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Spiritual Leadership — Encouragement
I am reflecting on some key principles of spiritual leadership as I reflected on 2 Timothy last week in a personal retreat. The first key was prayer. The second principle is encouragement. Paul was one to call out spiritual gifts and help develop those gifts in others.
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Spiritual Leadership — The Prayer Life
On a retreat this past week, the Lord walked me through several New Testament letters, but he had me plant myself in 2 Timothy the most. There are some great thoughts on spiritual leadership I will build on. To be honest, it was also a brutal walk through a letter for me. It was personal and the Spirit really had…
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Church bashing
We may not think much of the Church in our American angst. We complain. We argue. We are always quick to point out what is “wrong” with the Church. Every particular season I will come across dozens of articles about what NOT to preach on a particular Sunday. (“Make sure you avoid these THREE mistakes on Mother’s Day”, etc.)
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The ministry of Jesus
As I meditate on Luke 6, I am drawn once again to the simplicity of Jesus’ ministry: Pray Raise up powerful disciples Teach Demonstrate the power of the Kingdom All of it flowed out of prayer. I love Luke’s emphasis on prayer. It causes me to cry out, “Lord! I need to learn to pray!”
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Politics and the Pulpit
May 4 being the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an Executive Order loosening control of what has been called the “Johnson Amendment.” Under the Johnson Amendment, it was to disallow direct political endorsements from the pulpit of particular candidates. If violated, the IRS could look into pulling the tax exemption status from a religious organization.
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The necessity of the Church
“There are Christians, of course, who never put their names down on a membership list; there are Christians who refuse to respond to the call to worship each Sunday; there are Christians who say, ‘I love God but I hate the church.’ (Or, in our day, ‘I’m spiritual, not religious.’) But they are members all the same, whether they like…
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The bravest church I know
There are churches, thousands of them all over the world, full of incredibly brave people. They aren’t always celebrated. Sometimes they are “large” in number, but don’t have very good tech people who give them a web presence and “platform.” That would be because they exist in countries outside the U.S., where it’s not as big a deal to think…
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The problem of ministry
I am working my way through In God’s Hands: The Spiritual Diaries of Pope Saint John Paul II. These are excerpts from his personal journals written during and after spiritual retreats through his life. One passage I’ve come across early on deals with ministry and issues he faced as a bishop in the Catholic Church at that time. They ring true for…
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Pastoring
We are called to hard work that is not glamorous most of the time.
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The powerful dynamics of a “small” church
Here is the dynamic of a small church I am grateful for as I reflect on ministry: You don’t need huge numbers to develop great people.
Tag: Ministry
