reEquip // The Imperfect Pastor: Finding freedom in weakness, limits, and the ordinary work of ministry
reEquip is a monthly opportunity for those in pastoral ministry (and ministry adjacent roles) to connect and be taught & encouraged in their ministry positions.
Join us for our June reEquip day with Dr. Zack Eswine.
Ministry has a way of exposing us. The gap between who we feel we ought to be as pastors and who we actually are can become a source of quiet shame – or, if we let it, a place of unexpected grace.
Drawing on his book The Imperfect Pastor, Zack Eswine invites us to rediscover the freedom of being a localised, embodied, ordinary human being in ministry – not despite our limits, but through them. This day will explore what it means to resist the pressure to be everywhere, fix everything, and know everything, and to find in Jesus the one who bears what we were never meant to carry.
Schedule:
9.30 am – Meet for coffee/tea and pastries
10 am – Session 1 – How to Slow Down: Pastoral Work amid Digital Speed
11 am – Break for coffee/tea
11.30 am – Session 2 – How To Discern What Tempts You: Pastoral Work in a Platform Culture
12.30 pm – Community worship
1pm – Lunch
2pm – Session 3 – How to Enjoy Your First Love Again: Pastoral Work as a Human Being
3pm – Q&A with a cuppa
3.30pm – Finish
Please do contact hello@yarntonmanor.com if you would like to come but cost is prohibitive.
Zack pastors at Riverside Church, Missouri, and is the co-founder of Sage Christianity with his wife Jessica, which seeks to bring doubts and questions into conversation with the wisdom of Jesus. Formerly serving as the Scholar-in-Residence for the Francis Schaeffer Institute (FSI) at Covenant Seminary, Zack partners with several seminaries, conferences and networks as a sought after teacher and speaker. He is the author of Preaching Today’s book of the year, Preaching to a Post-Everything World (Baker, 2008), as well as The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus (Crossway, 2015), which received Christianity Today‘s 2016 book of the year in the church/pastoral leadership category.
He is married to Jessica and they have three children.
The statistics relating to pastoral ministry burn-out is high. Too high.
For many the life of church or para-church ministry can be stressful, busy and, very often, lonely.
The to-do list can be overwhelming and unending, leaving little to no space for any kind of self-study or growth – often we feel out of our depth. Often we feel like calling it quits.
reEquip seeks to support and encourage those in pastoral ministry (and ministry adjacent roles).
Come and:
(1) receive focused teaching and training that will help us in our ministry life, whether in pastoral skills, practical ministry, bible teaching or areas of theology,
(2) enjoy the company of and learn from others in similar situations and
(3) enjoy a delicious lunch together!
Yarnton Manor, Church Lane, Yarnton, Oxfordshire, OX5 1PY.
Directions –
If you’re driving from Oxford:
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Take the A44 (Oxford → Woodstock) north-west out of Oxford.
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Look out for a roundabout by the Turnpike Pub, then turn left toward Cassington Road.
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Follow Cassington Road until you see signs for Church Lane. Turn left onto Church Lane.
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Yarnton Manor will be a few hundred yards down Church Lane on the right.
By Public Transport
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The Stagecoach S3 bus route travels between Oxford train station, city centre and Yarnton (towards Chipping Norton/Charlbury.
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Get off at the Paddocks stop in Yarnton, then you’ll need to walk south to Cassington road, turn left and then right onto Church Lane
Arriving:
- Yarnton Manor entrance gates are just to the left of St. Bartholomew’s Church.
- Press ‘Call’ on the gate intercom for security to let you in.
We have accommodation on-site. How about you combine reEquip with a short ministry retreat?
Enquire above for pricing and availability.