Category: Caring For Your People

No, not your kids. Or your other rellies. It’s your congregation! Those folks who call your church their home. The ones you preach to each week. The ones who are so able to bring great joy and great drama all in the one hit. They are getting more like you every day. The longer you […]

Any mention of “boiling the billy” quickly recalls the image of the camp fire, of the drovers and their dogs, of great herds of cattle toiling along the endless stock routes of the inland, of an era which is almost past. See the curling smoke drifting carelessly skyward into the orange glow of another day […]

The meeting was a tough one. The pastor and elders met to reflect on the growing unrest in the church. Harmony just now was eluding everyone. After the elders left, the pastor said quietly, “I think I know the real problem. It has just struck me. I do not love these people.” Despite several years […]

Uncertainties about the value of pastoral visitation are sometimes expressed by busy ministers in the well-worn declaration, “I do not have the time to have cups of tea with little old ladies.” Now what’s wrong with cups of tea and, more particularly, with little old ladies who apparently do not need active pastoral interest? The […]

Too often we see the parts of ministry rather than the whole. There’s a big difference between the assembly line putting the whole car together and the spare parts shop where you can buy single items. You can drive the car but a wheel bearing on its own won’t get you far. The spare parts […]

From time to time difficult moments arise for pastors because they know too much rather than too little. The trusted pastor will be the listener to many conversations where personal secrets, disappointments, failures and traumas are shared by the needy, the lonely, the hurting. These confidences are often unveiled as part of a desperate search […]

Most congregations include a few people who love to exercise their own personal power. They are genuine control freaks. Many a pastor will quietly disclose their own struggles with powerful people (PP) whose special calling appears to be the total unsettlement of the congregation. Are PP a recent addition to the community of faith?  Hardly! […]

The more effective the congregation is in reaching and welcoming all comers, the greater the likelihood of embracing a growing battalion of broken people all needing help of one kind or another. There is one group which is proving to be a genuine headache: they are the damaged people.  This description is offered with love, […]

Good strategies for ministry are a bit like new drugs: they offer excellent outcomes initially but you can never predict the side effects. It is so easy to try new angles in the Lord’s service with all good intention not realising that there may be some very real down sides. The old formula of three […]

What do you mean, did I see Him? You know, was He there? Well, of course, He was. That’s what worship is all about. We come together to worship Him, to be in His presence. How do we know we are in His Presence? Because there’s a real feeling of love, you know acceptance, of […]

If only Paul had known about Macro Faith! It could have transformed his ministry. MF (especially designed for caring pastors with moderate computer skills) is a windows wonder. At long last the intricacies of pastoral leadership have been simplified to maximise your day. User friendly MF will alleviate all the headaches which go with Christian […]