Church and Churches
Editor's Note: Jonathan LeemanIt’s a strange balance that a pastor must strike. On the one hand, he must fight for his church. He will give it his best daytime hours, his prayerful nights, his affections and tears, his material comforts and sometimes his health, even his most precious friendships.
On the other hand, a pastor should be willing to let it all go. Let it fire him. Let it close its doors if circumstances require. Let the church down the street run the victory lap, even as his congregation fades into the night.
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Churches Cooperating in Discipline
Yes, autonomous local churches really can cooperate in church discipline. No, they typically don’t. But, yes, they should!
The first step my own church takes to cooperate with other churches in discipline is to ask everyone joining the church, have you ever been disciplined from a local church? If the person answers “yes,” more questions will follow, and possibly the pastors will reach out to the former church.
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A Church and Churches: Integration
What is the relationship between your local church and every other church in the world?
In the companion piece to this article, I consider what makes different local churches independent from one another. Here we consider how they should integrate.
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A Church and Churches: Independence
What is the relationship between your local church and every other church in the world?
In the companion piece to this article, I consider how different churches should integrate together. Here we want to ask what makes each independent.
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Pastoring Christians for the Workplace
Editor's Note: Jonathan LeemanThe topic of work is a popular one right now among Christian writers and thinkers, which makes sense. When the Monday morning sun breaks through the bedroom curtains, the last residues of Sunday’s joys afforded by the Word and the company of the saints, still lingering lightly in the mind, can dissipate with the sigh, “Time to make the donuts.”
Pastor, how do you prepare your members for Monday’s alarm clock?
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Book Review: Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
Reviewed by Jonathan LeemanI was recently on a conference call with a group of ten pastors who are all members of my theological “tribe,” as we’re calling them nowadays. Each of us took turns updating one another, and I mentioned that I was in the process of reviewing Timothy Keller’s Center Church. Would they pray for me? The conversation turned to Keller’s overall ministry program.
Reviewed only
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Elder Meeting Attitudes
I trust this is not true of all churches, but I have discovered that elder meetings can have an unexpectedly difficult social dynamic. There you sit at the table with a number of godly men. You are hashing out this or that issue. And somehow the room feels tense, even political!
“Why is he contradicting me?” “Is he just posturing?” “Why did he say it like that?” “What a jerk!”
Truth be told, you can see my own small-heartedness and sin in such responses. But I am confident I am not alone.
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Lay Elders: A User’s Guide—Part 2
Editor's Note: Jonathan LeemanWe return again to the topic of lay elders in this issue of the Journal. (Check out the last one here.) This time we take up the matter of elder relationships themselves. A lot of guys become elders and are surprised to find the relationships with the other brothers require care, even forgiveness.
“What? I thought they were all supposed to be godly?”
Well, hopefully, they are. But still…
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How Pastor Mark Passes Out Authority
Are you willing to read an article on authority not drawn from my own experience, but from my observations of another man? While I only have a couple coins clanging around in my pockets, the sides of this man’s slacks look like a greedy chipmunk’s cheeks.
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Lay Elders: A User's Guide (Part 1)
Editor's Note: Jonathan LeemanDo you want to hear, like, the coolest thing?
I live in a city where there are lots of powerful people. Big timers, you know. When these people show up at an embassy reception or a private party on Capitol Hill, you can see the turning heads and hear the whispers—“Hey, isn’t that…?” They get the best seats and the special introductions—“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re grateful we could have with us tonight…”
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