I started a business that I would like to specifically offer to churches. What would be the best way to present the service to a pastor I don't personally know for consideration? A phone call, letter, email? Should I contact the pastor directly or the secretary? Is there another way that would be better?
Hey everyone,
A couple of days ago, I asked a question here about what part of sermon prep eats up most of a pastor's time each week. The feedback was incredibly eye-opening.
Two major things stood out to me:
As an independent Christian developer who loves building clean productivity tools, I’m looking to explore a specialized, non-AI-generated writing workspace built specifically for preachers to help bridge the gap between deep exegesis and Sunday's delivery (helping save 2–4 hours of tedious formatting/structuring a week).
Before I write a single line of code, I want to make sure I’m solving a real problem and respecting your workflow.
If you have 2 minutes, could you fill out this short, completely anonymous survey? No sales pitch, no spam, just sincere research:
https://forms.gle/XGJko2JT1g9FNuzbA
Thank you so much for your time and for your insights!
Hi Pastors,
I’d really value some honest insight from pastors, church leaders, and anyone involved in discipleship or small groups.
At Precept UK, we’ve consistently seen people engage deeply with inductive Bible study methods. We hear individuals in church groups say they’ve never studied Scripture in such a personal, structured, and transformative way before. However, we’ve also noticed a recurring challenge: although people love the workshops and see the value in inductive study, churches can seem hesitant to launch ongoing groups or empower leaders to continue running studies consistently in midweek settings.
From a pastoral perspective, what are the concerns or hesitations when it comes to introducing studies, teaching methods, or discipleship resources from ministries outside the local church?
Are there concerns around doctrine? Church unity? Maybe even the idea that it's only "your" responsibility to equip your congregation? Or is it something else entirely?
This isn’t intended as criticism at all, we would just love to understand the dynamics church leaders are balancing, so that we can support them in a more practical way. We’ve seen lives changed through inductive study and would love to better understand why enthusiasm at an individual level doesn’t always translate into sustainable church-wide adoption.
Would especially appreciate perspectives from pastors or elders who have wrestled with this decision themselves.
A lot of people when asked about suffering and the problem of evil would say something along the lines of, "God allows suffering to bring about a greater good."
We do know that can be a a result, but we also have numerous examples in the Bible where suffering just happens. It's neither a deserved punishment or directly a catalyst to some greater good. Victor Frankl would argue that suffering does not necessarily need to lead to a greater good, but it can always lead to meaning.
How do you explain suffering and the problem of evil with your congregation?
I’ve been talking with Christians who are heavily influenced by YouTube prophecy channels claiming that current economics and technology signal the imminent end of the world. I’ve reminded them that Christians have been anticipating the end since the first century and that Scripture warns against trying to predict dates, but the fascination persists.
For those who’ve dealt with this in your congregations or communities: what approaches have helped you address this fear? What things could they watch on YouTube instead? And what alternative resources have you found that redirect people toward a healthier, more Christ-centered outlook?
Me and the pastor of my church love golf. Whenever we play he smokes the entire time. He actually asked me not to tell anyone in the church. Is this a serious concern? Should I leave?
Examples are overcoming sin and loving Jesus even when I feel bland.
I find that oftentimes I'm not empowered to do things in His strength, so that's why I'm asking this post's question.
Genuine question — what part of sermon prep eats up most of your time each week? Finding the right scriptures? Structuring the message? Illustrations? Research?
Curious what the real pain points are and what (if anything) you use to help. No agenda, just trying to understand what the weekly grind actually looks like for other pastors.
It has been a rough 25 year marriage. We have two young children together. My husband has repeatedly threatened access to joint money and divorce during much of this time. It obviously hasn't all been bad, but it has gotten increasingly worse in the past 6/7 years. In general, he has never shown appreciation for me. He devalues my financial contribution, says he doesn't need me, doesn't like me etc. I have always given him grace for much of this due to seeing how his parents interacted together in his childhood home. Neither of us were religious when we entered marriage. We lost all of our parents after COVID. As things grew increasingly worse in my marriage, I sought out peace in the bible. I learned better how to be a peacekeeper, and quit escalating conflicts, quit defending myself to the verbal assaults. He mocks me for now attending church, and that's fine. Since my father's passing, I purposely drug out the closing of probate because I was unsure of what to do with the inheritance from the selling of my father's land/home. I had a modest estate account that I was using to upkeep my father's home during that time. I did deposit some 15K in our joint account from the selling of various vehicles etc. This didn't set well, and conflict escalated as a result. He quit wearing his wedding band, refused to say he loved me, told me he pulled me off his life insurance, threatened divorce. I asked God for help. Due to his negative behaviors that escalated during these two years, I chose to keep my family inheritance in a separate account. I let him know that we could use it as needed for large unexpected expenses, but that I would prefer to keep the bulk of it aside for the children, my father's grandchildren. He says I am choosing the money over marriage. He has opened up a separate bank account, and now puts all his paychecks into that account. He is stating that I have been using him, and that we will now split everything 50/50. I question rather I did the right thing by my family's money. It's not a huge sum, but it is enough to enable me to purchase a home, car, attorney's fees etc. should he decide to divorce. I never gloat about the money. I work full time, but he makes about twice my pay. We have zero intimacy and it's been that way for quite a while. I ask for counseling and he refuses. He says we have a business relationship. I know I should be spending more time in prayer for guidance, but what can I do to save this marriage? I don't want a divorce. I don't want to be separated from my children for days at a time. At the same time, I can't just pretend that divorce hadn't been used as leverage during our marriage, and that he wasn't already acting the fool over my having a small account estate account leading up to the sell of the property. Please help.
I have had some difficulties with the pastor at my church. I dont trust or respect him and there is a whole thing around that. For me , not trusting or respecting the pastor is a reason to go to a more suitable congregation. I told the leadership of my plans. The pastor was saying its not healthy for me to leave to a different church(because I need to have unity) and he is leveraging something I care about against me to force me to agree to keep attending. However whenever I attend I feel unwell because I get physical symptoms with strong emotions. I also feel isolated in the building. The isolation is because of the leadership. The church should be a sanctuary to receive healing but right now it actually is a bad environment for me to become more sick not less sick.
I'm a 31 year old ex atheist born into an eastern Orthodox church. Church in the sense my family knows it is: big building, myrrh, priests singing and a lot of traditions and icons. It can be beautiful, but it can also get quite strange and superstitious. And unless you're in a little village, there's no community and sadly... very little God.
I want to go to a baptist or non-denominational church. I want christian friends and I want to get baptized. I've been baptized as a baby, but it wasn't my choice and faith, obviously. My problem is that I don't know anyone from those baptist churches. People there kind of seem apprehensive of strangers. From what I've seen, there seem to be unwritten rules on how to behave and I don't want to be insulting without meaning to. I'm probably very sinful compared to them, strange and anxious too. I feel too worldly for church and too churchy in the world.
I don't know how to start being part of the church and do fellowship and stuff. I'm praying, reading my Bible a little, listening to Bible teachings and Bible studies online, but it's not enough. I feel isolated and alone. The most painful part is that my fear is keeping me away from obeying Jesus on getting baptized. Sometimes I wish I could just do the old "here's a river, baptize me" thing.
Any advice and encouragement is very appreciated. Thank you
I heard a person saying the Godly order is God, self, spouse, children... anyway I've never heard self before. Is that Biblical? Thanks
Let's say that the person didn't leave a note and maybe it was an accident, but it was probably suicide. Does the church treat the situation differently than a normal end of life situation?