Word Alive - Is professionalism in Ministry unspiritual? Paul Beasley-Murray’s vision for the College of Baptist Ministe
7th April, 2013
Word Alive - Is professionalism in Ministry unspiritual? Paul Beasley-Murray’s vision for the College of Baptist Ministe
A sermon preached on 7th April, 2013.
At the end of Paul’s first missionary journey, he and Barnabas reported back to the church at Antioch which had sent them out in the first place (see Acts 14.27). I believe that this model of accountability still holds good today.
For this reason I shall be giving account to the church of my so-called ‘wider’ ministry. When I first became your minister, the church kindly gave me four weeks a year to enable me to serve the cause of Christ beyond Chelmsford.
One aspect of that wider ministry has been serving as Chairman of Ministry Today, an interdenominational body which sets out to be a supportive resource for all in pastoral leadership, ‘so that they may not only survive, but also grow and develop, becoming more effective in the ministry to which Christ has called them.
A more recent aspect of that wider ministry has been my accepting the invitation to be Chairman of the newly-created College of Baptist Ministers – which on the one hand seeks to support ministers in times of difficult (somewhat akin to a union), but on the other hand seeks to raise standards by creating a programme of ‘continuing ministerial development’. I will be giving an account of this wider ministry.
Paul Beasley-Murray
Paul is the chairman of Ministry Today, as also the College of Baptist Ministers, and from 1993 – 2014 was Senior Minister of our church.