Pastors & ministry leaders—here are 10 gospel-centered tips for caring well for people in your church. 🧵 1. Pastoral care isn’t first about fixing problems but about pointing people to a Person.

Christ is not just the solution; He is the center of all true care.

Pastors don’t need sabbaticals because they’re weak.
They need sabbaticals because they’re human.

A sabbatical isn’t a luxury. It’s soul stewardship.

Here's a few thoughts:🧵 Ministry is beautiful and brutal. You carry the burdens of many - and the temptation is to quietly ignore your own.

Over time, erosion of body and soul sets in:

- You preach what you no longer believe
- Pray with a dry heart
- Feel overwhelmed
- Panic attacks are common

I finally had a chance to finish Heath Lambert’s recent booklet on Common Grace. It was very clarifying for the current state of the Biblical Counseling movement and why there is an upheaval of conflict.

Here are some thoughts 🧵#BibleCn My overall conclusion is he says common grace is valid and good but unnecessary and even harmful to utilize in Biblical Counseling. Those who are using common grace as a justification for using secular resources (ie clinically-informed) are denying the sufficiency of Scripture.2/

In the church our care must be competant. Maybe now more than ever. A thread 🧵 God’s people have been given God’s Word giving us a comprehensive understanding of why the world is the way it is. God’s word gives us categories for what can know simply, what is complex, and what is mysterious. 1/

I’ve been thinking about how the church can care for its members and covered accessibility and availability. Today I want to say a few things about affordability. 1/

https://twitter.com/jasonkovacs/status/1775905643289059663

In our culture today the demand for mental health care has risen exponentially. Many people are having a hard time finding a therapist that has openings. 2/

Burnout is a major issue for pastors & churches. I've been thinking about how we can pursue health & wholeness. A thread🧵: Burnout is not a new phenomena but it has spiked since Covid.

We need a wholistic approach to health - addressing physical, emotional, relational and spiritual domains.

The church ought to be the model to our world for healthy living. 1/

How many churches include a space for lament in their corporate gatherings? Here’s some thoughts 🧵 Lament allows us to honestly express our pain, sorrow, and grief before God. It reminds us that we serve a God who is compassionate and understanding, who invites us to bring our brokenness to Him. Doing this corporately reminds us we are not alone in our suffering. 1/

In the church we have 3 areas of leadership that are critical to the health of the family and mission:

1. Organizational
2. Developmental
3. Relational

Pastors have the great privilege and challenge of leading out in all three. A brief 🧵 1. Organizational: This is the area of leadership where we make decisions for the good of the family and the continued mission of joining Jesus in making disciples of all nations. There are similar aspects to a business but it is NOT a business. Employees are also family. 1/

Sometimes it’s hard to see how we are growing in maturity. The growth can be slow, small, and seemingly invisible. Not unlike trying to watch a mature tree grow. Trees are continually growing but the bigger and more mature they get the harder it is to see the growth. When you plant a brand new tree the growth is slow but it’s much more noticeable and therefore easier to see the growth month by month. Maybe that’s a helpful image for why it seems like you grew a lot when you were a new and young believer.

Here are 10 common mistakes in counseling? A thread🧵 1. Making assumptions: Not giving the person the opportunity to accurately describe their experience or believing you know exactly what their issue is can lead to inaccuracies and misunderstandings. See Job's friends!

How to grow in emotional health in Christ? A short thread: 1. Understand your emotions are an integral part of your faith and relationships. Jesus had all the range of emotions - joy, sadness, anger, trouble in his soul.

As we head into the new year I am seeing more church leaders looking at getting further equipped. It is very encouraging to see and there are a lot of great options out there. Here are a few reasons to consider 2023 as a year to get equipped in counseling. 1. Most pastors and leaders only take 1 or 2 courses in seminary in counseling (if that) yet consider the percentage of time spent caring for others. This is why most leaders say they feel ill-equipped and end up outsourcing all their counseling or doing damage.