The life of a minister is filled with all kinds of tasks from the political to the pastoral to the practical, for which no pattern of ministerial formation can prepare us. Three decades of experience as minister, supervisor and mentor have provided me with a number of examples. I also invited the good people of […]
Categories: Ministry
I have spent a bit of time recently creating a new website and blog for The College of Baptist Ministers. The site is packed with interesting articles and useful resources for ministers (including some of mine) as well as “official” documents from CBM including our Ethics for Ministry, our Guidelines for a Regular Review of […]
Categories: Ministry
The College of Baptist Ministers, of which I am Treasurer, has been working on a pattern for an annual review of ministry which we wish to advocate to churches and ministers. Here is the current draft – all comments welcome. INTRODUCTION TO AN ANNUAL REVIEW OF MINISTRY Many Ministers already benefit from an Annual Review […]
Categories: Ministry
What is the best way to begin a new ministry? With 24 years of experience as I began my fourth pastorate I resolved that this time things would be different. For the first time we took full advantage of the unique opportunities for outreach which the commencement of a ministry offers. In most traditions a […]
Categories: Ministry
CBM is not merely a response to changing employment law. We believe there are good theological reasons why every minister should strive for excellence in ministry and work out that ministry not in isolation but in cooperative relationships with other ministers. The first post offers some reflections on this theme. All comments and other ideas […]
Categories: Ministry
As we consider the future of the Baptist family, many of us are dreaming dreams about what church could be like at local, cluster, regional and national levels. Financial constraints are focussing our minds on structures and patterns. I suggest that we also need to look from a different perspective: that of relationships. I […]
Categories: Ministry
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As a Home Mission Visitor and a Mission Consultant for more than 20 years I offer the following suggestions about Home Mission support. Although they referring primarily to churches receiving a grant to help them have a minister they can also apply to other mission situations. 1) There should be a time limit on grants. […]
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More than thirty years ago Bushey Baptist Church encouraged me to become a lay preacher in Hertfordshire Baptist Association. By the time I came before the Association Ministerial Recognition Committee five years later I had preached in half of the churches of the Association, and at least half of the Committee members had actually heard […]
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For four days in 2008 I took part in a conference at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg on “Congregationalism, Denominationalism and the Believers’ Church”. This brought together mostly academics but also pastors from the Baptist, Mennonite and other Brethren traditions from Canada and the Northern USA. I then spent ten days experiencing the life […]
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More than thirty years ago I trained as a teacher and then taught science for five years before studying theology and entering pastoral ministry. Teaching is a career which it is relatively easy to pursue part time in conjunction with church ministry. How might life have been different if I had been led to follow […]
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