Sean Corser is a Christian, husband, father, pastor, teacher, and aspiring writer. Stay tuned for new sermons and articles weekly.
As I now enter into a regular preaching ministry, I have learned some things that I hope will be encouraging. No doubt, these lessons will change as I experience and learn new things. It really makes me wish I knew more about my 35, 45, and 55-year-old self. But, as they say, maturity and growth, faithfulness and obedience, don’t manifest overnight. These characteristics take time. So with that in mind, here are 3 things I have learned while preaching regularly.
In the fast paced world that we live in the stress to do more is always tugging for our attention. Between evaluation tools and metrics, we as a society are driven by accomplishments and the mindset that more is always better. In Do More Better: a practical guide to productivity, author Tim Challies looks into what it looks like to be biblically productive.
Are you a Revitalizer? Are you intimately pursuing Jesus? Are you zealously prioritizing your members looking more like Jesus? Are you faithfully in this for the long haul? Are you selflessly motivated by growing his kingdom, and lastly are you joyfully able to compromise?
These are not must haves, but they are important gauges in discerning your fit in the ministry of Church Revitalization. You want to know something though? You may have 2 or 3 attributes today and God may grow you by the power of His Spirit. As he is revitalizing his church he will simultaneously be revitalizing you.
Humility, not humiliation, is essential. Growing downward was a practice in preaching the gospel to himself that many in ministry, especially those in a revitalization setting, should strive for. It was the seed that blossomed patience. But not merely patience in isolation, it also led to perseverance in his ministry, something all pastors, but especially those revitalization must possess.
Anxiety can be crippling, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Scripture, and Jesus’ very words, speaks to us in our anxiety and breaks forth in glorious hope.
Many churches look for a pastor who fits a certain “portrait”. Most often this entails age, marrital status, children, experience, etc. while not delving into the qualifications set forth in scripture. Seek a pastor who is about the word.
Written 6 years ago, this encompasses my thoughts on membership to a local church.
