Sentences with phrase «called by the congregation»

I decided that since I had been called by this congregation to «exercise pastoral leadership,» I had a right — like the medical doctor in his field — to make it known that I would like to assist every member in having an «annual spiritual checkup.»

«When a Minister, the Teaching Elder, is called by a congregation to labor as its Pastor, it belongs to the office... to feed the flock, by reading, expounding, and preaching the Word...»

Not exact matches

So, by calling that particular cold Sunday in January «Porn Sunday,» he was sending a message to his congregation that Mars Hill was a safe place to talk about this issue.

My first call out of seminary was to a «seeker friendly» congregation within my tradition that was founded by an abusive pastor.

I found myself almost paralyzed by fear one Sunday as I told the congregation as lovingly as I could that seeking racial justice was a part of the Christian calling.

My question is this: what would it take for the American church at large (American church in this case meaning mainline denominations, other individual sects like the Mennonites with their huge variety of conservative to liberal congregations, nondenominational churches of all sizes mega and not, etc.) to make a concerted effort to call out abuse demonstrated by clergy in both church, public, and private settings?

My own meeting, Durham Friends Meeting, is called conservative by many other Quaker congregations and is formally affiliated withNorth Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), but would certainly be considered liberal by others.

By engaging people in the effort to understand God by focusing study of various subject matters within the horizon of questions about Christian congregations, a theological school may help them cultivate capacities both for what Charles Wood [2] calls «vision,» that is, formulating comprehensive, synoptic accounts of the Christian thing as a whole, and what he calls «discernment,» that is, insight into the meaning, faithfulness, and truth of particular acts in the practice of worship (in the broad sense of worship that we have adopted for this discussionBy engaging people in the effort to understand God by focusing study of various subject matters within the horizon of questions about Christian congregations, a theological school may help them cultivate capacities both for what Charles Wood [2] calls «vision,» that is, formulating comprehensive, synoptic accounts of the Christian thing as a whole, and what he calls «discernment,» that is, insight into the meaning, faithfulness, and truth of particular acts in the practice of worship (in the broad sense of worship that we have adopted for this discussionby focusing study of various subject matters within the horizon of questions about Christian congregations, a theological school may help them cultivate capacities both for what Charles Wood [2] calls «vision,» that is, formulating comprehensive, synoptic accounts of the Christian thing as a whole, and what he calls «discernment,» that is, insight into the meaning, faithfulness, and truth of particular acts in the practice of worship (in the broad sense of worship that we have adopted for this discussion).

I'm among the first to say that God sometimes calls us to move to another congregation and that sometimes, by circumstances beyond our control (economic pressures or denominational policies), we have to move.

But it is legitimate for the pastor to facilitate home calls and pastoral care by involving members of a congregation who have gifts in pastoral care.

The generalized aim to spread the love of God and neighbor is too vague.12 The metaphor should also provide a reference by which the minister can strike a satisfying balance between what the congregation wants of the minister and what the minister needs in order to satisfy a sense of calling.

(CNN)- The pastor of a Florida church says his congregation has decided to call off the burning of the Quran that was to be held Saturday - the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States by the al Qaeda terror network.

What there is is finding other ways of exercising that call: interim pastor, parish associate, stated supply, teaching church school, worshiping always, serving on presbytery committees, being volunteers in mission, and by being a participant as an «honorary layperson» in the ongoing life of a congregation — all these and more are ways by which we respond to the enduring calling by God through the church.

So she conducted her research at two sites, one of them a more or less typical second - generation congregation (which she calls «Grace») that meets in the same building as its parent Korean immigrant congregation, and the other («Manna») a predominantly Asian American but remarkably multiethnic congregation that meets in a building owned by an African - American congregation.

A study published in 2000 by the ELCA revealed that of the cohort of newly minted pastors, 71 percent placed constraints upon where they could move due to the needs or desires of a spouse; 58 percent restricted their first call to a location in or near a large city; 36 percent were opposed to serving in a small congregation; and 32 percent were opposed to serving in a rural setting.

Exhortation typically calls for a change of behavior without offering the congregation a new metaphor by which to understand the world.

Thus a congregation that wants to deepen its perception of what it is and where it is going should consider what James Hillman called «restorying, «1 the conscious employment of accounts by which its corporate life is structured and interpreted.

A thoroughgoing biblical inquiry into the relation between the «service of God» and what we have come to call the «service of worship» by the congregation of believers assembled in a specific place has got to be undertaken.

Except for pastors validated by the appreciation of members in a congregation, people who respond to God's call to ministry today find themselves living a very lonely life.

Perhaps equally sincere but no more worthy of the popularity they enjoy are the exegetical methods common today: selection, elimination, reduction to general truths, modernizing Biblical characters through popular jargon, or archaizing the present by calling upon congregations to «go back to old Jericho for a few minutes this morning».

To ignore story, or to treat it lightly, is to miss a major way by which a congregation may come to terms with its identity and calling.

He just happened to drop in on a congregation one Christmas Eve and, in a liminal moment, «started to see the deeper connections and more expansive framework offered by the sense of our small daily drama in relation to the higher meaning that many people call God.»

A consultation convened by the WCC in cooperation with the Innere Mission of East Germany's evangelical churches issued this statement: «We affirm the continuing need for institutions in which the most severely disabled experience help, protection and care, even while at the same time we call for the integration of the disabled and the able - bodied within the local congregation.»

So, as governments oversee matters of security, we will care for the hurting, calling Christians to embrace refugees through their denomination, congregation or other non-profits by providing for immediate and long - term needs, such as housing, food, clothing, employment, English language classes, and schooling for children.

They attend to scripture; struggle to discern the gospel's call and demand on them and their congregations in particular contexts; lead worship, preach and teach; respond to requests for help of all kinds from myriad people in need; live with children, youth and adults through life cycles marked by both great joy and profound sadness; and take responsibility for the unending work of running an organization with buildings, budgets, and public relations and personnel issues.

There are three stages by which a congregation develops and employs a central core of laymen for this task — calling, training, and deployment.

The pastor's need for a metaphor for ministry which provides a sense of meaning through all the personal crises of passing decades as well as the continual need to balance the demands of the congregation with maintaining the integrity of the «call» can be met by the New Testament based metaphor for ministry as being a «prophetic guide to maturing in the Christian life.

And even if you do, planting the stars and stripes in the sanctuary won't instantly transform your congregation into patriotic idolaters, but the iconography in our churches tells a story by memorializing in glass and steel and thread and fabric who we are and who we are called to be.

And yet this training, hosted by Congregations Organizing for Racial Reconciliation (CORR), gives practical next steps for people who stare into the abyss of historical injustice and are called by God to change the narrative.

A letter issued by the dean of the College of Cardinals on Friday calls the cardinals to come together Monday morning for the first in a series of meetings, known as general congregations.

Once appointed to the office, a minister could not be removed from it by the congregation that had called him, except if he disregarded or defied the Word of God.

Decisions had to be made from time to time as to where or when services of the church would be held; the church needed to be told of the impending visit of an apostle, or of some prophet or teacher from abroad; a question has been raised as to the good faith of one of these visitors, and there must be some discussion of the point and a decision on it; a fellow Christian from another church is on a journey and needs hospitality; a member of the local congregation planning to visit a church abroad needs a letter of introduction to that church, which someone must be authorized to provide; a serious dispute about property rights or some other legal matter has arisen between two of the brothers and the church must name someone to help them settle the issue or must in some other way deal with it; a new local magistrate has begun to prosecute Christians for violating the law against unlicensed assembly, and consideration must be given to ways and means of meeting this crisis; charges have been brought against one of the members by another member, and these must be investigated and perhaps some disciplinary action taken; one of the members has died, and the church is called on for some special action in behalf of his family in the emergency; differences of opinion exist in the church on certain questions of morals or belief (such as marriage and divorce, or the resurrection), differences which local prophets and teachers are apparently unable to compose, and a letter must be written to the apostle — who will write this letter and what exactly will it say?

This was in distinction to the so - called «witty» preaching which sought to impress the congregation by a display of erudition, making extensive use of classical allusions and delighting in literary flourishes.

He leads a weekly congregation of about four or five in a building regarded as little more than a Dutch Colonial relic by its owner, a deep - pocketed mega-church called Abundant Life Ministries.