Arquivos Ministry - OTPB - Ordem dos Teólogos e Pastores do Brasil

mar312020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

Leaders, Pace Yourself During the Quarantine

ATUALIDADES

I still remember when it caught me. Hurricane Harvey had devastated our city in August, it was now October, and I’d been working around the clock for six weeks. Exhaustion just ran me down. I had sprinted into a marathon. Many leaders are doing the same thing right now as a worldwide disruption demands urgent decisions, adjustments, communication, and a different kind of energy. The relentless work is noble and understandable, but be warned: it’s not sustainable. I ended up taking a four-day trip to Galveston, holing up in a rental on the Gulf, taking long walks on the beach, eating in random restaurants, sleeping whenever I wanted, reading Ecclesiastes over and over, and brain-sweeping into my journal. My mind, body, and spirit had conspired to demand a shutdown, and there was no nego...

mar272020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

How to Help the Homeless in a Quarantine

ATUALIDADES

For James Winans, the message to the public about how to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak is clear, but troubling: “‘Stock up at home, stay at home, work from home’—as if everyone has a home.” As interim CEO of The Bowery Mission in New York City, Winans knows how unreachable many of these guidelines are for those in homelessness, and this poses serious dangers, not only to those he and his staff serve, but to the greater public. As the outbreak upends our daily lives, many believers likely haven’t realized how this crisis is playing out for their neighbors on the streets—or that there are ways they can help. The Reality Some reasoned that Italy’s older-than-average population made them especially vulnerable to the virus. But as Newt Gingrich pointed out in Newsweek on March 13: Am...

mar262020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

6 Ways to Encourage Online Giving

ATUALIDADES

Churches are facing a new reality, and no one yet knows when it will end or how it will ultimately affect Christians. Two factors have collided: a rapid freefall in the stock market and the inability to gather for in-person worship. We have some familiarity with the first factor. Many pastors remember the effect of the 2008 market crash. Incomes were reduced and jobs were lost. Giving declined, church budgets were cut, and staff positions could no longer be funded. But, in addition to the first factor, there’s another one at play. As the market dropped in 2008, we could still gather for weekly worship. But as the market drops in 2020, gathering isn’t viable or wise due to health concerns for all. This is deeply significant. Though the decision is not regrettable, we’ve eliminated the p...

mar262020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

The FAQs: Answering Tech Questions Pastors Are Asking

ATUALIDADES, Technology

In light of the current COVID-19 virus, churches are facing disruption in their ability to fellowship and proclaim the Word. Many pastors feel the pressure of getting up to speed on the latest tech tools and are asking for help in various forums around the web. Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions. Which platforms should I use for a Sunday morning video? Although I answered this question at length in my previous article, I’ve had a number of follow-up questions. The three common ones are: Can people without Facebook access a Facebook Live video? Yes. You can copy the embed code (available when setting up a Facebook Live for a Facebook Page on a computer) and place it on your website or copy the URL from the video on a browser during the stream and send it to non...

mar262020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

Practicing the Ordinances in a Pandemic

ATUALIDADES

Editors’ note: To read a different perspective on whether to do the ordinances amid the COVID-19 pandemic, see Bobby Jamieson’s entry. Churches are scrambling to figure out how to love and care for people well in the face of an unprecedented challenge. While we can learn from some historical examples, technology offers us new opportunities to care for and shepherd people through this crisis. It’s essential for pastors to do what they can to encourage and nourish people, even when we can’t gather physically. This has raised the question of how best to gather—whether to livestream services, provide a liturgy guide to be practiced at home, or shut down entirely—along with appropriate questions about the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Challenges and suffering pro...

mar252020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

Can Baptism and the Lord’s Supper Go Online?

ATUALIDADES

Editors’ note: To read a different perspective on whether to do the ordinances amid the COVID-19 pandemic, see Bill Riedel’s entry. Can baptism and the Lord’s Supper go online? For the next who-knows-how-long, churches in many parts of the world will be unable to gather. So pastors like me are lovingly scrambling for solutions. There’s no playbook for this. When the church can’t gather physically, what can we do to encourage and nourish God’s people? Most evangelical churches are livestreaming something resembling their Sunday service. Although one could raise questions about the wisdom of this practice, I don’t think anything in Scripture prohibits it. But what about baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Can those two elements of the church’s gathered worship be performed remotely? Wi...

mar232020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

4 Steps to Help Small Churches Implement Online Giving

ATUALIDADES

With church attendance impossible in most places due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tithes and contributions may also decrease, and churches must rethink how members can continue the stewardship of giving. Steady giving is doubly important for small churches. Electronic giving is an effective way to maintain steady income—and implementing it, even for smaller churches, shouldn’t be overly complicated. Here are four easy steps. 1. Select a Provider The first and probably most difficult step is selecting a company to process electronic contributions and deposit them into your bank account. Companies differ in pricing, customer support, and how they process contributions. I recommend searching for companies specializing in churches. For example, LifeWay is currently making its Generosity givin...

mar232020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

‘Church Life Goes On’: Italian Pastor Reflects on COVID-19

ATUALIDADES

The coronavirus is still heavily hitting Italy, and the outcomes in terms of victims, losses, and long-term consequences for the economy (e.g., jobs) appear dramatic. It’s too early to grasp the lasting impact of the crisis for the church. We’ll need time to reflect on what the Lord is doing in this. Certainly, he is at work in these difficult circumstances. Discerning and understanding his extraordinary providence, especially when it comes in the form of disrupting our plans and practices, is a task that will accompany our prayers and reflections for some time. Here are some tentative, provisional, half-processed points that come to mind as we seek the “mind of Christ” in this pandemic. Church Life Goes On Until the Lord returns, church life must go on, whatever the circumstances. Thi...

mar212020 by @prflavionunesNo Comments

How Do You Keep a Small Church Going During COVID-19?

ATUALIDADES

For more than 50 years as a Christian and 40 years as a pastor, my week reaches crescendo with the church gathering. Together—singing, fellowshiping, praying, hearing of God’s faithfulness, encouraging fellow believers, proclaiming God’s Word—is normal every week. It’s an anticipated gift from the Lord. But this time last year, what I love so dearly got ripped away. Due to four months of intensive chemotherapy, my oncologist mandated: stay in isolation. Four months! From mid-February to early June, I stayed home on Sundays just like every other day of the week. I longed to gather with the church and lift my voice with them in praises to our Lord. I so wanted to put my hand on a brother’s shoulder and pray for him. I wanted to bend down and talk to the children who grace our congregatio...