Please pray

[oworm]

Brothers and sisters this is a serious request for prayer! I attended the Church of Scotland enquirers’ conference in January 2004 with a view to entering the lay pulpit supply ministry(We call it the readership in Scotland) I have had a strong desire to be involved in teaching ministry for some time and thought to test the call further. At the time I was a member of St Georges Tron church here in Glasgow under the ministry of Dr Sinclair B Ferguson. He responded to a call back to Westminster Theological Seminary at their newly formed Dallas campus. I felt unsettled and felt that I would like to be more involved in a ministry role. My own parish minister had requested prayer from the Tron (I wasn’t aware that my local minister was evangelical) as I live in his parish I thought it to be in God’s providence so I moved there with a view to “more active service” Although the minister was broadly evangelical most of the congregation were not. In fact the majority of the Kirk session was nominal in my estimation. No prayer meeting or mid week bible study and no outreach programme!

When I became a member I thought I could fit into an evangelistic/outreach role in the church and so I decided to further my theological knowledge by going on the readership training course.



After some months of thinking and praying about this it became clear to me that the problems in my new fellowship were much deeper than I had first thought. The preaching wasn’t as succinct and direct as I had been used to from my previous church. The congregation was very “inward looking”. The minister had laboured here for 30+ years with no visible fruit or growth.



Eventually I succeeded in my suggestions of having a weekly prayer/bible study group and initially we had 12-14 people attending. Meanwhile I had been voted onto the congregational board and took up the post of fabric convenor and church officer. I wrote articles for the church magazine which were quite overtly evangelical in their content. Usually of an exegetical nature taking a passage of scripture and expounding on it. They didn’t go down too well with some! I also kept a free book desk going but no one ever took the free literature and at one point the session clerk asked me to remove one particular book (‘Knowing God’ by JI Packer) Of course the minister was all for this but I got the distinct feeling as the months rolled by that he was happy for me to “Take the heat” as it were! Eventually he left me to lead the study group/prayer meeting and the numbers rapidly dwindled to only two of us.(Well scripture says:” Where two or three” so we were at the minimum!) We faithfully kept this going but in the background there were murmurings of “Waste of time!” As the months rolled into over a year it was quite plain to me that the gospel was being veiled. My desire for outreach and evangelism dwindled because in the words of CH Spurgeon “It would seem not good for a man to be converted under an evangelical ministry if he is to be brought into a congregation in which the atmosphere is arctic” My thoughts were that there would need to be some fishing within the boat before I could cast a net into the water. As the months rolled on I identified that there were infact some very poorly fed sheep in the fold who had never been taught that we need to “Gell” and become a real fellowship. I remember one particular conversation with a Christian lady who had no grasp of the Sovereignty of God and thought that He was “surprised by the little things we did for Him” My antenna glowed hot at the implication of her statement!



I was becoming increasingly agitated at this situation and despaired at the thought that I was living in a very needy parish full of people with no shepherd! I relayed this concern to a very dear friend who suggested that maybe I should become a shepherd. So exactly one year after attending the enquirers’ conference I enrolled again with a view to testing a call to full time ministry.

I have passed all the preliminary stages and have been appointed a coordinator who is a full time minister and will help me to test my call over the next six months. Thereafter I go onto a period of further assessment which will last another six months. Meanwhile our own minister has announced that he is demitting the charge and moving on which leaves my home church with no minister. He announced this at a joint meeting of the session and board on Wednesday evening. On Thursday I was informed that I should start attending my coordinators church with a view to being more involved in ministry activities. This means that I will also need to resign as church officer and board convenor at my own church. I can only come to the conclusion (After a pretty lengthy “prayer walk”) that the reason I was placed in my local church was to see how not to do it and as a warning that if the gospel is veiled death is imminent!



All things being equal I should be ordained in 2010 and I would dearly relish the challenge of being called back to my old church as minister. Of course I realise that the Lord may have other plans for me and It’s unlikely that I would be called back to a charge in which I was initially unpopular because of my evangelical stance.

I hope you will remember me and my home church in your prayers. Thankyou..

 

[JJB]

It would be my privilege, oworm, to pray for you and your home church.

 

[Jon_]

Wow. All I can say is

Soli Deo Gloria

Jon

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

Me Too.

Kenith

 

[erin74]

praying for you.

can I suggest a book though - actually 2.

"Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome" Kent Hughes. It's a really helpful one when assessing success in ministry - not about numerical growth, etc. But about how we conduct our ministry that we gauge success.

"Going the Distance" Peter Brain, Matthias Media. He is the bishop of our diocese here in Armidale. He has written this really helpful book to prevent burn out in ministers. It's a good one for both clergy and non-clergy. I think it's an important issue that is worth thinking about as a clergy/future clergy.

My hubby has found both these books really helpful.

 

[oworm]

praying for you.

can I suggest a book though - actually 2.

"Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome" Kent Hughes. It's a really helpful one when assessing success in ministry - not about numerical growth, etc. But about how we conduct our ministry that we gauge success.

"Going the Distance" Peter Brain, Matthias Media. He is the bishop of our diocese here in Armidale. He has written this really helpful book to prevent burn out in ministers. It's a good one for both clergy and non-clergy. I think it's an important issue that is worth thinking about as a clergy/future clergy.

My hubby has found both these books really helpful.

Thanks. I may look into them,got link to any reviews etc?

 

[erin74]

Here's the reviews you were after

Going the Distance — Evangelical Times, October 2004
This book is a ‘must have’ for anyone in pastoral ministry but it is also a book that all church leaders and members ought to read. It will be of immense help in interpersonal relationships in church life.

As the title suggests, it deals with how the pastor can sustain an effective ministry over the long haul until the time comes to break the tape at the end of the race. But Peter Brain effectively demonstrates that this is something in which the whole fellowship is involved.

The book was triggered by the number of people the author discovered who had left the ministry of God's Word because they had come into it with a ‘totally unrealistic set of expectations’.

He insists that disorganisation, ‘workaholism’ and not keeping the fourth commandment are matters to which the pastor must give attention.

There is a very helpful chapter on justification by faith, in which Brain deals with the question of the pastor's acceptance—‘My own worth and value does not depend upon my performance’ but rather upon my acceptance by God...</FONT>

My copy of this book is now copiously marked for future reference, and I only wish it had come into my hands many years ago.

Peter Culver, Bath

Evangelical Times, October 2004, Pg 22.

Here's another on "going the distance" from the matthias media website. I believe they sell in the uk with The Good Book Company.

Christian ministry is not a sprint; it’s a marathon, a long-term race, requiring not just initial enthusiasm and ability, but staying power.

Unfortunately, a growing number of Christian ministers don’t seem to possess that staying power. 44% of all pastors who have been involved in ministry for more than 15 years suffer from ‘burn out’, mental break down or serious illness. And that doesn’t include those who fail to continue in active ministry for other reasons, such as immorality or loss of faith.

Going the distance is about making sure you’re not one of those statistics.

Drawing on decades of biblical reflection and experience, Peter Brain explains how to keep fit mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually for the long-haul.

This is a book for anyone engaged in Christian ministry, whether lay or ordained, and would be an ideal book for pastors to read with their lay leaders.

Read review.

"This is a book of unusual insight and pertinent, practical wisdom for both the minister and the congregation, to enable them to live together in mutual respect and love, so as to model in their relationships the liberating grace of God, to whom they all belong. Every church leader and every church member would benefit from reading this book." David Jackman (Director, Cornhill Training Course, London)

And now to show I'm committed - the only review I have of Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome is from a journal from our bookshelf - so I'll type it for you.

How not to play the numbers game
reviewer - Sandy Grant

A class mate recommended I read Liberating Minisry from the Success Syndrome at theological college a decade ago. I'm glad I left it till now. The interveening hard slog in gospel ministry meant that I heard the Hughes's message much more clearly. For now I see how my desire to serve God effectively is often frustrated by my sin and inability.

the book was written after a quarter century's experience as a pastor adn pastor's wife, including a long-term, acclaimed ministry at College Church, Wheaton, USA (continuing today).
However, its genesis was an experience that almost broke Kent's desire to continue in ministry. He'd served happily as a youth and associate pastor. he then led a church plant. By his own testimony, it had everything going for it, including generous support from the founding church. But after much hard work, he found himself presiding over a declining church.

We expected to grow. but to our astonishment and resounding disappoingment, we didn't. In fact, after considerable time and incredible labor, we had fewer attenders than during the first six months. Our church was shrinking, and the prospects looked bad-really bad. (pp. 18-19)

The messages they received from seminary, church and colleagues, with their own assumptions, led them to think effective marketing, sociological match, generous sterwardship, true godliness from the church, and, in particular, expository preaching from Kent should lead to growth. They had "bought into the idea that success meant increased numbers" (p29).
With crucial support from his wife, Barbara, his experience of despair led Kent to search the Scriptures carefully to see what God said about success. Their fundamental conclusion was that God's servants are called to be faithful, not successful in the sense of numerical growth.
More than once, they quote 1 Corinthians 4:2: "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy". In fact, faithfulness is success before God. And this is possible for all believers, regardless of the size of their ministries.
The Hughes identify two key elements of faithfulness: (i) obedience to God's Word (eg Josh 1:7-8) and (ii) hard work (eg Matt 25:14-20). Although critiquing a trend towards over-protectiveness of a pastor's family and time off, they make it clear that hard work is not to be equated with workaholism.
In addition to these factors, they spend a chapter each on six futher aspects they think contribute to biblical success: serving; loving; believing (ie central truths like Christ as creator and redeemer); praying; holiness (especially regarding sex); and a positive attitude (rather than jealousy or negativism).
This is a fine list of qualities for ministry, and it was well applied. I had just three small qualifications. Firstly, I felt the chapter on prayer might produce further guilt for those who find it difficult, as I often do. Here I found helpful a chapter in the Hughes' other book, Common Sense Parenting. It includes a practical section on developing a prayer list.
Secondly, the Hughes give little biblical justification for making a 'positive attitude' a criterion for biblical success. Certainly, love is not envious, does not keep a record of wrongs and always hopes. but I am not sure if 'positive attitude' is the most helpful way of expressing this. Further, the extent to which optimism or pessimism is a peronality issue was not explored, beyond the statement that Paul was a 'type A' personality. What about those of us who aren't (eg the melancholic Jeremiahs)?
Thirdly, I wondered where a commitment to evangelism was in their list of factors for biblical success. I'm not suggesting pastors must all be equally gifted in this area. But surely a failure to be committed at a personal and church leadership level to the gospel's spread indicates a failure to imitate Christ's concern (Luke 15; 1 Cor 10:31-11:1). Perhaps evangelistic commitment should have been made explicit as a criterion for success.
The book's next section lists sources of encouragement. Here I was challenged by the reminder that God can work in the ordinary, even the weak; also by a chapter on cultivating friendship with your ministerial peers. which I have found essential.
However, I had reservations regarding his defence of the traditional 'ministerial call'. Commendably, Hughes did not make his experience normative, and recognised that people come to enter ministry in a variety of ways. Yet he does stress having a call as tremendously important to perseverance in ministry.
However parprt from an appeal to human experience, the only evidences given to substantiate this need were briefly footnoted examples in Scripture of the calls of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul and the Apostles' commissioning. No argument was offered as to why their experience should apply to us, especially given their exceptional roles in Scripture.
The book finishes with two supurb chapters on 'helps': how a pastor's wife can help; and how the congregation can help a pastor to be biblically successful, that is, faithful. However, a pastor may feel awkward suggesting his wife or congregation read them! Perhaps they might take the initiative to buy her/them a copy, bur read the relevant chapters themselves first. Maybe a regional bishop or overseer could distribute them to parish councils and eldership boards.
In recommending this book, it is important to realise that the Hughes are not against strategising for numerical gospel growth.

This does not mean numbers have no significance. They do. The scriptures record that three thousand were converted at Pentecost (Acts 2:41) and that Jesus fed five thousand (Matt 14:21). Numbers of souls saved and minstered to are important. They are substantive causes for rejoicing, because they indicate that the gospel touched many.

But the point of the Hughes's book is tat numbers by themselves do not mean success. They suggest that a response of only three at Pentacost or just five fed by Christ would not have indicated less success.
The Hughes also emphasize that this does not mean a pastor is free from accountability in matters such as work habits, administration, preaching and spiritual disciplines. In fact,

This does not release the pastor from the significance of attendance as an aspect of evaluation of ministerial effectiveness, but it does release him from the delusion that numbers mean success. (p190)

We would do well to remember both realities at present, where in my region we have been challenged to see at least 10% of our area in Bible-believing churches within a decade.
I have become convinced of the importance of numbers to God. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to make a concern for the increase in numbers perhaps his most frequently recorded comment in Acts (eg 2:41, 47, 4:4, 5:14, 6:1, 7, 9:31, 42, 11:21, 24, 14:1, 21, 16:5, 17:12), even more than his key comment that the word of God spread (only 6:7, 12:24, 19:20). Indeed, with his parable of the one lost sheep in a carefully numbered hundred (Luke 15:1-7), the Lord Jesus himself reminds us that numbers is made up of individuals who are precious to God.
However I have frequently wished to see numbers climb, knowing that a part of me would be glad of it so as to justify myself as a pastor. It is perhaps ironic in a book aiming to liberate us from an obsession with numberical success, that the publishers chose on my copy to inform us that the book was in its fifth printing! But perhaps more kindly, this simply sttests to the enormous felt need for help in this area. I plan to re-read this book before the next decade passes.

The last review was from The Briefing, Matthias Media, April 2003 issue 295.

Hope this helps.

erin

 

[oworm]

This is great Erin.Thankyou The name David Jackman made me sit up and take note. I've heard David speak and the cornhill trust is an offshoot of the proclamation trust which was started by Dick Lucas with a view to giving ministers and lay folk the chance to increase biblical knowledge. I will be looking out for these publications. thankyou again

 

[ClementofRome]

Prayers for certain. Blessings to you in your faithfulness.

 

[Kehaar]

Adding my prayers.

 

[theFijian]

Your story is an inspiration, I praise God for your commitment brother.

Blessings from Maryhill

 

[holeinone]

I will pray for your ministry call

 

[5solas]

I hope you will remember me and my home church in your prayers. Thankyou..

I surely will, brother!

 

[His]

 

[JJB]

oworm,
How are things going? God's been bringing your prayer request to mind frequently lately.

 

[edie19]

Oworm,

Praise God for your obedience and faithfulness - He will reward you, His servant. I'm honored to pray for you as you begin your seminary life.

edie

 

[5solas]

How are things going? We haven't heard from you for quite some time now....