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For most pastors and church staff members, gone are the days of serving at the same church for twenty or thirty years. What’s more, the landscape of pastoral hiring has changed, with the advent of more sophisticated search committees, the Internet, and professional search firms. But the fine art of changing churches or moving to a new career isn’t something most of us learned in seminary.Whether you are searching for your first position or are a seasoned veteran wrestling with if, when, and how to move on, Moving On, Moving Forward will help you navigate the ins and outs of the ministry employment maze. Based on research with nearly 200 pastors who themselves have gone through transitions in ministry, this book uniquely addresses the needs of people in ministry. It deals with the crucial and sometimes painful emotional and familial issues involved in ministry transition. And it is immensely practical and informed by many real-life examples. Topics covered include dealing with search committees, writing a letter of resignation, preparing a resume, negotiating compensation, and more. Includes charts and worksheets.
Surveys of pastoral staff repeatedly show that senior or supervising pastors consistently rate their working relationships with their associate staff members higher than do the associate staff members. Satisfaction levels follow similar patterns. In many cases, supervisors are not aware of or attentive to the concerns of their staff, and yet, these staff members are critical to the success of the church. Supervising and Supporting Ministry Staff is a research-based guide to the senior/associate staff relationship that is filled with real-life stories and practical advice to help readers negotiate their staff relationships successfully. The book focuses not only on the business mechanics of the supervisor/supervisee relationship, but also the full experiences of the associate staff, including emotional and spiritual needs. This helpful resource addresses congregations of all sizes across denominations and discusses a range or supervisor/supervisee relationship types.
Churches large and small across the world and in every denomination have rising numbers of single people on their leadership staff. This book presents a research-based perspective on the joys, opportunities, and challenges of being single in vocational ministry. Through extensive interviews and focus groups, the authors present both a practical application and a positive message for those serving God as single clergy or pastoral leaders.
This vital revised and expanded update to How to Thrive in Associate Staff Ministry (Alban, 2000) provides guidance to the growing population of staff members employed by churches. Churches are expanding their staffs, but the turnover rate remains high, often due to stress, isolation, and conflict on the job. Lawson and Boersma address what it takes to thrive personally, professionally, and relationally within associate staff ministry. Based on updated research and interviews with over 600 veteran associate staff members from many different denominations, Lawson and Boersma describe the priorities, attitudes, and practices that can help associate staff members thrive in their ministry roles....
This text features a yearlong program of sermons for Sunday mornings and evenings--including outlines, illustrations, and hymn selections along with suggestions for midweek services, Bible studies, weddings, funerals, and more.
Ten years ago a breakthrough book launched a ministry that has helped more than one million people overcome this world and win the battle for their hearts and minds. Now Neil Anderson has revised and expanded Victory over the Darkness for a new generation of readers, outlining practical and more productive ways to Christian growth based on Christ’s promise, You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Victory Over the Darkness emphasizes the importance of believing and internalizing the cardinal truths of Scripture as a base from which to renew the mind and fend off the attempts of Satan to convince us that we are less than Christ empowers us to be.
By providing case studies of Christian organizations and networks which have recently undergone succession, and drawing upon perspectives from leadership theory, psychology, organizational development, and theology, this work shows multiple overlapping aspects of succession. These facets include plans, processes, gender implications, theologies of leadership, successor origins, relationship between outgoing and incoming leaders, selection methods, and organizational beliefs manifested in succession ceremonies. An analysis of the various successions studied reveals the need for the organization or network to reflect on its own understandings and theologies of leadership; without so doing, organizational succession could be impaired. While exploring the complexities of leadership succession, particularly founder succession, this book provides clear lessons and guidance for those navigating such transitions in leadership.
"Why do the first generation still act like that?" "Why can't we try some new ideas?" "Why are the second generation so lazy?" "Why are the second generation so disrespectful?" "Isn't it a shame how the church is split between the two generations?" These and many more questions reflect the tangled conflicts within the Asian American church. Cultural differences have led to many misunderstandings and conflicts. Conflicts have created bitterness and churches have split apart. How can these tangled threads be rewoven into a beautiful tapestry of God's grace? What would it take for the Asian American church to reflect God's grace? In Tapestry of Grace, Dr. Benjamin C. Shin and Dr. Sheryl Takagi Silzer apply their years of study and teaching to explain how the cultural complexities that occur between the different generations of the Asian American church can be untangled. Taking lessons from their own spiritual journeys, they show how each generation can experience the amazing grace of the Gospel.
As the second book in the Explorations in Theological Field Education series,Empower is a toolkit for mentors working with beginning ministers. Chapters from ministry practitioners and field education program directors offer lessons gained through hundreds of hours of mentoring experience. Seasoned practitioners reveal how to do the work of mentoring in ways that are “fitting” to the particular needs of students with whom they have worked. This volume, then, is not a cookbook or a manual. It is itself a mentoring guide to those who wish to deepen and expand the craft of mentoring. Its goal is to meet ministry mentors in their journey towards skillful mentoring, and to provide guidance and support to help them hone their craft.