway.   Give me 3 reasons why I… Continue reading Six characteristics of a healthy church

Brothers, we are not the only ministers

We live in an age of professionalism and specialisation. If our air-con breaks we phone the air-con specialist. If our child is sick, we don’t go to the GP but the paediatrician – who sends us to another specialist. If the bulb goes in our car’s headlamp, cars today are so sophisticated, we often have to… Continue reading Brothers, we are not the only ministers

How do you know if your church is successful?

We might be tempted to view churches with big attendance figures or large membership registers as successful.  After all, they must be doing something right?  Very often it’s the mega-church pastors that get asked to speak at conferences on church-growth and whose services are recorded for TBN.  Mega-churrch pastors often write books that share their… Continue reading How do you know if your church is successful?