Chosen By Grace Conference 2009
By the Special Grace of God, after over a decade in ministry, for the first time, we are able to host a conference to bring the body of Christ together to search and re-evaluate their callings and ministry to a fractured world. Many Christians are tired because their labour in this contemporary and fractured society is not yielding the expected dividends. Many are resorting to techniques which are biblically questionable. This conference aims to encourage all the remnants of God to do God’s Work, God’s Way, despite the difficulties and the lack of expectation realisation. Only when God’s Work is done God’s Way, using the blue print left by Jesus Himself can ministry bring satisfaction and free from unnecessary struggles. We must build the broken spiritual walls of our society.
Come and hear afresh, God’s own paradigm for doing ministry in this end-time. God has assembled His chosen vessels to bring a now-word that will transform and catapult your ministry to a new height. Watch out for conference details.
Date: 22nd-24th May 2009
Contact: chosenbygrace2009@communityoutreach.org.uk or
call 0845 3700 290 & 07947014969
My name is Leonard Amechi. I have been pastoring for the last eleven years. I combine my pastoral responsibilities with my full-time job as a teacher in an inner city school in London. Both jobs can be very stressful but the grace of God is always sufficient for us. We can totally rely on the awesome grace of God which is available through accepting what Jesus has done for us. We can also rely without failure on the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells inside of us and has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.Recently I have been exploring the nature of the challenges facing pastors in a contemporary society. I have discovered many things such as the enormity of expectations the congregation have on the pastor and the pastor’s ability or inability to respond to these expectations. Our contemporary society is evolving and new cultural mindsets are evading our society. Most of these cultural mindsets are adrift with the core beliefs of our Christian faith.These challenges can either be a threat or an opportunity for the pastor. My findings are that most pastors are struggling to make the message of the bible relevant to a contemporary society. How can the infallible and inerrant word of the living God continue to be relevant to a generation of people whose ideological mindsets are at variance with what the bible teaches? How can we engage this generation with the love of God who they do not know? The contemporary society has embraced globalization. Despite the advantages of this phenomenon, there are problems which place the pastor in some difficult positions. Globalization means diversity in cultural experience which is very good, but it is has some strains on the church. New people means new ways of doing things to accommodate the spiritual and social needs of the new arrivals who have come to seek green pastures on our shores. Globalization has also hatched in our society, inequalities, injustice, capitalistic consumerism and the widening of the gaps between “the haves and the have nots”. The pastor must bring about a balance to ensure that the congregation and the wider community are at peace with one another.In recent times one of the challenges facing the 21st century pastor has come from legislations which are intended to protect those who are in the margin of society. This is not a problem in itself except when the pastor has to provide counselling and deal with issues arising from these legislations. I am talking in particular issues like same sex marriage, incitement against religious hatred, political correctness and other ethical issues like euthanasia and abortion. Some of these debates pose serious ethical dilemma for the church and the pastor.How does the pastor handle these issues when they crop up in his pastoral role? Can we adequately rely on scripture alone to deal with these matters especially as we now live in an increasingly pluralistic secular society? Should we address contemporary issues with contemporary mindset? Is it business as usual, thus sticking to traditions and the way we have always done it? How can we relate to a generation who do not subscribe to the biblical text? How can we effectively pastor a generation which does not subscribe to absolute truth but espouse to pluralism? In an era where divorce has increased and will continue to increase, even in the church; do we rethink our views on remarriage? Has the church got a single voice on divorce and remarriage? As the relationship between the Church and state widens, local churches are finding it extremely difficult to secure planning permissions for places of worship. These are some of the challenges I believe facing pastors in a contemporary society. What do you think? How are you coping, I am hoping that you are a pastor or somebody in leadership role in the church. Please share your thoughts.
