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‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

Bullied In Ministry

By and others ⋅ September 13, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

Bullied & Abused Lives in Ministry A Christian Support Group for Damaged Ministers International and Inter-Denominational During 2001 the Society of Mary and Martha organised a consultation on Clergy Stress. This led to the publication of a report and discussion document entitled “Affirmation and Accountability”, copies of which are available from the Society. (For reasons […]

Sad Ex-Pastor: Why I Quit

By and others ⋅ September 9, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

Your “Out of Church Christians” article really “grabbed” me. I also read the other testimonies of people who were tired of the church “game.” I wonder how many testimonies you will hear from Pastors like myself who also got tired of the church game, didn’t know what to do about it, and when I prayed, […]

Story Of An Ex-Southern Baptist Pastor

By and others ⋅ August 25, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

I am a former Southern Baptist pastor. In my ministry there were scores of outside pressures and influences that were terrible. Yet the one single overriding factor for my ministerial demise was this: I became so emeshed in church work that I neglected my own personal time with God. After I left the ministry I […]

Life After Pastoral Ministry: A Prominent Australian’s Experience

By and others ⋅ July 9, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

G-G’s real failing was to his vocation May 27 2003 Hollingworth has been judged by different standards because he was a priest, and so he should have been, writes Angela Shanahan. When Peter Hollingworth was appointed Governor-General there was a bit of a flurry over giving a churchman the job. There were vague mutterings about […]

‘Forced Terminations’ – When A Church Asks A Pastor To Leave

By and others ⋅ July 2, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

It was to have been a prayer service and routine business meeting at the church in North Carolina where John (not his real name) served as pastor. But no sooner had the business meeting been called to order than a member of the congregation asked the pastor and his wife to leave the sanctuary while […]

Retreat For A Burned-Out Pastor

By and others ⋅ July 2, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

—————————————————————————- —- One of John Mark Ministries’ gifts to the wider church is to offer two-day ‘This is Your Life’ retreats for pastors, leaders, and/or their spouses, and others. See http://jmm.org.au/articles/8046.htm for some of the issues we talk about. The following summary-letter followed a pastor’s recent retreat. It is being shared with his encouragement and […]

Letter To The Sunday Age Re Ex-Pastors

By and others ⋅ July 2, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

Steve Dow and Larry Schwartz did well summarizing the complex issue of ‘Burnout’ among clergy (‘Crisis of Faith’, Sunday Age, 28/10/01). Two comments: 1. The figure of 12,000 Australian ex-pastors needs some clarification. This emanates from my research among this group, and is extrapolated from asking over fifty clergy conferences, and hundreds of individual pastors […]

Expastors: Some Questions For Anvil

By and others ⋅ July 2, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

Rowland, Questions Tell us about the formation of John Mark Ministries. I had been traveled Australia and the world ministering to pastors and church leaders – a position paid for by World Vision, as part of its commitment to Leadership Enhancement – and I became acutely aware that ex-pastors were the one group in the […]

Bullied In Ministry – A Discussion

By and others ⋅ July 2, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

Message: 1 Jennifer, can you elaborate please? I’ve worked in healthy workplaces in the past. While employees’ input was valued in a meaningful way (as opposed to inviting it and handing out cheap rewards like doggy biscuits occasionally to those management decided had merit), somebody was still in charge. I’m confused by your statement. CL […]

Bullying – Another One

By and others ⋅ July 2, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

Dear Colleagues, Here’s a round-up of recent events to do with bullying. Progress is being made in the UK with the occasional case of bullies being sacked. Perhaps more significant is that these cases are deemed sufficiently newsworthy to be reported in the media. Bullying midwives sacked After complaints from over 50 members of staff […]

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