Marriage and Ministry: A strong marriage nurtures effective ministry

couple Ministry is hard. Ministry with a strained marriage can be harder still. Armed with that knowledge, our peer group created this training tool. Experience has taught us that healthy marriages contribute to healthy homes and healthy children, and healthy, happy homes support and contribute to healthy and vibrant pastoral ministries. This tool is based on the belief that a pastor with a healthy marriage is better equipped to provide effective leadership for the church. Meeting together, members of our peer group quickly came to realize that many church councils do not take seriously enough the task of caring for the pastor and the pastor’s family. We also concluded that many pastors neglect to care for their marriages and families to the extent that they should. An antidote to neglect, this training tool urges pastors and councils to work together to create conditions conducive to the health of the ministry and the marriage. Without focused, preventive action, the results for pastors and churches are predictable: pastoral burn-out, frustration, division in the church and home, neglected children, failed marriages, and more. We believe that this tool, if used as a starting point for discussion and intentional action, will help prevent the conditions that often contribute to the breakdown of marriage and ministry.

by the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence project of the Christian Reformed Church in North America

Source: www.crcna.org/pastoralexcellence

Knowing God What is Christianity? How do you explain what Christianity is to an unbelie...	Putting a Church Marketing Plan Together Whether you know it or not, you are marketing your church. But ...
Ministry and Character Once we have embarked upon a life of ministry, we will be confronted with a...	The Shape of Training in the CRCA A CRCA Training Survey was conducted through the Ministry Formation website...
Leadership Development: An Age-Old Challenge with a Modern-Day Twist Ask church leaders in any decade their greatest need, and most of them thr...	The Steward Leader As stewards, Christian leaders cultivate the resources in their care for t...
Apprentices: Finding, Recruiting & Training Any time I lead a small group or teach a class, I want to have a co-leader ...	Toward Effective Pastoral Mentoring Pastors need to develop the capacity for ongoing learning and creative adap...

Increasing Sermon Effectiveness What makes a good sermon? How do you know if you are effective as a preache...	Effective Mentoring Why do the trades have apprenticeships and medical professions require inte...
Attitude Adjusters for Those on the Front Lines How does the evil one shoot at those on the front lines—pastors, church pla...	Leadership From the Inside Out Kevin and Sherry Harney spoke at the 2011 Recharge CRCA Ministry Conference...
Marriage and Ministry: A strong marriage nurtures effective ministry Ministry is hard. Ministry with a strained marriage can be harder still. Ar...	Team Collaboration: Broadening the Church Leadership Platform The structure of church leadership is changing from a single leader calling...
Effective Leadership in the Church A training tool to help congregations, pastors, and other church leaders ef...	Evaluation Essentials for Congregational Leaders Setting the Table for Healthy Conversations Many voices, messages, and per...

Total Church Study Guide Pastor Nick Nye of Veritas Community Church writes: "Our desire as a new ch...	A Tale of Two Churches Thirty six hundred kilometres separate these two churches but there are a l...
Turning Passion Into Mission Most people experience acute 'felt needs' at various times in their lives. ...	Leading Inductive Bible Studies This training resource is provided for those who would like to lead small g...
Building a Continuous Church Once, the idea of church revolved solely around Sunday morning. People woul...	Identifying, Recruiting & Training Apprentices Healthy growing ministries require people to identify, recruit, and train a...
Two Critical Responsibilities of Leaders Every leader knows very well that there are never enough hours in the day t...	Raising Up Church Planters Today a growing number of churches in our country desire to advance the kin...