Pastoral Questions Series Introduction

An ongoing conversation on faith, following Jesus and discerning the things of God

Photo by Yuichi Kageyama on Unsplash

I have been serving in a full-time pastoral capacity for a year and four months now. Now, I know everything as it relates to faith, following Jesus and discerning the will of God. Just kidding (lol).

While in Divinity School, one of my most impactful classes was pastoral care and counseling. It Invited me not to see the Christian life (and the Bible, for that matter), as merely academic matters. Instead, it allowed me to listen on a different wavelength and see that life is complex, sin is real and it really touches all areas of our lives.

God meets his people in and through His Word wherever we may be—even in the mess.

Over the last year I have has meaningful conversations with good-hearted, genuine persons who follow Jesus that—naturally—are wrestling with a question or situation in their lives.

The fact of the matter is, all of us do.

But, very rarely do we feel comfortable or vulnerable enough to ask them out loud. I try to be as inviting as I can, because I know these types of questions sit deeply with people.

And the fundamental question behind such questions are: what does God have to say about my situation? Or, where is God in what I am facing?

I think part of the work of pastoral ministry is meeting people in their questions, as we discern the voice and leading of God, amid a sea of competing opinions, silos and silence.

A New (On-going) Series

So, I want to start a series where I hope to process and reflect my thoughts and responses given the questions I encounter.

Note: I am not an authority or expert on most of these subjects. However, I hope that with my 8 years of formal theological education and experience, I can give meaningful and helpful admonishments to those willing (or curious about) questions about faith and following Jesus and discerning God’s will.

I hope to provide further resources: books, articles, podcasts and/or sermons, that I think will give further clarity regarding said topic that will direct readers with a way forward.

I suspect this series will be on-and-off for a while, as I sit and think about said questions.

Below are a few topics I am thinking/writing on now:

• How do I receive forgiveness (from God, for myself and for others)?

• Who is the Trinity? How Do we come to know God?

• What is Prayer and How do you pray?

I’d be happy to hear about topics you’d like for me to reflect on in the comments below. Now, I am probably not gonna answer anything under the sun so do not ask me about dinosaur presence in the Bible and who did Cain marry.

Though they are good questions, I am not your guy for that (lol).

I look forward to this journey as we think through questions regarding the faith together.