WHO CARES IF GOD CALLS US OR NOT?

LET’S GATHER WITH OTHER CLERGY

I’m working on some material for the next conference of the Presbytery Pastoral Care Network, www.pastoralcarenetwork.org . You might want to check it out. We will be meeting in Louisville the week following Easter. APRIL 18-21, 2017

Come on, you will be too exhausted to do any constructive work that week anyway. Why not get together with other clergy who care about being healthy and have some fun and be refreshed. If your presbytery is a member of PPCN, you can have them send you at a discount. We need to discuss with other clergy where we are in the changing church environment.

THE CHANGING CHURCH/DENOMINATION

I don’t have to tell you that the church is changing. With that change comes some new forms of stress for clergy as well as churches. While we don’t know the final shape, it is clear that all denominations are going to be restructuring themselves and trying to reimagine their role in a downsized format. While I believe that churches will continue to need some form of connectionalism, the shift from organizational hierarchy that emerged after WWII seems inevitable.

A quick test. If you were to identify four ways that being connected and communicating with other churches benefits the Body of Christ, what would they  be? If you were to identify four characteristics of the structure of denominations that will likely fade away, what would they be? While you are at it, release your theological imagination and consider what four instructions God might give to denominations as they are reshaping themselves? If you just read this but were too busy to try to write out your answers, shame on you. Go ahead, you will be surprised at what you discover.

GOD’S CALL IN CONFUSING TIMES

All Scripture testifies to the truth that God continues to call people to service in good times and bad. The difficulty is in sensitizing our ear to hear God’s call in confusing times. The denominations will change, as will the churches, be they connected for independent. Local churches may take on entirely new forms. All of those changes will have a profound effect on those who are called to be clergy. Yes, I’m reformed enough to believe that everyone has a call from God, but I want to focus on God’s call to clergy and educators who serve local churches.

jesus calls us o’er the tumult

The focus of the next Presbytery Pastoral Care Network conference, April 18-21, 2017 in Louisville will be on how to hear and respond to God’s call in a confusing world.

CONSIDER JOINING US. WWW.PASTORALCARENETWORK.ORG

It’s a serious topic but we can have fun in exploring it. In the next blog, I’m going to suggest a game that we might use to explore God’s call, especially in confusing times. Even if you don’t come to the conference, you might consider trying some form of the game at a presbytery meeting or clergy retreat.

The third verse of Jesus calls us goes: “In our joys and in our sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease, still he calls, in cares and pleasures, ‘Christian, love me more than these.'”  NOT BAD ADVICE.