Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
When faced with the rather difficult task of picking a pastor from a list of candidates what qualities would you go for? Would you consider humor, agility and creativity or would you go for theological astuteness? 9 Marks makes the task alot easier in this article by tackling the task head on…
A church should ask at least four types of questions of any potential pastor: theological, philosophy of ministry, practical, and personal.
- Theological. A church should ask a pastoral candidate theological questions because what that pastor believes will shape everything he does in the church. So a church should ask him questions like:
- Do you agree with everything in this church’s statement of faith? Is there anything missing from this statement of faith that you would like changed or added?
- Is there a confession of faith which better articulates your views?
- What is the gospel?
- Do you believe in the doctrines of grace? Why or why not?
- What are some theological issues that you think are especially important for Christians to get right in this time and place?
- How would you characterize your understanding of biblical church leadership? …Read More!
One book that I plan to read:
It’s amazing what youth will eat. I love sushi, but it’s quite different than eating a live goldfish. I sat near the back of the crowd and watched with a curious sea-sickness—gazing at the teenage wonder while keeping one eye on the nearest trash can! A loud unified chant shook the entire room: “Mar-cus, Mar-cus.” And down it went, to the praise of cheering youth. He was the envy of every guy and the disgust of every girl. The champion collected his prizes and walked off the stage with a hero-notch on his belt.
“So what can we do next week,” I thought to myself. “There’s no way I can top eating a live goldfish.” I was helping out with the youth program at the time, and we had been gradually escalating the “shock factor” to attract more youth. And, for all intents and purposes, it seemed to work. Every week, we saw new youth, who occasionally seemed to embody a little of the “shock factor” themselves… …Read More!
What happened to modern church youth ministries? Why are many youth walking away from church as soon as they are old enough to leave home? Why is there very little reverance for God among the youth? “Divided” the movie has interesting findings…
Theology gives the alarm at the first and so often decisive moment, when the language of religion among a people begins to decline from the truth, and when error, like a rising weed, sprouts and grows into a plant. It then gives timely warning, and people hasten to root it out.-Louis Gaussen – 1840
In our never ending bid to remain relevant we really had to get the right youth pastor. The qualities we were looking for were actually very simple. Young, restless and creative. Yup, we got our anointed man (though he has to work on his pony tail). 😉
Next we need an assistant youth pastor. …Read More!
Mesmerising! This is going to be the next must have gadget for every relevant and purpose driven youth pastor. Just imagine how many kids will remain entertained for hours.
Who would believe it? Just exegete this slo-mo walk as he practices to walk on stage to the pulpit on sunday. 😉
HT J. Taylor via Facebook
“I might have been a young man at twelve, but at sixteen I was a sober, respectable Baptist parson, sitting in the chair and ruling and governing the church. At that period of my life, when I ought perhaps to have been in the playground . . . I spent my time at my books, studying and working hard, sticking to it.” ~Charles Spurgeon
HT Douglas Kofi Adu-Boahen via Facebook.
In the never ending quest to remain relevant and draw capacity crowds into church, whats more hip than bringing a motorcycle into the sanctuary, cranking it up to maximum speed while a harem of excitable wild eyed youths cheer on?
It is probably good that the remaining bibles and hymnal got trashed and crashed up by the motor bike after all who needs them? And who will notice their absence? Read More
The butterfly effect is a term used in Chaos Theory to describe how tiny variations can affect giant systems, and complex systems, like weather patterns. For example, it is said that a butterfly flapping its wings in a jungle in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas.
A couple of years ago we leavened up the unleavened bread of Christianity. A little nip here and a tuck there. We created a brand of Hip and Cool Christianity not only smooth but market savvy. Relevant. We used reproducible and successful entrepreneurial church growth models to bring as many people into the church complexes as possible.
However, if the recent trend of events is anything to go by, it seems God has gone on a hiatus and left the youths playing peekaboo in the night. Recent statistics show that there is an increasing exodus of young people from churches, especially after they leave home and live on their own. In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly. Some critics have attributed this yo-yo effect to the perils of hipster Christianity. Read More
While muslims are teaching their kids to recite the qur’an cover to cover, lets see what Christian children get to do with their youth pastors. In desperate bid to appear relevant and cool some youth pastors seem to be krunking it up a notch. And sadly there’s little time or none spent studying the Bible. Or I could just be wrong.
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A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 