In Depth:  ministry

Dan Steel

There is a reason why Paul reaches for farming when he wants to describe what faithful ministry looks like. Not architecture, not conquest, not business, not a product launch – farming.

"The hardworking farmer," he writes to Timothy, "ought to have the first share of the crops" (1 Timothy 2v6). And to the Corinthians, pushing back on a church already obsessed with cliques and celebrity: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" (1 Corinthians 3v6).

Phil Moon

It’s often just a small "c", but it’s so important…

By which I mean communication.

John-Edward Funnell

This summer, I have enjoyed my first sabbatical after 13 years of ministry. I am deeply thankful to my church for their love, support, and care for my family in giving me this precious opportunity to rest.

It has taken me some time to adjust.

Matt Waldock

What if you’re a leader and you’ve run out of ideas?

Amongst the many leaders I coach, this is a common experience and it can easily drain a leader’s confidence that they can even do the role.

Dan Steel

Friends, I have some bad news and some good news for you.

The bad news first: there are no silver bullets when it comes to the Christian life, or Christian ministry. No shortcuts. No secret wisdom. No hidden tip or technique. No one conference, book, strategy, leadership tactic, staffing structure, app, discipleship pathway, or productivity system that will suddenly make everything easy.

Andrew Irwin

“It is winter in Narnia and has been for ever so long ... Always winter, but never Christmas,” the faun Mr. Tumnus responds to the despair of Lucy Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Haunting, beautiful, and powerful imagery that author C.S. Lewis used to describe life in Narnia under the White Witch.

Imagery that I loved, but will now confess, I had never really understood, until God called me to minister in the place that is now home.

Jonny Pollock

My son does social media for his part-time job. Part of the task is creating posts for the business's social media account.

The hope behind so much online activity is shared by many: that one day a post will "go viral", meaning that a post catches the algorithm, the numbers rise, strangers pass it to other strangers, then suddenly, thousands of people are paying attention (and buying stuff!).

Matt Waldock

What would you say if I told you that your church has more to gain by a generous sabbatical policy than the pastor?

Given that few churches even mention the word "sabbatical" in their official documents, my guess is it would raise some eyebrows.

Dan Steel

Have you ever wondered why God brought you… here?

Not them.

Matt Waldock

When did it become unacceptable for leaders to fail? I don't mean in the category of moral failure, but rather being responsible for a leadership decision that frankly didn't work or, in hindsight, was a bad call.

The much-documented crisis in so few people choosing to train for ministry positions is complex, but my conversation with many who considered the path into Christian leadership but chose not to pursue it often was explained as a fear of being overwhelmed by criticism. It seems to me that the fear of failure in our culture has grown exponentially – and to the detriment of Christian leadership – precisely because it has become such a taboo.

Alejandra Ortiz

Generation Z has access to more information about Christianity than any other generation.

In my experience, serving among students in México for more than 15 years, and then more widely in Latin America and beyond with IFES, I see less resistance to Christianity today than when I was in university more than 20 years ago.

Chris Wright

John Stott advocated “double listening” – that is, listening to the Word of God (to believe and obey it), and listening to the world around us (to understand and engage with it). He also insisted that evangelism and social engagement are both integral parts of the church’s holistic mission – like two blades of a pair of scissors or two wings of a bird.

The trouble is that some churches are good at one or the other but not both. Some preach and teach the Word, but avoid too much involvement in social issues. Others invest heavily in addressing the needs they see in the world around them, but are not known for evangelism or Biblical preaching.

Matt Waldock

Who is the first person you always look for in a group photo? The answer, perhaps predictably, is yourself. But the more profound question is: Why do we always scramble to find out what we look like as if it were a secret that had been hidden from us all our lives?

The simple answer is that we do not know ourselves, and what we don't know, we don't entirely trust.

loving your digital neighbour

Tristram Ridley-Jones

Christian churches, organisations, and charities are entrusted with managing resources – donations, grants, and assets – to fulfil their missions. This stewardship now extends to the digital realm.

As financial operations increasingly rely on technology, cybersecurity is no longer only an IT issue but a fundamental aspect of financial integrity and missional continuity. For finance teams and treasurers, safeguarding digital assets is as crucial as maintaining physical security.

Jonny Pollock

One of the uncomfortable tests of leadership development is less about whether people grow under us, but whether we are willing for them to grow beyond us.

Most church leaders would say that we want to raise up leaders as a core conviction, yet sometimes we can unconsciously shape people only to the size of our own ability. We develop leaders who can help us, but perhaps not challenge us. We want Shetland ponies—loyal, manageable, small—whereas God may be giving us racehorses. And racehorses are sometimes hard to handle.

Fran Kirby & Graham Nicholls

"Egalitarian" and "complementarian" are broad categories. However, they do sum up a primary distinction between those who believe that leading and preaching in the church can be a role for either men or women (egalitarian) or those who, like us (Fran Kirby and Graham Nicholls), believe that the church should reflect the household by reserving particular leadership roles for men (complementarian).

We have noticed recently that some complementarians have a tendency to downplay their position – either that or they are inclined to apologise for it, to over-compensate for it, or to try and work around it by creating ministry titles and roles.

Dan Steel

There is a moment in many church leadership conversations where team gets treated as a method – a delivery mechanism for a vision that is already essentially complete. The leader has the direction; the team makes it happen. The gifts of others are welcome, as long as they serve the plan.

This is worth examining. Because the Christian vision of team is not strategic. It is structural – even woven into the fabric of reality itself.

Matt Waldock

I have been wrestling with an uncomfortable question over the last few years - and it's one I've been running from.

Until this year I thought it was a wrestling match that I was winning.

Russell Phillips

This is not a post about Brexit. But I am going to use the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK as an analogy. 

To refresh your memory, in 2016 a referendum was held in the UK on whether or not to stay in the European Union (EU). This had been a longstanding issue for debate ever since the UK first joined the EU in 1971.

Pooyan Mehrshahi

The Lord Jesus has told us what to do and where to begin. “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24v47).

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1v8).

Alice Cornes

I’ve come back from the ReNew conference with a spring in my step. The evening I got back, I told friends at dinner that I was “really very cheerful.” I said something about being heartened by time with teammates from across the country. And on reflection, here’s what blessed me most about ReNew.

Encouraged and equipped

I need all the help I can get to treasure Jesus. Bible teaching about His beautiful sacrificial leadership helped me. Singing to Him with hundreds of people helped me. News from other churches doing brave things because He's worth it – that helped me too.

Tom King

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.

John-Edward Funnell

By God’s grace I have a busy life. I pastor a large church in a deprived area. I am a husband and a father of four wonderful children and have many other ministries and responsibilities that cause much worry to dear Christian friends.

Many have gifted me books filled with advice on how to prevent “ministry burnout.” Not only do these books add to my burden, they are often embarrassingly out of date, reminding me of the same Human Resources (HR) rhetoric I heard in business 20 years ago.

David Shepherd

In 2023, my sister was diagnosed with Stage 1B breast cancer. She immediately underwent four months of initial chemotherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy aimed at preventing secondary tumour formation.

Thankfully, last year, after undergoing radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden hospital, she received the ‘all clear’ from her doctor.