Dr Paul Allen

Shepherding the church has the singular focus of feeding God’s people with His Word. Yet this work is not as easy as it may sound, for the church has a varied nature. Church leadership must recognize how vastly different are the people—and their needs—that make up a local congregation. This point is at the heart of Martin Bucer’s classic pastoral work Concerning the True Care of Souls. Though Bucer develops the doctrine of Christ’s headship over the church as its true Shepherd, that teaching does not come until his second chapter. In the opening chapter, Bucer cites numerous Scriptures to establish the variety within Christ’s body. He taught that in addition to a pastor, congregations need other lay shepherds who are “entrusted with the whole of the pastoral office.” In so doing, Bucer establishes the need for ruling elders. Bucer bases this work of shepherding on Ezekiel 34:16, where the Lord says, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injure

  Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am currently in Odessa, where all is still relatively well. Air raid alarms rarely sound. A couple of minutes ago, I heard shots from the sea. A rocket hit a house not far from the house where my mother is, but thankfully it did not explode. You may know what is happening in other cities from the news. My wife and children have gone to Poland, so I’m not worried. What of other Ukrainian Christians? What is the state of the church in Ukraine currently? There are some pastors and churches that are under fire in Kyiv every day and need the prayers of God’s people. There is the pastor of the Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church in Kyiv, Pastor Ivan Bespalov, with his family. Another Reformed pastor in Kyiv, Pastor Sergey Nakul, reported that his young son recently asked, “Dad, if Putin kills us, will we go to heaven?” “Yes, son, of course we will go to heaven.” Due to the chaos, I think that the state of the church here can be described as follows: a state of pra

Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church in Spruce Grove, Alberta was jailed this past Tuesday. As of February 17th, he remains imprisoned with a possible trial date to be set next week sometime. Currently, his wife and children are prohibited from visiting him. Coates is a graduate of the Master’s Seminary, was a personal classmate of mine, and has faithfully pastored Grace Life since 2010. Here is a brief summary of the situation. Grace Life suspended corporate worship services in the spring of 2020 in response to a largely unknown covid situation. On June 21st, the church resumed meeting for a corporate gathering. The lawyer representing the church stated, “Even in the summer of 2020, it had become apparent to congregants of Grace Life that government lockdowns cause far more self-imposed harm than the natural harm of covid.” In early July, two people who attended Grace Life tested positive for covid, upon which the church shut down for two weeks. They then resumed meeting when it w

Russia’s new draft law on freedom of conscience and the religious association will make it impossible for pastors trained outside of the Russian Federation to preach in a church or even conduct home Bible study groups, warn Barnabas Fund contacts. The bill amending Federal Law, which is being recommended for approval by the State Duma today (22 September), calls for the compulsory recertification in Russian educational institutions of pastors and “personnel of religious organisations” who have received religious education abroad, otherwise, they will not be able to engage in teaching and religious activities. Its main goal is to “prevent the participation of clergymen who have received religious education abroad and spread religious extremist ideology in the activities of religious organizations”. The new law is also intended to prevent “the involvement of members of a religious group in extremist activities and activities aimed at financing terrorism”. Sergei Ryakhovsky, head bishop o

In the early 2000s, Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) experienced an inordinate number of morally failing campus ministers. Men and women in various ministries and varied contexts—who’d seemingly followed the Lord faithfully for decades—embezzled money, harboured addictions and cheated on their spouses. Under the leadership of Marc Rutter, and with the help of Henry Cloud, Cru examined these moral failings, seeking to identify common patterns of behaviour in hopes of preventing them in the future. The patterns were clear and the profile of an “at-risk leader” emerged. Sadly, these patterns are just as present and identifiable in today’s church-planting movement—and have contributed to the recent public falls. Four Basic Profiles 1. The narcissistic star who rises quickly. These pastors are extremely successful at their craft. People are drawn to them and sometimes idealize and idolize them. Their success can either blind people to their faults or prevent people from fe

Second Corinthians 11:28 always seemed like a strange verse to me — until I became a pastor . Here's Paul, rattling off all the ways he’s been beaten up for Jesus — imprisonments, lashes, rods, stonings, shipwrecks, drifting at sea, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure, danger from everyone everywhere (vv. 23–27). And then, as the cherry on top, Paul mentions one more trial: "apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches " (v. 28). This is the mighty apostle, the one who counted it a joy to "spend and be spent" for his people (12:15), the one who was sorrowful yet always rejoicing (6:10). This is the Paul who faced every imaginable opposition and yet learned to be content ( Phil. 4:11) and anxious about nothing (4:6). And here he is admitting that even with everything else he's endured, he still feels anxiety for all the churches. Ever since I became a pastor, I have found unusual comfo

Discipline is an important part of the Christian life, for God disciplines his children (Heb. 12) and we must discipline ourselves (1 Cor. 9:24–27). God expects the pastor to discipline his own children (1 Tim. 3:4–5), and also to discipline God’s children when they need it.  Church discipline is actually God’s exercising spiritual authority through a local church for the purposes of reclaiming an erring believer and maintaining the purity of the local church. Begin by talking the matter over with the church leaders before informing the church. In as loving a manner as possible, let the church know that you want to obey the Word. Explain that discipline is an evidence of love. If you love your members, you will want to rescue them from sin. First Corinthians 5 indicates that discipline is exercised for the sake of the offender (1–5), the church (6–8), and the unsaved society that needs the witness of a godly church (9–13).  Church discipline isn’t a pastor throwing his

Modern technology provides many benefits. Information can be exchanged at an unprecedented rate. The level of productivity can be astounding. Face-to-face conversations can be had with people halfway around the world. But there are also dark sides to this technology.  We as Christians are very aware of the many common snares of this modern technology , not least of which is the ease of access to pornography. For Christians who are trying to walk in purity and holiness, the challenge begins with the confrontation of lurid images and tempting captions on seemingly innocuous websites such as Facebook and news outlets. There is, however, a more subtle snare lurking in this world of immediate access to information that affects Christians in a unique way: the temptation of allowing online sermons to displace one’s commitment to hearing God ’s Word preached in person alongside fellow covenant members at the place and time where their local church gathers. Don’t misunderstand: l

Pastor, “when the chief Shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4). Peter means for you, as a pastor, to persevere in the ministry when the hard times come that make you not want to be a pastor. And they  will  come — family things that make the ministry almost unbearable, church conflict that makes it almost unbearable, external persecution that makes it almost unbearable. He knows those things are coming and, therefore, he offers you this amazing promise: “When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” If you look around and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of payoff here, lift up your eyes. And if you have been taught by some psychologist or ethicist that you shouldn’t live for reward, close their book and read the Bible. This is a glorious promise to faithful pastors in hard situations. It is meant to motivate you in the ministry. It is meant to produce perseverance. It is meant to produce eagerness. It is m

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections (2 Cor. 6:12). It is not uncommon for Christian congregations to reject their pastors. This was quite often the case with Israel. God gave them shepherds and prophets, but the people refused to listen. They loved their sin too much to follow the leaders God had given them. The result was judgment. When God’s people refuse to submit to God-ordained authorities, when they refuse to repent of their sins, one way that God judges them is by removing faithful ministers from their midst. Paul did not want this to happen to the Corinthians . They had used every excuse to justify their sin. They had even cast blame on Paul, but his ministry among them was blameless. The problem did not lie in him but in the hearts of the Corinthians. The apostle had opened his heart to them, but they refused to open theirs. This brought much grief to Paul as he struggled to serve them. Still they would not submit to his authori

President George W. Bush, left center, joins fellow leaders during the APEC Leaders Retreat Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, in Sydney, Australia. White House photo by Eric Draper. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We live in a society that has become painfully skeptical about leadership — some of it for good reason. Stories of use and abuse abound, and the letdowns make for big headlines. We all have felt the sting of being let down by some leader in whom we had placed our trust. The pain and confusion are real. The wounds can be deep. We learn to guard ourselves from future disappointment, and cynicism feels like a trustworthy shield. But the high-profile failures of famous leaders can mask the true source of our discontent with being led: our love affair with  self  and autonomy. And coupled with it is a distorted sense of what leadership is. When leadership has become a symbol of status, achievement, and privilege, we’re happy to be leaders ourselves and get our way, but we’re reluctant

Though some take pastors and teachers as separate ministries in Ephesians 4:11, they seem to be united. The repetition of the word “some” indicates only four ministries are being considered and that the pastors are also teachers. “ Pastor ” is not used in the modern sense of the word. (Our pastors come closer to the New Testament elder-presbyter-bishop, the administrative officer of the local church, who was also to be “able to teach”; 1 Timothy 3:2.) “Pastor” is, in fact, translated “shepherd” everywhere else in the New Testament. The same Greek word is used of Jesus as the great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20), our Good Shepherd (John 10:2, 11, 14, 16; 1 Peter 2:25). The eastern shepherd led his flock to find food and water (Psalm 23:2). The word shepherd in Hebrew means a feeder. The primary concern of the pastor, as the term is used here, is thus not to direct the affairs of the church, but to teach them. The good food, of course, is the Word of God. And the pastor-tea

English: and the word went forth... (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Love his preaching . He may not be the most remarkable preacher you ever hear, but I cannot find a single text of Scripture that suggests he should be. I see many texts that say he must be faithful, and I can tell you that nothing will encourage his deep study and prolonged faithfulness in the pulpit more than a people who love to hear God 's Word preached. If you love his preaching, you should tell him. You need not worry about puffing him up. There are far too many other things in his life to pop that bubble. But you will help him and strengthen him if you tell him how God is using his preaching ministry in your life. What's more, if you love his preaching, you will pray for his preaching. And if you get to praying for his preaching every week, then you better hang on for what the Lord is going to do.  Love his wife. Few things will encourage your pastor more than when you love the one he loves most of all.