I can remember that over the course of 24 months I had more than ten families tell me that they were re-locating due to job transfers. When I received the first intimations of these moves, I thought, “Well, that’s ok. God willing we can find some other families to fill the space.”
On this day as you revel in the cheer of the season, open gifts, celebrate with family, and perhaps take off to the movie theater to catch the latest show, consider that our triune God loved you before the foundation of the world.
What does it mean to be a member of the church?
Seminaries need to provide a rich theological education because pastors and the church need good theology.
The Spirituality of the church, rightly understood and taught, is liberating for Pastors and Christ’s church.
These days it seems like Christians are in search of conservatism in whatever forms they can find it, and with good reason. It seems like the cultural, political, and theological wheels on the bus are falling off.
To what might we liken the ministry of a pastor? All too often I think pastors see themselves as lumberjacks. They go into a church and look at the problems as trees that need to be chopped down.
In church lingo there are two types of children beyond the regular kids that wander the church halls—PKs and MKs—Preacher’s kids and Missionary’s kids. In church lore PKs and MKs have built up a reputation.
There are several new faculty publications! Dr. Horton has recently published his latest book, Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story.
I think when people imagine what it’s like to receive pastoral counseling, they envision their pastor or elder giving them wonderful advice. And, to a certain extent, this is true. When you have a problem and need advice, your pastor or elder should be able to give you sound counsel.
As a pastor you will meet a lot of different people throughout the course of your ministry. I have met fighter pilots, professional athletes, contractors, school teachers, stay-at-home moms, accountants, politicians, musicians, children, students, and the like.
All you have to do is read the headlines on the interweb to know that we live in some crazy times. It seems like people are all to willing to use violence as a means of promoting their agenda.
The New Testament has no category for someone who is a believer in Jesus Christ but who is not also a member of a local church. The reason is so obvious that we take it for granted. Since all true believers become members of the body of Christ by virtue of their union with Christ through faith, the New Testament assumes that those who are members of Christ’s body will naturally identify with a local assembly of those who likewise believe in Jesus and confess him as Lord before the unbelieving world. Sadly, many Americans have completely different assumptions.
There is a movement afoot to change the way seminary students are educated. Dissatisfied with the results produced by some schools, some congregations have begun their own in-house seminaries on the ground that sending students away to seminary take them out of the local church. Yes, sending students to seminary does take them out of one local church, but sending them to Westminster Seminary California means that they will find themselves right back in another local church.
