The State of Pastors - Follow up

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Dear Pastors

Most every week I get a few responses and/or comments about my blog for which I am very grateful. Last week was certainly no exception. Richard Dawson has given me permission to share his response. Richard has been a Presbyterian Minister for 28 years and currently also serves as the Moderator of The Presbyterian Church in NZ (translated BIG Kahuna). This is what he wrote:-

“Yeh this reflects my ad hoc experience on the road over the last 18 months Alan. I would add,

1. The context in which we do church has become much tougher because

of the increasing ignorance of the basic Christian narrative within general society
the increasing negativity with which faith in general is treated
the increasing competitiveness between churches for the remaining faithful
the increasing fickleness of members in relation to their adherence to a church or congregation
the widespread belief, especially amongst the youth, of fundamental untruths about Christianity and faith in general which includes the belief that it is lacking an historical basis, based on a deliberate attempt by the ancient church to deceive the general public, largely an attempt to grab power, representative of the most egregious attitudes in society such as chauvinism, sexism, misogyny etc and finally vi) the inability of churches to find any real unity at a national level about the things which are important to us.

Add to this

2. A growing belief within our training schools that congregation life is no longer the best basis for Gospel proliferation or Christian discipleship

3. A lack of really good models of ministry in environments which are less than favourable (e.g. small churches and rural churches)

4. A fundamental lack of spirituality within our ministry training."

Let me comment on No. 1 above.

I couldn’t agree more with Richard about his analysis here about the wider NZ context and the Christian context we are now operating and living in. It’s a great summary. We all agree that society in general has become increasingly secular and many of us would agree that the Christian community sadly is quite divided and has largely lost its vibrancy and passion. It’s just another day at the office.

This makes all ministry much much harder without a doubt especially local church ministry/leadership. This in turn affects the state of pastors sense of wellbeing, particularly as far as their emotional resilience is concerned.

This new environment we are now operating in will require a new kind of pastor, a review of our ministry training concepts and programmes and a radical new approach to local church ministry. And that is enough content for a book certainly a few more blog posts. Stay tuned!

And finally. I am currently involved in a conversation that will quite likely result in an extensive Barna Study on the State of Pastors take place in NZ in the near future. Again, stay tuned!

Blessings

Alan

Mental Health and The Church. Please check out our website here. We have just announced our third speaker.

Mental Health and the Church

This years Mental Health and the Church conference is looking at anxiety, depression and suicidality of children and youth. If you work with children and teens, you will find this very applicable. The content can also be applied to working with adults who are struggling with these issues so come along if this is your context as well. Youth pastors, Pastors, Counsellors, Children's workers, Chaplains and Parents will all find this material valuable. Our keynote speakers are Dr Andrew Darby (Consultant Psychiatrist), Kathryn Berkett (Educational Psychologist) and Tricia Hendry (Author, Presenter).

The State of Pastors - Follow up

Mental Health and the Church

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