pastor || writer || speaker
Awhile back, I read through Parker Palmer's brief book Let Your Life Speak. This is an outstanding book on life and leadership. Palmer has worked quite a bit with educators and as an advocate for peace in our world today. He comes from a Quaker background. To set the tone of what he is trying …
Continue reading "Shadow-Casting Monsters: Parker Palmer on dealing with our souls, part 1"
My continued reflections on pastoral ministry, the church, and what it means to be in ministry in North America led me back to Thomas Oden's Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry. I first read this book while still an undergrad at Wheaton College but enrolled with special permission in a graduate level class entitle "Pastoral Ministry," I …
As I continue to reflect on the nature of pastoral ministry, ministry in the North American evangelical church, and questions of ministry integrity, I find myself returning often to the topic of holiness. Even writing the word holiness makes me feel a little bit "old school." However, if I hold the tension of that uncomfortable …
This week, I am spending time in reflection about what it means to be a pastor, what ministry is all about, and what it means to be the church. Earlier this week I shared some insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together about the church and from Dallas Willard on the nature of ministry in a consumer …
I am entering a period of deep reflection on what it means to be a pastor and what it means to be the church. I am asking questions that I have considered for years but now approach with a deeper sense of urgency and attention. I find myself wondering over and over again: what are …
Matthew Erickson 