CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

What Americans Consider Important

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What’s important to Americans-time or money? Family or friends? Health or career? In a national survey of adults, over 1,000 people were asked what is important in their life. The study, conducted by the Barna Research Group, tested the importance of ten different areas of life. The most important? Family.

Ninety-four percent of all Americans said family is very important to them personally. Another five percent called fami

Vacations: A Gift of Grace

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By Glen Van Andel. In his well-known play Our Town, Thornton Wilder describes how Emily, a woman who died in childbirth, is allowed to return to earth to spend one day with her family. She chooses to do so on her twelfth birthday, fully expecting it to be a day filled with rich memories and happy experiences.

But as the play unfolds, Emily becomes more and more frustrated with her family’s lack of interest in and sensitivity to the impor

Trusting God: Just Whose Money Is This Anyway?

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The author (unknown) of this article wishes to preserve the anonymity of those featured.

Money was tight in 1970. Should Mom get a job? Should we consider not tithing for a while? Dad called a family conference.

After reading Malachi 3, we decided not to give as much as before-we should give more. We had been robbing God by not giving tithes and offerings to Him.

Prayerfully, we determined to: continue giving 10 percent of our gross income as the tithe; begin giv

Pressure to Succeed: The church “numbers game.” Your pastor isn’t exempt

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By Chris Doyle. What are his struggles? I’m not exactly sure, having never been one. But I imagine they are the same as those of everyone else. He struggles with raising a family, preparing sermons, thoughts of having too much to do and not enough time to do it all.

But my heart is burdened with what I think pastors really wrestle with, but need not. Especially prevalent in today’s society is a characteristic the world holds in high esteem but God does not. Men strive and work all their lives, only to see it snatched away in a second. What is it pastors really struggle with? Success.

Our world today is success-oriented. If you aren’t a success in whatever you do, you are a second-class citizen. People think something is wrong with you. Today you can dress for success, eat for success and make friends for success. We are a success driven society.

I don’t believe there is anything biblically wrong with succeeding. But it must, like ail things, be put in proper perspective. What does God really want from us-success or holiness?”

What I think the pastor really strug

New Life for Our Church: Principles That Shape Church Life

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By Andrew Silman. The task of the pastoral staff is equipping God’s people to minister. Like some of you, I have seen lots of preachers and churches. The most effective ones have been those pastors who did not try to do all the work themselves. They understood that the work was to be shared by others and that their task as pastors was to coach and equip God’s people to be ministers.

In the New Testament, pastoral leadership is shared. The apostles were a group, and when references are made to elders (pastors) the form is plural. In a congrega