Somewhere in our tradition, the idea of the autonomy of the local church was hatched. We know what gave rise to it. Local autonomy was a response to the hierarchal denomination model in which bishops and the like directed the decision making from some lofty cathedral to local congregations. Someone thought, “What if we empower…
Melbourne academic, David Tacey, was recently quoted as saying, “(Evangelical Churches) are passionate in what they do but their political and social attitudes are wildly reactionary. They are anti-multicultural, anti other religions, saying that Christianity is the only way to God. No educated person would say that.” (Western Australian, 1 March 2003) As enlightened people,…
Pop quiz: Which long running TV show family practices regular church attendance, have next-door neighbours who are born again Christians, and feature the local pastor as on-going characters in the show? Give up? It’s the Simpsons, Yes, the nefarious Bart and Homer. Tony Campolo once wrote, “We have met the enemy and they are partly…
Once an indignant parishioner approached me, “Why don’t we forbid unbelievers from partaking of Holy Communion because they are unknowingly bringing judgment upon themselves?” Yes, imagine, in the last days, a person stands before God and hears, “You rejected my Son…but what really fries me is that you ate communion one Sunday!” Yes, I see…
People will often ask, “How did you go about advancing the ministry at Subiaco Church?” When I came to Subiaco in 1989, it was known for its Bible teaching but it had a tendency toward being insular and inward looking. They preached the Bible and talked about outreach to the community in the sincerest terms,…
Imagine with me that a single, close friend has been seeing the same woman for almost a year. He decides it’s time to pop the question, to propose marriage. He plans a romantic evening and gets an engagement ring and flowers. He’s all set for the big occasion. When the time rolls around, seated for…
Over the years, you hear stories, unbelievable stories of pastors and the congregations falling out. One young pastor got into a shouting match with one of the elders during the Sunday morning message. The pastor abruptly marches down the aisle right out the front door of the chapel in the middle of his message and…
The saying goes, “When all you’re armed with is an elephant gun, everywhere you look, you see an elephant.” The speaker repeatedly reloads the gun and takes aim at the same target week after week because that’s what on his or her mind. In this case, the pain is felt in the pew. Conversely, the…
Five years ago, we embarked on an experiment to run an “unplugged, café style” worship service. This was going to be church for people who don’t like church. (How many times have we heard that statement in the past year?) Nine months later, we scrapped the whole mess. Our highest attendance figures came at the…
When I first read Gary McIntosh’s account, it both reminded me of my own past and helped me take aim on the future. McIntosh was an associate pastor in a large, 500+ church before accepting the call to a solo pastorate in a small and declining fellowship of 35 members. For the first six months,…