Category: faith

twisted pressure on pastors

Brian shared some thoughts on the encounter blog about pastors and a new book by George Barna, Pagan Christianity…

  • 94 percent feel pressured to have an ideal family
  • 90 percent work more than 46 hours a week
  • 81 percent say they have insufficient time with their spouse
  • 80 percent believe that pastoral ministry affects their family negatively
  • 70 percent do not have someone they consider a close friend
  • 70 percent have lower self-esteem than when they entered the ministry
  • 50 percent feel unable to meet the demands of the job
  • 80 percent feel discouraged and deal with depression
  • more than 40 percent report that they are suffering from burnout, frantic schedules, and unrealistic expectations
  • 33 percent consider pastoral ministry an outright hazard to their family
  • 33 percent have seriously considered leaving their position in the past year
  • 40 percent of pastoral resignations are due to burnout

Brian says he’s rarely faced any of these issues since encounter began, but I wonder if there are other pastors in our lives that might be struggling with these issues while there are things we can take off their plate, encourage them about, or ensure them that its not expected of them.

Tony Jones and Collin Hansen discuss their “movements”

ChristianityToday is sharing an e-mail exchange between Tony Jones and Collin Hansen as they discuss their most recent books and their “movements” within Christianity.

Tony Jones is the national coordinator of Emergent Village and author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. Collin Hansen is editor-at-large of Christianity Today and author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. Both books take a sympathetic journalistic approach to a young but growing movement in American Christianity, examining why it’s growing and how it’s changing the larger church.

From Tony Jones:

Where we probably differ is not so much on theology, but on epistemology. That is, it seems the difference between the people you profile in Young, Restless, Reformed seem pretty darn sure that they’ve got the gospel right, whereas the Emergents that I hang out with are less sure of their right-ness. In fact, they’re less sure that we, as finite human beings, can get anything all that right.

The discussion is being spread over three days. You can read the first two days online now, and tomorrow the third installment will be posted.

Thanks to John for the tip.

Love wins

I was reminded of this quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today.

“I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you…. But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

Sounds like Dr. King saw a third-way. It wasn’t running. It wasn’t hitting back. It was standing up – reaching out – and loving.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” – Jesus (Matthew 5)

Christians in politics

A question I keep dealing with, struggling with, etc. etc., is just how involved should Christians be in politics, government and authority. Should Christians strive to take over the government and introduce laws that support all our beliefs, should we run away into the desert or is there a true third way?

NPR’s Speaking of Faith hosted a discussion between Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, Shane Claiborne to discuss the role of Christians in government.

“The U.S. currency says ‘In God We Trust’ but our economy reeks of the seven deadly sins.” – Shane Claiborne

The show has a lot of great discussion between the three as well as additional notes and such on their website. Check out the site to listen, watch and discuss.

Encourage the prisoner/the persecuted

Got this via e-mail today…

On May 11, 2005 Evangelist Girmay Ambaye, was arrested by security police in Eritrea for witnessing about Christ to people on a city bus. It is the third time Ambaye has been imprisoned for his faith in the last few years.
Please send a letter of encouragement and let Evangelist Ambaye know that you are praying for him and other persecuted believers in Eritrea. Let your friends know about the suffering Christians in Eritrea and encourage them to pray and write to Ambaye.
Your letters make a difference sometimes resulting in shorter prison sentences. Write to Ambaye today and let him know you are praying for him.

According to PrisonerAlert.com there are a number of other Christians being held for their faith in countries around the world.

China – 8
Eritrea – 4
North Korea – 1
Uzbekistan – 1
Vietnam – 2

I’m sure these aren’t the only ones, but they are the ones PrisonerAlert.com (Voice of the Martyrs) is aware of and highlighting. Take a moment and send some encouraging words to our brothers and sisters around the world.

Strangers bring us closer to God

Sara Miles didn’t grow up in the church – she just walked in one day – and now she runs a food pantry right out of the very sanctuary she came to know God in. She shared her story on NPR’s “This I Believe” segment.

That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I’d thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.

I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others — particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception — not something to be doled out to insiders or the deserving.“

Listening to the story and reading along gave me chills – especially when she came to the ending:

But I learned that hunger can lead to more life — that by sharing real food, I’d find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread, I’d experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.

listen to the full story

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ – Matthew 25:35 & 36