Just at the moment, I have two major ‘beefs’ about some of my brother and sister ministers, even though I deeply respect and honour them. The first relates to attendance at ministers’ gatherings. As far as I am concerned, once I have committed myself to attend a ministers’ meeting, then ...
Abstract To be true to itself preaching must be both biblical and contextual. Part of our context is the passing of Christendom. This has implications both for the task of preaching and the form of the sermon. Task: Walter Brueggeman has helped us to understand that preaching in exile must ...
During July this year, I have been working with the Diocese of Chelmsford to help them evaluate their clergy leadership training programmes. A question naturally arises: What is Christian leadership for? Some clergy were derailed by the question. Others said that it was to create a new community. This is ...
One of the defining characteristics of Baptist life is that we gather together to find the mind of Christ as a congregation. Our forbears were often persecuted for demanding their right to independent assembly, unencumbered by set prayers, or the intervention of bishops and other authorities. They felt that God ...
In developing a strategy for designing sermons, the homiletician, David Schlafer, observes that most sermons are usually held together by either an image, a narrative or an argument. He argues that “in sermons that ‘work’, in sermons that actually make the Good News come alive, one of these three - ...
Editor’s note: This is an unusual article for Ministry Today, being a creative ‘sermon’ based on a remarkable and ground-breaking TV drama from 1977. I wasn’t sure whether it was the right sort of thing to publish in this website/journal, but I was convinced by the ‘conversations’ later in the ...
In this article I want to chart some of the actors in our society and in our churches that make life hard for those who bear a chronic illness and to outline some of the realities of life for those who suffer them. In a second article to follow I ...
The Christian church is central to any community. It is one of the few places which is an ‘open door’ to those living within the area. Most Christian communities have also been given the stewardship of a set of buildings which can be used to serve the community. Our Father, ...
Traditionally Monday is the minister’s day off, but not for me. Monday is my worst day of the week. It is the day when, after all the pressure of Sunday I experience the ‘Monday blues’. On Mondays I feel tired, I feel depressed. It is not until Tuesday that I ...
In Mirror Images: seeing ourselves in other people (SPCK, London 2007; 130pp; £7.99; ISBN 0 281 05774 5), David Adams, the well-known exponent of Celtic spirituality, reflects on what we can learn of God in our encounters with others: “We are all made in the image of God. We are ...
You are reading Issue 41 of Ministry Today, published in November 2007.
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