Pits, potholes and promises

Deanna J Swilling

Etd

Pits, potholes and promises

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Deanna J Swilling. Pits, Potholes and Promises. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/dd87feaf-a14c-45c4-8403-ded5b6266655.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

D. J. Swilling. Pits, potholes and promises. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/dd87feaf-a14c-45c4-8403-ded5b6266655

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Deanna J Swilling. Pits, Potholes and Promises. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/dd87feaf-a14c-45c4-8403-ded5b6266655.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Deanna J Swilling

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Abstract

This work is an attempt to compile, condense and present, in a form useful for other church leaders, wisdom gleaned from the experiences of a number of pastors (parsons) and church leaders (pillars) as they lived out their calling in churches with memberships below 150. The wisdom and experiences were gathered from many sources: pastors and pillars known from the author's community in which she and her husband have pastored for twenty-two years, their own pastoral experience as they led a small New England church through significant changes towards health and growth, pastors that she has known from other communities through inter-church organizations such as Vision New England, and the largest source, a group of pastors meeting monthly for eighteen month. The Ockenga Institute of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary graciously aided in developing this pastor's group for the purpose of this work. In addition, topically relevant published materials were referenced. During the author's thirty years of involvement at various levels of church ministry, she has concluded that most often it is neither theology nor the lack of understanding of theological concepts that cause difficulties in ministry. Difficulties are often caused by a lack of wisdom. Pastoral wisdom develops when ministry experiences are evaluated and used as a platform for growth. It is hoped that the real life situations presented within this work and the solutions offered will help pastors and church leaders to: develop wisdom from the examples of others' lives, more fully understand possible causes to common problems they may experience, find answers that will work within the small church setting, and know the presence of God and the promises that He brings to parsons and pillars.

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