A couple of weeks ago I was asked to preach on Psalm 135 at my home church. Although I no longer have time to write daily bible study notes, I thought I’d share it here in a few posts this week, since I found it to be more thought-provoking than it appeared on first reading.
Psalm 135 starts off with a call to praise God.
Continue reading135:1 Praise the LORD! [Hebrew: Hallelujah!]
Praise the name of the LORD
I’m on day three of my celebration of the 40th anniversary of the greatest musical ever written. Over the past two days, we’ve looked at the stories of Jean Valjean and Javert: how they each responded differently to God’s grace. Today, we expand our understanding of salvation beyond the individual and look at the bigger picture.
Continue readingI’m celebrating the 40th anniversary of the greatest musical ever written. Yesterday, we looked at the story of Jean Valjean: how he was shown undeserved mercy, and responded to that by sharing that same kindness to others, no matter what it cost him. He “lived up to” the grace he had received.
Today, we look at another character, with a completely different response to God’s grace. The policeman, Javert.
Continue readingLes Misérables—the greatest musical ever written—turns 40 this year. I first saw it when it premiered in Australia a couple of years later, on a year 10 elective music excursion with my now-wife. And in a few days, the anniversary “arena spectacular” opens in Sydney. Yes, I have tickets.
The reason it has maintained its place at the top of my ranking for the past four decades is that I don’t just appreciate it on a musical level. And before you make your own judgement on that, ensure that it’s the original 1980s score you’re listening to, not the insipid arrangement of the 2012 movie that robbed it of much of its character, and that the part of Javert is at least 30-odd foot away from being grunted by Russell Crowe. Yes, I have strong opinions.
It’s not just the music that makes it great; it’s the theology of the story. So I thought I’d mark the 40 year anniversary with three posts about how the gospel is central to the plot of both the musical and the Victor Hugo novel on which it’s based. Whether you’re an old fan like me, or someone encountering it for the first time, I hope it helps you appreciate the richness of some of its themes.
We begin today with the main character, Jean Valjean.
Continue readingChurches, where will your next pastoral team member come from? You might do well to think inside the box…
I’ve been asked this question—in various forms—by countless senior pastors looking to call a new pastoral team member. They’re essentially asking if there’s anyone about to come off the end of the Bible college conveyor-belt who might be a good fit for their church. Sometimes I can make a suggestion or two. But more often than not, I’m left explaining that the vast majority of impending graduates who have been preparing for pastoral ministry already have a role lined up. And it’s often with the church that sent them to college in the first place.
Continue readingWhere is the next generation of pastors going to come from? Part Four.
This is a follow-up to a series of posts in 2023 looking at factors impacting the number of people answering the call to pastoral ministry.
I’m not smooth when introducing myself to new people, but I do it anyway.
My wife’s good at it: she knows what to say, what questions to ask, and how to keep the conversation going even if the other person’s a bit shy. The best I can hope for in that scenario is a few minutes of well-intentioned awkwardness without scaring the other person away with “too much, too soon” as I attempt to fill the silence with my words. But I do it anyway.
Continue readingThis is the third in a series of posts looking at some of the factors that are hindering the next generation from embracing the call to pastoral ministry. Part one and part two can be found here.
This one comes with a trigger warning as it relates to the abuse of power in ministry settings. Note that I’m focusing here only on where congregational dynamics can be the source of the problem; see my earlier article on where pastors can abuse their power.
Comments on this post are being moderated before appearing, to avoid specific situations or people being inappropriately shared/named on social media. Specific grievances and appeals should follow the process for the relevant organisation or denomination.
Judging by the array of comments on social media, the current leadership of the Australian men’s cricket team is a divisive topic. It appears to be divided partly along generational lines, albeit with plenty of exceptions—myself included.
Continue readingThis is the second in a series of posts looking at some of the factors that are hindering the next generation from embracing the call to pastoral ministry. (See part one here.)
More than a decade ago, futurist Paul Saffo[1] said that the most important invention in the future would be robots that can make other robots that that make solar panels in the desert. Why? Because the best place for solar panels is where there’s the most sun. But it’s inhospitable for humans to work there. We could make the panels elsewhere, but the transportation cost to get them to the desert would be high. So robot-labour would solve that. But still, who makes the robots—and transports them to the desert? So we need another layer: robots out in the desert making more solar-panel-building robots. It would be the cheapest way to roll out renewable energy at scale.
Continue readingThe ongoing pastor drought shows no sign of breaking.
The prevailing El Niño conditions have been observed for quite some time. Even before the pandemic, Eternity News reported on the looming shortage—across all denominations—in which the number of people studying for pastoral ministry was less than those who were retiring, observing, “there’s a growing drought of ‘theologs,’ people studying full-time degree courses with the aim of paid ministry.” This is being experienced across the Western world, with even the most prestigious seminaries experiencing declining enrolments. And in the US, of those who enrol, more than 80 per cent are not intending to enter pastoral ministry in a local church. Meanwhile, in my own denomination—in which we have committed to growing to a thousand healthy churches in a generation—there are currently around thirty known pastoral vacancies. However you look at it, the next generation is not answering the call in sufficient numbers to lead our churches.
Continue readingThe past few years have witnessed a steady stream of high-profile church leaders being removed from leadership as patterns of abuse, impropriety, and pride have been brought to light. And there are likely more to come, along with many others whose profiles are not prominent enough to gain attention. It’s not just the leaders themselves who are in the spotlight, but also the churches whose culture tolerated such behaviour as long as it brought “success.”
It’s enough to make a godly person think twice when considering a call to pastoral ministry. Why would I want to be a part of that? Is that how pastors—or at least, effective pastors—inevitably end up?
Continue reading
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