Category Archives: Pastoral Identity

Who, What is a “pastor” or a church leader?

Developing a Culture of Clergy Self-Leadership: Ideal Classis Series

Posted on July 30, 2014 by PaulVK

Four Strategic Challenge Facing the Church Today In our context of deep and rapid chance the most important challenge the church faces is developing leaders in the church that can do the following: Discern the times: With multiple challenges confronting a … Continue reading →

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This Preacher’s Monday Morning Therapy

Posted on April 7, 2014 by PaulVK

Blog Reading I usually try to do some blog reading on Monday mornings. On some Monday mornings I’m particularly weary and needy. Not all, just sometimes. So I’m reading a particularly well done blog post by someone offering some very … Continue reading →

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The “Good” I Don’t Need God For (and the Uncomfortable Good I Do)

Posted on April 2, 2014 by PaulVK

Good without God In the theist-atheist debates one of the flash points is morality. Theists like to tell atheists that their morality is foundationless without God. That’s a debatable point in the theoretical and philosophical but I must conceded is … Continue reading →

Posted in Pastoral Identity, the self, theological | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

From “hurt people hurt people” to “Graced people grace people”

Posted on March 17, 2014 by PaulVK

Religion and Mental Illness Read this interesting interview on Sam Harris’ blog where the interviewer was connecting religion with mental illness. I do think there is sound anthropological evidence that the first “priests”, the shamans of Siberia, were probably psychological … Continue reading →

Posted in Pastoral Identity, the self, theological | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Evangelical Hammer

Posted on January 7, 2014 by PaulVK

The Naked Pastor has a moving and perceptive piece on another moving and perceptive piece by Ted Haggard. Both are worth reading. Haggard notes the one dimensionality problem of some evangelicals. In my case, I was taught that life transformation took place … Continue reading →

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God’s Own Fool

Posted on December 17, 2013 by PaulVK

Weary Pastors I’ve know a lot of pastors. I’ve seen them happy and sad, fresh and broken. I’ve seen a good number of them towards the end of their ministries quietly happy to be done with leading churches and caring … Continue reading →

Posted in Institutional Church, Pastoral Identity | 5 Comments

Answering Young Steve Jobs: The Idolatry of Answers

Posted on October 31, 2011 by PaulVK

One of the things JRR Tolkien got very right in his epic “Lord of the Rings” was the pull of “mastery” on our hearts. It’s not hard to see that below our strivings with technology, our market strivings, our relational … Continue reading →

Posted in Pastoral Identity, philosophical reflection, theological | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Singularity of Jesus and his claim for universality

Posted on March 4, 2011 by PaulVK

Wrote this as a response to Bont on CiC who wrote a response to Tim Keller’s book “The King’s Cross”. I’ve been preaching through Luke for a couple of years now. I’ve really enjoyed staying with one book for a … Continue reading →

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Judas as one hurt by Jesus

Posted on February 25, 2011 by PaulVK

I’ve read a lot of books complaining about treatment people have received from the church. I can’t say that any of the poor treatment was justified. I doubt it was. People hurt people. I’ve also done a lot of figuring … Continue reading →

Posted in Missional, Pastoral Identity | 4 Comments

How Pastors Struggle

Posted on November 19, 2010 by PaulVK

This is by a couple of psychologists that Calvin Seminary and the CRC Pastor-Church Relations office in Grand Rapids use to consult with pastors. The authors based their conclusions upon intensive work with scores of churches and pastors who have … Continue reading →

Posted in CRC, Pastoral Identity | 1 Comment