The Graying of the American Pulpit: A Perfect Storm Isn’t Coming. It’s Here.
INTRODUCTION Across all denominations, the pastorate in America is aging at an alarming rate. Every year, Journey Pastoral Coaching reports on the crucial issue. With denominational statistics for 2021 recently released, it’s time to examine the landscape again. THE APPROACH We will again examine the graying of the American pulpit by focusing on four sets of statistics. Individually and collectively, these numbers reveal how rapidly credentialed ministers in the American church are aging. Our examination...
How the Church is Canceling Itself
As a full-time pastoral coach, I spend my weeks on the phone, talking with members of Journey Pastoral Coaching across the country. It is both a full and fulfilling ministry. I thank God for what I am privileged to do with my life. To raise the financial support needed to sustain this ministry, I also travel, preaching in churches, conferences, and retreats across the country. While the travel is tough, the ministry of preaching and...
Pastoral Paintings and Windows: On the Easel of the Master
In his essential read, Dangerous Calling, Paul David Tripp writes: “(Pastors must) quit being a painting that (people) gaze at, and start being a window to the One who is your and their hope.” One of the joys of being a missionary to Western Europe for many years was the privilege of visiting many of its great museums - from Ireland to Greece and almost every country in between. Each was a treasure trove of...
Guest Blog: Avoiding a Slow Ministry Death – 4 Essentials
Editor’s Note: The author of this article, Brandon Horst, lives in the Fairfax, Virginia area where, along with his wife Hannah, he serves as Family Pastor at Centrepointe Church. He is also a member of Journey Pastoral Coaching and represents Journey to ministers and ministries across the country. What do the Bible, pop music, poetry, and Hollywood all have in common? “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back...
Burnout – Part Two
In Part One of this two-part look at burnout in the ministry, we looked at two subjects: · the signs of burnout and · the causes of burnout. You can read that article here. In this follow-up, we will consider · the actions we can take to avoid burnout, and · how to deal with it if it has found its way into our life. QUESTION: How can we avoid the causes of burnout? We...
Burnout
A few months ago, I sat down with Pastor Daniel Day, host of The Daniel Day podcast. Click on the link to be directed to his always quality podcasts. The topic was burnout: the what and the why of it; what we can do to prevent burnout and what to do when it burrows its way into our lives. Here’s the quick text version of that interview. Click on the link above and scroll down...
Pastoral Abuse: The Dirty Little Secret
In previous articles, I’ve written often about the graying of the pulpit in the American evangelical church. The average age of pastors is increasing at an alarming rate. Within my own denomination (Assemblies of God), the current aging trajectory says that by the time my five-year old granddaughter graduates college, the average age of an AG senior pastor will be 67 years old; by the time my four-month old granddaughter graduates college, the average age...
22/22 Vision: Part Two
INTRODUCTION In my previous article, I identified two foundational challenges for the church: Reality and Community. We are weak and weakening in both. And the prospects are not promising. Concerning the Church and Reality: Studies reveal the following statistics about the Evangelical Church (see part one for more): 79% of Evangelicals do not have a Christian Worldview. 52% of Evangelicals argue that people are basically good; 57% of Evangelicals say Jesus is not the only...
22/22 Vision: Part One
All indications say 2022 will be another challenging year for the American church. That means it will be another challenging year for those who lead the church. If we’re going to navigate it in strength, it will require not 20/20 rose-colored glasses, but 22/22 lenses. What are 22/22 lenses? They are lenses that see deeper and higher, lenses that see what is true. They enable us to see reality in 2022, lenses that do away...© [2015] — Journey Pastoral Coaching