As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Where are the pastors and missionaries for the next generation? Where are the leaders to be trained? The laborers have always been few (Luke 10:2). But why do they seem even fewer in the twenty-first century? Even more troubling, why are so many churches today no longer training leaders? Here are five possible reasons.
“Pastors who prioritize their families and bring them into ministry are more likely to find ministry longevity. Pastors who more strongly agree they put their family first when time conflicts arise are 1.7 times more likely to still be in pastoral ministry.” - Lifeway
“Harnessing the power of interaction should be one of your highest priorities when leading a Bible study. To do so, you must master four types of Bible study discussion questions.” - Word by Word
“In this episode, Ligon Duncan and Matt Smethurst discuss what church discipline is (and isn’t), why healthy congregations practice it… advice for fostering a culture in your church where discipline will seem faithful, not foreign.” - TGC
“Most of the time, fraud doesn’t begin with bad intentions. It often starts with a lack of oversight or one person carrying too much responsibility. Over time, those gaps can open the door for mistakes or misuse. Add in life pressures or financial struggles, and the temptation to cut corners can be real.” - Baptist Press
“There was the time a church fought over the appropriate length of the pastor’s beard… We witnessed a conflict over people leading worship with their eyes closed during a portion of the song. One church held two business meetings to determine which weed-eater to purchase.” - CPost
“When it comes to song selection, it draws deeply from the rich history of Christian hymnody while including the best of the songs written in recent years. It is perhaps slightly stacked toward the works of Keith and Kristyn Getty and their associated musicians (e.g. Matt Boswell, Matt Papa) but it is, after all, a Getty product.” - Challies
“While I agree with some of Gifford’s concerns, I’m grateful that counseling and medical interventions are more readily available. If humans are both body and soul, and both are broken, then we need holistic help, which sometimes isn’t available within the local church.” - TGC
“We need to win these people. They are not coming because they are Christians, but because of what Christianity offers. Many fundamentalist churches are not used to having unsaved visitors walk through their doors, but until we are sure of their salvation testimony, we must be in evangelism mode.” - P&D
Discussion