What should a teaching elder and the session try to accomplish in the first year of ministry? If people think that the pastor will fulfill their expectations, continue great traditions, make creative changes, preach inspiring sermons, fill the pews, participate in community events and rejuvenate the church school and youth groups … what should he or she do in the first twelve months? Make no major changes.  One rule of thumb that is often advised is to avoid all radical changes. It takes time to get to know the history and members of any congregation and pastors often make the mistake of adopting a top-down administrative model of running the church without really understanding the personality of their new charge. Perhaps this style works in a corporation or small business when change is necessary for survival. But in a church that is totally dependent on volunteers, such an approach is often resented and resisted. In a few words: add new programs but make few alterations to old … [Read more...]

The task of selecting a new pastor is formidable and challenging for many members and, for some, downright scary. It requires considerable commitment of prayer, analysis, discernment, and time for all members of the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC). Fortunately, good resources are available through the General Assembly Church Leadership Connection in the form of newly revised congregational Ministry Information Forms and a brochure “Calling the Pastor: A Manual for Churches Seeking a Pastor.” These guidelines are valuable and necessary since the current Book of Order has little to say about the PNC’s duties or the responsibility of the presbytery (G-2.0802-3; 3.0307). In this column and in future issues we shall try to supplement these meager directives, beginning with nine questions that members of a PNC or a church searching for a new pastor might consider asking themselves while gathered as a committee. 1. Does our congregation understand that the PC(USA) is undergoing … [Read more...]

Most church leaders are well aware of ministries sponsored across the country to the 22 million Americans who need help dealing with addiction. Congregations I have served over the years have provided free meeting space for Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Usually, concern in the Christian community extends beyond that offered to outsiders. Some members struggle with addiction themselves. Pastors and staff have problems with alcohol, drugs, gambling and sexual abuse. Most of us know firsthand about the heartbreak and frustration experienced when we try to help loved ones and friends. How can we help? Common sense frequently says that a person with an addictive personality cannot be healed until he or she wants help, that the bottom has to be reached before progress can be made, that only “tough love” will work. Often treatments using these principles are effective, but in many cases they are not. It is refreshing and encouraging for church members … [Read more...]

Recently there has been quite a bit of discussion about the incident in the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Middlesboro, Kentucky, where a pastor died from handling rattlesnakes. According to his belief system he was being faithful to biblical injunctions found in a secondary ending of Mark’s gospel (Mark 16:9- 20) that those who believe in the risen Christ “will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them.” He said he took the text at face value. According to an article in National Geographic, the pastor refused treatment after being bitten and went home, expecting to recover fully. Despite the outcome, the reporter said that he was impressed by the pastor’s devout religious convictions and demonstration of unwavering faith. The reporter noted the congregation quickly moved to cover all theological objections: if the pastor lived he demonstrated faith in the Bible; if he died he would be with the Lord.  As Presbyterians we look … [Read more...]

Since many churches are constantly searching for ways to attract new members and an increasing number of Americans are claiming to be religiously uncommitted, even calling themselves agnostics or atheists, it is worth asking what image of God they may perceive when they worship with us. According to a spiritual leader of the last century, Emmet Fox, our view of God could be summed up in the first words of the Lord’s Prayer (“Around the Year With Emmet Fox, A Book of Daily Readings,” Harper San Francisco, 1952, 1992). Fox points out two critical aspects — that God exists as “Our Father” and is also “Eternal, All-Powerful, and All-Present.” The first aspect, what could be called the intimate or relational portrait of God, is present in most of our churches. We know that Jesus and Paul used “Abba” (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4.6), an Aramaic name indicating that God is as close to us as a loving father, and that we can ask this parent for help on a daily basis. As Fox says, … [Read more...]

During the coming year many congregations should be asking an important question as they engage in long term planning, “How can we discover God’s will for our future ministry in the second half of 2014 and beyond?” Although nothing more basic can engage our attention, many church leaders may not know how to find the answers they seek. A valuable study guide that provides excellent direction (one I have used personally) is found in “Living Into the Answers, A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Development” by Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd.  Isenhower is an ordained American Baptist pastor and Todd is a teaching elder in the PC(USA). Their book might be used in a number of different ways. 1. As a personal study guideline for the pastor(s) or a few church leaders who can share their experiences with the rest of the congregation; 2. As a workbook for all interested church members for the weeks around Easter (following the book’s ten chapters); 3. As a resource to be used … [Read more...]