Third step Begins With Grace Sometimes when we try to evaluate either the clergy or the congregation, we can become…

A second step is to be conscious of the values of our society that affect our understanding of ourselves. We…

Evaluating A Congregation’s Ministry If we take the priesthood of all believers seriously, then evaluation of ministry should include the…

Building on yesterday’s suggestion of expanding evaluation to the whole ministry of the congregation, an alternative would be to have…

Two preliminary decisions with respect to evaluation need to be made. First, what is the purpose of the evaluation process?…

Sometimes we look at the membership of our congregation and we grow discouraged. It’s helpful at such times to recall…

Here is an exercise in counter-cultural connectionalism. It is designed to allow both the elders of a session and the…

The danger for an individual is to become to focused on the self. The danger of a congregation is to…

The counter-cultural message of the Christian faith is that a critical part of salvation is in discovering our true self…

The journey of faith is centered around relationships. To paraphrase Jesus’ summary, we are to love God and love our…

Given the anti-institutional bias of our society, it may be important to re-examine what we mean when we as Presbyterians,…

We all need affirmation and it feels good when other churches express an interest in us. The lived reality of…

If Jesus embodies an anti-narcissistic approach to life, then it is clear that not being a narcissistic pastor doesn’t suggest…

If “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom…

Narcissism is a term that is increasingly used to describe one’s excessive focus on one’s self. We speak of a…

We have been discussing the development of a greater awareness of the stress of ministry and the way in which…

At least once a year, the session should spend some time hearing the cumulative report of the elder/pastor meetings. In…

Again, I want to emphasize that the better and more sensitive a pastor is, the more taxing is his or…

Having filled out the estimation of time worked and discussed it, I want to now raise another factor that, in…

A first step is simply an honest recognition of the challenge inherent in ministry. Most good clergy accept that they…