Category Archives: Church Life

The PK Parishioner (4)

April 11, 2013 By in Church Life, Pastoral Ministry

church doorsAlthough there can be hard things about being an adult pastor’s kid in a church not pastored by your father, being a pk in different congregation can also be a blessing. Here are some of the perks I’ve discovered.

First, you know what the ministry is like. You understand what life is like for your pastor’s family like few other people can and so you can pray for them accordingly. You might not even talk to them much, but you pick up on vibes, clues, or just common pk knowledge, and pray in a more informed way than you would be able to if you had not grow up in a pastor’s home. It will be a blessing to their ministry even if they are unaware of it.

And hard as it can be to have to earn the trust of a congregation, it’s good for you. When you are the new member and nobody knows your dad, you can’t rest on your pk laurels. Continue reading →

The PK Parishioner (3)

April 10, 2013 By in Church Life, Pastoral Ministry

firstpresI never thought too much about it at the time, but growing up, I sort of assumed that once I moved out of the house, I would effectively stop being a PK: someone else would be my pastor, I would not play board games in the basement while Dad counseled an engaged couple upstairs, and I would not hear the phone ring in the middle of the night. Wrong.

It’s true, my dad is no longer my pastor, I don’t play board games much, and though I’m married to a pastor, he’s serving as a professor and students don’t tend to call at 2 A.M. But being a pastor’s kid never stops. Continue reading →

Minding Our Own Reproductive Business

February 26, 2013 By in Church Life, Motherhood, Women

9 monthsA couple weeks ago I talked with some young mothers about inappropriate questions that they have had to answer. I’ve had the same questions, and though answering them has not caused me any grief, they easily could have. Questions like, “Are you pregnant?” “Do you guys have a hard time getting pregnant?” “How many kids do you want?” “Is this one a surprise?” “Why don’t you guys have (more) kids?” These questions are different than learning how to think through an issue like family planning by asking someone for their thoughts. Genuine learning questions are in a separate category.

But inquiring into very personal matters out of curiosity, a desire to know, an inability to make conversation on other topics, or as a misapplied expression of care, is a bad idea. Such questions, and any like them, are ones that only very close family and friends should ask, and even then with caution, forethought, and not in the church foyer. If you are not a very close family member or friend, it’s a good idea to stay away from this topic. Why? Because: Continue reading →

Street Preaching

January 3, 2013 By in Church Life, Gospel, Video

A friend just passed along this great youtube video of a street preacher in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina on New Years Eve, 2012.

It made me wonder… For all the conferences and coalitions, for all the togetherness around the gospel there is in evangelical and Reformed communities, what would the vitality of the church be like, how much more would God be glorified in the West and around the world, if we grew in simply taking up or purposely creating opportunities to speak the Word of God to friends, neighbors, and communities? Continue reading →

Caring for your pastor

October 17, 2012 By in Church Life

It is fairly rare in the Christian world to read anything on caring for your pastor. Undoubtedly this is in part because most people qualified to write on the topic are pastors, and writing about how you ought to be cared for is an awkward, if not precarious thing to do. As an ordained minister who is serving as a professor rather than as the pastor of a congregation I realized I have a unique window of opportunity to note a comment recorded in Faith Cook’s biography William Grimshaw of Haworth (Banner of Truth, 1997). Grimshaw ministered in the 18th century in the English town later made famous by the Bronte sisters. In the book, Cook cites the advice given by William Grimshaw to two young men who were just entering into gospel ministry, as recorded by Thomas Mitchell:

“One time Paul Greenwood and I called at his house together and he gave us a very warm exhortation which I shall never forget. He said, ‘If you are called to preach the gospel, all hell will be up in arms against you. Prepare for battle and stand firm in the good ways of God. Indeed you must not expect to gain much of this world’s goods by preaching the gospel. What you get must come through the devil’s teeth, and he will hold it fast as he can. I count every covetous man to be one of the devil’s teeth. And he will let nothing go for God but what is forced from him.’”
Continue reading →

The Songs We Sing

August 6, 2012 By in Church Life

The following article is a guest contribution by Peter Kemeny, pastor of Good News Presbyterian Church in Frederick, Maryland. It was first published in the monthly church newsletter and is republished here with the author’s permission.

We are a congregation that largely sings historic hymns and psalms. Our song list includes only a handful of contemporary hymns. Occasionally I’m asked, “Why don’t we sing more contemporary songs?” That’s a fair question. My answer is that we are indifferent about the era in which a song was written. Our interest is in singing songs that join quality lyrics with quality music. Continue reading →

Shower Up-Grade

May 21, 2012 By in Church Life, Women

At some point, the congregation where I grew up had a great idea. They decided to re-examine what they were doing at baby and bridal showers given by the congregation to brides and new mothers.

Here were times where all ages and stages of women got together, and while the food was always great and the games were fun, we really could be redeeming the time a little better. We were willing to help a woman at a new stage of life prepare materially by giving her gifts, and had a brief devotional but we weren’t doing much at the shower to help her prepare spiritually for her new calling. Continue reading →