Churches need to figure out how they will address the spiritual lives of their staffs and leadership teams.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Being around a church culture, even leading a gathering of believers, I've gotten pretty good at predicting what's going to happen in a church service.
From the beginning, this has been a faith-based ministry.
The role of the pastor is to embody the gospel. And of course to get it embodied, which you can only do with individuals, not in the abstract.
There is a sense of call to take leadership roles. You're serving people and submitting to God as best you can.
Pastoral ministry is a sacrificial call with unique challenges. We are called to take the Gospel to those with hard hearts and blind eyes.
What people pray for will tell you more than anything else whether they are locked into the vision and priorities of the church.
Pastors need to know what's going on in the world and what has been going on for 4,000 years. We need a way to read Scripture which is imaginative, interpretive.
All Church power is, therefore, properly ministerial and administrative. Everything is to be done in the name of Christ, and in accordance with his directions.
There is a continuum of values between the churches and the general community. What distinguishes the handling of these values in the churches is mainly the heavier dosage of religious vocabulary involved.
The church is in the hope business.