Re-imagining the pulpit: Lectures or living Words?
Roger Carswell
I wonder how many sermons you have heard in your lifetime. I reckon I have heard at least 15,000. And just a few have left such an impression that years later I can tell you what was said, who preached them and where I was.
Each of those was characterised by an earnestness - an expression of the heart of the preacher. They fed my soul, impacted my will and exalted the Lord Jesus.
Pastor: Are you the same in public and private?
Dan Steel
Paul writes to his protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 3v10: “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance…”
It’s striking to me that Paul doesn’t only point Timothy to his doctrine, to truth, but also to his lived example. Faith is taught and caught. His words and his way of life both bear witness to the reality of Christ.
The realities of ministry burnout
In a recent article in Evangelicals Now, John Funnell describes an understanding of burnout and a way of doing ministry that seems to work for him and his family in their context, and that's great. God has most certainly used them! But, I want to offer a response.
John has done so much good for the gospel. We've never met, but we move in similar circles and so over the years I've been kept up to date with the amazing work God has been doing through him in Abersychan. God has gifted John uniquely for this work, while many others look to his ministry as an example and a pattern for their own.