October is Pastor Appreciation Month. While one month is not enough to show appreciation to pastors, it’s an opportunity to focus on the work, ministry and difficulty of being a pastor. I was called to a...
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Credentialed Mennonite ministers are a unique lot, yet our experiences are diverse. In some congregations, a theological understanding of the priesthood of all believers diminishes the significance of pastors....
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For Mennonite pastors, conversations about boundaries can be difficult. Recent cases of boundary violations have rocked theological and institutional understandings of ourselves. In Pennsylvania, the public...
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Preaching is a privilege, a frightening task. By frightening, trembling before God is meant, not a fear of speaking in public. Jesus said we are judged by our words (Matt. 12:36-37). James said people should...
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Ordination is a big deal. It only happens once in a lifetime. There is a standard litany for ordination. But, being a writer, as I prepared for my ordination last month, I couldn’t help rewriting the...
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I met Urbane Peachey about 20 years ago. I’d just accepted an invitation to serve as interim pastor for Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, Pa. He was one of the pastors at Akron Mennonite Church, the...
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A long time ago in the big city, I was a graduate student studying the New Testament. My wife and I had another student and his wife over for supper, and we were talking shop: Bible and theology, church and...
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A part of Audrey Hindes always wanted to be a pastor. Even as a child, she took seriously the suggestion to read her Bible every day. “When I went to Fresno Pacific University my freshman year, according to...
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Many who preach regularly are finding it a tough navigation in the pulpit in the United States. Our highly politicized environment means it’s difficult to find ways to speak that are both relevant and...
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I look forward to reading the work of pastors. Pastors live close to the ground, in the muck and mire, vulnerable to the minutiae of birth, death and all the life in between. Pastors quickly learn everything...
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I rarely identify myself as a pastor. Other trades I inhabit — writer, nonprofit administrator, professor — require less explanation. They come with lower expectations and fewer inhibitions. If you meet me...
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Our MYF was meeting on a Wednesday night at the church for games and Bible study. We were a lively and precocious bunch of 20 teenagers, often running our own program without the input of adult sponsors. As...
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When I signed my first pastoral contract and began trading my Atlanta wardrobe for suburban Chicago, I took a long look in my closet and asked myself: Am I willing to give up skinny jeans? I don’t think...
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A great deal of my pastoral time is spent dreaming. Last week I sat at my desk, dreaming about what the congregation could look like in five years or 10 years. When I thought about what sort of leadership they...
[read more]GOSHEN, Ind. — Half of Mennonite pastors have some level of concern about their personal finances, according to an Everence survey. The survey shows 25 percent have concerns about meeting their financial...
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One great thing about being a parent is how heartwarming moments can happen at any time and often take us by surprise. Such was the case the other day as my daughter, Julia, and I discussed the end of her...
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Thriving in ministry doesn’t depend solely on what any one pastor does or doesn’t do. Congregations play a critical role. I know that my church has done a great deal to support and enable me to thrive. So...
[read more]Excluding LGBT people has become the main default agenda of some Mennonite congregations. The recently announced new fellowship of congregations appears to have fallen in line with all the other groups who...
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