Pastor Chris
All blogs written by Pastor Chris Clarke.
You gotta take someone along with you
One of the difficult nuts to crack for any group of people, and maybe especially churches, is how to teach young ones (or recent converts) how to “do” life. There are literally countless programs for a minister to choose from that promise to “activate the lay men and women” or “re-vitalize your people” or “catalyze the love” or some such nonsense. I was moved today when an elderly, and I mean very elderly, woman came by the church. She stopped…
Morning 10 minute drill
In the morning, when I get to my study, I like to take 10 minutes, it really doesn’t matter how busy my day is likely to be, and take 10 minutes. Some people take Facebook breaks, or coffee breaks, or smoke breaks over the course of the day, I like to start my day with a break. I listen to gentle music, set a timer, close my eyes, and permit my mind to wander. Sometimes nothing happens and I feel…
What are people for? Essays by Wendell Berry
I just realized that while I may not be old, I am old enough to no longer remember when certain personally influential writers came into my life. Few are more important to me than Wendell Berry. His lucid prose, his tight poetry, and the insight and clarity of his essays mean that whenever I pick up one of his books I will not be disappointed. In fact, I regularly re-read many of his books, and I always find myself jealous…
Airlines, churches, and the sense of ownership
When I worked at a church plant in Barrhaven Ontario one of the greatest struggles I faced as a leader was fanning the flame of ownership amongst the leadership team. Like many such groups we didn’t feel we were the right people to make major decisions. We didn’t know if the resources were really ours to use, even as we stewarded them. At St. Andrew’s Duncan, we sometimes struggle to take ownership of problems, we will ask someone else to…
La La Land and bated breath
It has been said by men wiser than I that oftentimes people quit just when they are about to succeed. While there is no way to prove this, yet something in many of us aches for it to be true. We want to believe that if we, or our loved ones, find the ability to persevere good things will happen. Just keep going, we say, and good things will happen. The recent mega-hit movie La La Land reminded me of…
Airport food and church services
Travelling for meetings this past weekend I bit into several snacks and meals in airports and near airport hotels and in their restaurants. They were universally underwhelming and unhealthy. Floppy, wobbly, mushy, cold, thick, these are the words to describe what I ate. Even when I ordered a salad it was so drenched in a fatty dressing and the chicken in it was chicken nugget-type things. It all got me thinking that when we travel in North America (at least…
Entering Lent
How we approach the bible affects what we will find in it and what we get out of reading it. This doesn’t in any way diminish the work of the Holy Spirit but recognizes reality. When we open our bibles do we do it with a spirit of learning? Are we open to whatever God intends to teach us today? Or do we expect to find the expected? When we open our bibles do we ask God to show us…
The defect free church
A couple of year ago one of my sisters-in-law bought a remote-control car, I think at an airport, for my son’s birthday. At the airport, the car was capable of great speeds and, if memory serves, it climbed the wall a little bit before flipping over and landing perfectly and continuing along its path. You probably know where this is going. When the car was unwrapped and the expectations of a 4-year-old set sky high…it didn’t work. I don’t mean…
I heart Valentine’s day (and I’m not scared to say so)
I will not ignore Valentine’s day. I will not pretend to hate a day devoted to love. Given the state of the world and current affairs neither should you, and if you hate it I suggest you learn to appreciate what it can mean beyond the cards flowers, and money. Can you tell me the world is so full of love that it needs no more? Today my oldest son will declare love for his classmates and offer a token…
an example of love for all of us
If Facebook, Time Magazine, and Macleans are right then we are living in troubled times, times that appear to lack mercy, compassion, and love. This is distressing for many folks, and (perhaps) especially for Christians. The gospel writer John teaches us that Jesus told his followers, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” It is…
Christian, how are we to engage the world today?
My wife and I recently subscribed to Texture, an app that permits us to read about 150 magazines a month (not that we read all of them, of course). In the app you can scroll through the covers of magazines to see what you might want to read. The covers suggest the news is bad right now. There is the general: faster, fitter, leaner, smarter, tidier, better you, covers that are always there and always a little bit irksome. There…
Office Coffee VS. The Coffee Shop
Here at St. Andrew’s, thanks to the amazing generosity of many people, we recently opened a new administrative wing. It is a delight to work in and the extra space helps us not feel so cramped in our daily digs. The “big Luxury” of what some have come to lovingly call “The Pastor’s Palace” is a Keurig coffee maker. Before you get mad at the waste you should know we bought re-usable pods for all the staff. We also bought…
A short word on age and finishing strong
Without belabouring the point I would like to ask you, dear read, to read these notes on two levels. The first level is regarding to your age. If you are young then see what you are preparing for and if you are old (however you define it) see the important role you still have to play. The second level is if you are tied to an old denomination, like the Presbyterian Church in Canada, read the notes with eyes to…
5 Reasons Not to Copy the Successful Church down the Street
I have four boys living in my house and nothing is more tedious and annoying to listen to than when they start to copy each other. I know it’s part of regular development and that younger ones learn from older ones, but man can it grate the nerves to listen to and witness. I so desperately want them to discover who they are, to take pleasure in their own voices, and uniqueness. I pray they unfold like butterflies with a…
Video Games, Violence Against Women and Christianity – Here Comes Thanksgiving
Talking with younger folks, and some not so younger folks I notice a growing issue in my life as a Christian leader. I am encountering more and more violence against women, as well as a general increase in violence and degrading hate speech. Something caught my attention during a recent television advertisement for a video game and I can;t help but write about it. Video games are a big business these days. Thousands are employed in the industry (including some…
10 Things I’ve Learned in Two Years of Ministry
Things I have learned after two years in full-time ministry, in no particular order: It is such common knowledge it is almost nonsense to write about it: millennial leaders are more co-operative than their predecessors. I have noticed that this isn’t really about age of body but rather of mind. Some young stallions are as closed-minded and isolated as anyone ever has been and some older fellas are as open as a kitchen window facing the ocean on a warm…
Applesauce and the #s of Ministry
Yesterday I was making some apple sauce. I mean I was making it good and plenty. I was peeling and coring and boiling and trying not to spill as I poured it into jars. I was so engaged in it. A kid was there helping me, counting apples, moving apples around. I was excited. There might as well have been two kids making apple sauce (except, of course, we actually succeeded in making sauce in a way no two kids…
Honestly, I’ve Been Anxious about My Return to Ministry
I first felt the call to ministry a few years ago and I did all the normal things one does. I spoke with family and friends, sought guidance from my pastor and eventually went to seminary. The church has been nothing if not affirming and welcoming. I have been leading a congregation for almost two years here now and things are by most measures going swimmingly. In fact, we sprinted to raise a large sum of money and are about…
Parental Leave: a Time to Serve
My office is all packed up, the bookcase is bare, I am not leaving the church but while I am away on a 10 week parental leave a new office is being built and our new music director is taking over my current space. Things are changing rapidly around St. Andrew’s Duncan and around my house. 10 weeks with four little boys (and summer vacation in full swing no less!) and a recovering wife? I suppose it would be easier to…
Mass Shootings and an Old Promise
You may or may not know that I have two boys 6 and 3 and another due in a month, and a foster child (age 6) in my house. What sort of world are we making for the children, we being us, the adults? I am as biased and confused and frustrated as anyone about the goings on in the world today, the number of news stories I struggle to explain to the boys makes me feel small, less-than-intelligent, and…
4 Keys to a Vital Congregation
People seem to dig the list when it comes to blogs and ministers and lay folks alike seem concerned about the decline of the church and wary of the future. More important all of us are trying to figure out how not only to lead the church but also how to be the church. Many people have pointed out that these days feel a lot more like the church of the Book of Acts than like the church of the…