the ancient paths

Pastoral ministry is a hugely important dimension of what we're seeking to do.

Disciple-making can't be done without it. So we've been giving a good deal of thought to this in recent months, since our raison d'etre as followers of Jesus Christ is that of going and making disciples.

It's a kind providence of God, therefore, which sees us here at the start of a brand new year, picking up on the book of Acts (on Sunday nights) at the point where Paul explains at some length the nature of the pastoral ministry he's sought to exercise.

There's a lot for us all to learn. Because this is challenging stuff, which highlights how far we have drifted from what the Scriptures exhort us to be. It's time for us to be getting right back to where we're meant to be.

I spent quite some time on this again through the course of yesterday. We'll take some time, these coming Sunday evenings, working through the different issues which Paul's ministry throws up.

It's not a new sort of pastoral ministry we're seeking to exercise here - except in the sense that it's different by far from what we've been accustomed to. But it's not new, so much as the old being embraced and applied once again.

Ask for the ancient paths, as the prophet once declared [Jer.6.16]

Those are the paths we're now seeking to walk.