Pew Warming Prohibited: Serve the Saints

“Some Christians act like they are going to the movies. As if to say, “I’ve paid my entrance fee in the offering box, now I want to sit back and enjoy the show. I hope the pastor’s funny this morning. I hope the band plays my favorite hymn, and I really hope the noisy toddlers have someone to look after them on the playground.” But the church isn’t for entertainment, it’s worship. And God is worshipped by service.”

“A Hedging and Fencing”: How Charles Spurgeon Promoted Meaningful Membership

“If you’ve ever heard the story of Spurgeon’s life and ministry, you’ve probably heard something about all the sermons he preached,  the books he published, the orphanages he started, the Pastors’ College he ran, and on and on. But we tend to overlook that, more than anything else, Spurgeon was a pastor. He wasn’t primarily a Christian speaker or CEO-at-large. No, he pastored a local church. And as a Baptist, one of his fundamental convictions was that churches should only be made up of born-again believers.”

The Grace of Pastoral Finesse

There is a certain way that pastors can respond to and in difficult situations. That response calls for a sense of finesse. This post offers several principles for approaching these difficult situations with pastoral finesse.