pastoral ministry

Preacher has enough violence to satisfy a small planet of adolescent boys. It also has church budget meetings.

The woman looked at me with fear, pain, and trust—all things that the church has instilled in its faithful all these centuries.

Those of us who sought to change the congregation's communion practice met with indifference. So late one Saturday I took matters into my own hands.

You knew about weakness before you were ordained. Yet something made you get out of the boat and try to walk.

I keep a 36-inch utility shovel in my church office. I use it to dig the graves that hold the cremains of our congregation's saints.

There's a subtext to lots of sermons I hear, and some I preach: Discomfort is avoidable. Here's my formula. It's the promise of all bogus religion.

When it comes to equal pay for women, the church should do better than employers generally, not worse.

We pastors are not likely to encounter Jephthah. But we might encounter someone like the young man who sought me out after a stint in jail.

Some churches have well-developed processes of assessment, support, and goal setting. Others have no review mechanism whatsoever.

What I miss most is not the preaching itself but the preparing, the rhythm, the demand, and the discipline.

My radiation treatment meant I'd lose my voice for six weeks, and our church couldn't afford pulpit supply. So the people decided to be my voice.

Each day in the U.S., nine churches close their doors for good. This isn’t news—but it’s hard to talk about when it’s your church.

Everyone is ready to bow a knee at the mention of Bonhoeffer’s name. Precious few of us have even heard of Ralph Hamburger.

In response to our request for essays on risk, we received many compelling reflections. Here is a selection.

"Sam!" she says. She's greeting me as if I changed her life. Unfortunately, I haven't a clue who she is.

We all live with many callings in life, and the greatest is not to be a pastor—much less to be in the right job at a particular congregation.

Paul MacInnes’s tongue-in-cheek column on “jobs a robot could never steal” got me to thinking: could a robot ever take the place of a pastor?

Sadly, I have to conclude that a robot could replicate a lot of what the average cleric does, or even do it better.

Larry wondered what Stan wanted to see him about. Stan was not the sort of parishioner who often asked for counsel or help with a problem.

I have pastored the same church for 18 years. That's not exactly a towering pinnacle, but it does provide some interesting views.