All over the country, churches are wrestling with decisions about how to do ministry in the midst of a pandemic. This is an on-going challenge, because the circumstances of the pandemic are constantly shifting and changing. Yesterday’s decisions are called into doubt by today’s news. Over the years, I have always found that, … Continue reading Pastor Note #105: Ministry in a Time of Pandemic
Tag: ministry
Quote of Note #94: Churches and Pastors
"The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given … Continue reading Quote of Note #94: Churches and Pastors
Quote of Note #57–Need and Blessing
"Being baptized with the Holy Spirit begins with recognizing our need and earnestly desiring whatever our heavenly Father is pleased to give." Brad Long, Paul Stokes, and Cindy Strickler. Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit: Seven Principles of Dynamic Cooperation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009, page 67.
Quote of Note #40: Humility and the Defeat of Demonic Strongholds
"Satan fears virtue. He is terrified of humility; he hates it. He sees a humble person, and it sends chills down his back. His hair stands up when Christians kneel down, for humility is the surrender of the soul to God. The devil trembles before the meek because, in the very areas where he once … Continue reading Quote of Note #40: Humility and the Defeat of Demonic Strongholds
Quote of Note #22: Ministry and Failure
"Ministry is fertile ground for failure, and failure is fertile ground for ministry." J. R. Briggs, Fail: Finding Hope and Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014, p. 22
Quotes of Note #5 — Baptism with the Holy Spirit
"I take it that that is abundantly clear -- you cannot be a Christian without having the Holy Spirit in you. But -- and here is the point -- I am asserting at the same time that you can be a believer, that you can have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, and still not … Continue reading Quotes of Note #5 — Baptism with the Holy Spirit
Quotes of Note #1 Healing and Redemption
". . . Jesus is working to restore the original vision of creation. Jesus starts from the innermost part of us, the seat of our relationship with God, and works outward to include our physical being. This process is like what [C. S.] Lewis called 'death working backwards,' as the ravaging effects of the Fall … Continue reading Quotes of Note #1 Healing and Redemption
Pastor Note #65 — A Congregational Vision for Prayer and Healing
A Vision for Prayer & Healing in the Life of our Church The Ministry of Prayer in the Life of our Congregation The presence of God is sought and found in a diligent and unremitting pursuit of God through prayer. Prayer is not the work of a few. It … Continue reading Pastor Note #65 — A Congregational Vision for Prayer and Healing
Pastor Note #63 — Mission Field America
Recently, I read about a church that had a sign at the exit from its parking lot, a sign that people read as they were leaving the church. The sign said, “You are now entering the mission field.” It’s a bracing thought and one that is more and more obviously true in North America. American … Continue reading Pastor Note #63 — Mission Field America
Sermon #60 — Power to Change the World, a Pentecost Sermon
Pentecost, a holy day that Presbyterians, my clan, have work hard to trivialize over the centuries, ought to serve as an antidote to the demoralizing conception that the Christian faith is at its heart a set of ideas and a moral code. Christianity is rather a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through the … Continue reading Sermon #60 — Power to Change the World, a Pentecost Sermon
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 