I know we’ve only just celebrated Christmas and the Incarnation, but as Arsene Wenger famously (allegedly) said: “Christmas is important but Easter is decisive.” And the thing about the Easter story for pastors and ministry leaders is it’s not merely a doctrine we proclaim but a pattern we embody.
We follow Jesus who moved through betrayal, abandonment, agony, and the darkness of death before the stone was rolled away on the third day. He told his disciples plainly: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
This principle governs not only salvation but sanctification, and not only conversion but ministry itself.
Congregational church government: Yes or no?
This is not a post about Brexit. But I am going to use the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK …