Monday, September 29, 2014

What I miss about pastoral ministry

I'm on the road at the moment - teaching several different classes in Chile. It is excellent. I've got enthusiastic students from different contexts and I get stretched as I teach a wide range of subjects. (This trip I'm teaching OT2 Joshua-2Kings, an introductory night on Creation to New Creation, and Doctrine1 in which we look at the knowledge of God.)

I also get to see fellow CMS missionaries from Australia which is always encouraging for me, and for them I hope.

Having said all that, I found that I agreed with much of what Trevin Wax said in this article, particularly his point about preaching to the same group of people week in and week out.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2014/09/29/the-3-things-i-miss-most-about-pastoral-ministry/




Monday, September 1, 2014

Another observation about ministry in Latin America: Publishing

Here's another quick observation about ministry in Latin America. None of these are supposed to be definitive, but they give an interesting taste of the sorts of things that are happening.

Books / Publishing.

Good books are pretty hard to find in Spanish, especially books that you might consider "meaty" or "good for pushing people on." Self-help, Christian psychology is popular. Today I received a catalog from a publisher in Latin America promoting a series of books which gives a good indication of the sorts of books that are being made available.

¿Where did my money go?
¿12 keys to reach your dreams?
¿12 keys to succeed in your work?
Principles of success

(declaration: I haven't read any of these books, so don't know what they say, but to be honest, I'm not sure that I need to.)

Another reminder of why Biblical teaching, training and publishing is needed to feed God's people in Latin America.