Mental illness has been a highly controversial topic in the Christian community for quite some time. When I was attending Seminary for my Master’s in Marriage and Family Counseling, there was a continuous debate between the school of theology and the school of education about mental health and what we should believe. When attending, I was often caught in conversations about mental illness and was led to consider by many that mental illness was solely a spiritual issue and that there…
By Darryl Dash I love learning from old, faithful pastors. We’re often drawn to the young and charismatic. I’m learning we need the veterans who served and finished well. William Still was such a pastor. He served for forty years (1945 until shortly before his death in 1997) in Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen, Scotland. Still gave five lectures on pastoral ministry in 1964 and 1965, which became the basis for his book The Work of the Pastor. Still has a…
By Thom Rainer As we look at the incredible response to the book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church, on its fifth anniversary, I think it’s worth noting why some members were really surprised when their church closed its doors. “I didn’t see it coming,” commented a member of a deceased church. She knew the church had declined, but she was not prepared for the demise of her congregation. In her church, and in many others, there are at least five…
By Michael Todd Wilson “Come . . . all who are . . . burdened. . . . my burden is light.” This is a very different kind of unburdening than we’d initially think and, on brief reflection, different than we might even want. The idea of being unburdened conjures up images of running a full-tilt Olympic sprint without restraints, completely unencumbered. We certainly have this in store for us in heaven, but this isn’t going to be our experience…
Thom Rainer in his small but powerful read I Am a Church Member, compares the difference between Country Club Membership and Church Membership. God clearly designed the church to act as a body, with each member actively serving for the mutual benefit of others, exercising their God-given spiritual gifts for the health and well-being of the body with the end result a healthy church involved in building God’s kingdom. However, the predominate trend that Rainer addresses is the country club…
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