An update on the Reforming Preaching Initiative for 2026 and 2027

I became a“traveling preacher” and discovered a whole new world. I thought I’d share a few observations of my experiences so far. I mean no disrespect to any of the places where I have visited - I’m simply offering a glimpse at the worshipping practices of the PCC as I have the privilege of being out and about most Sundays throughout the year and many of you are likely worshipping in the same place (like I did) for many years.

We’ve gathered a number of preaching resources in the Ministry Forum Resource Hub that can help you think differently about the work of preaching itself.

What do you find? And, perhaps more importantly, what is being communicated?

If you’re an advanced planner, you may already be thinking about Advent and Christmas. And if you’re not an advanced planner… well, consider this your friendly reminder that Advent is coming.

Christmas may bring people through your doors who haven't been there before—or who won't otherwise be there again for quite some time, so give them a good reason and an easy way to keep the conversation going!

A lot has happened at Ministry Forum over the past year. Some of it you’ve seen. Some of it we’ve talked about here and there. And quite a bit is still taking shape behind the scenes. We’ve also welcomed new faces and voices to our community, so for those who are new, here's an overview of who we are, what you can find here, and what’s coming next.

This year we’re excited to give away the complete Everything Bundle for Illustrated Ministry’s 2026 Advent resource, A Thrill of Hope, AND the Lent resource, Here and Now to two Canadian churches that haven’t yet used Illustrated Ministry resources.

Many of the titles were surprisingly interesting and several were quite unexpected. I’m not someone who reads the back cover or goes on a deep dive as to what I’m about to read. So sometimes, I have no idea what a book might be about other than it hit the required bingo square when I searched…

Andy Root’s newest, Baal and the Gods of More: Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry names something that many of us have felt in our bones but haven’t quite had words for. I think this book should be required reading for anyone in ministry leadership today.

Ministry Forum webinars are back! This season, we're hosting webinars that together make up our "Listening Partner Network Training," but each webinar is open to anyone interested in a particular topic.

The Listening Partner Network is where leaders can turn for the support, wisdom, encouragement, and understanding they need to remain resilient and lead with confidence.

Two independent pieces, Duke's Clergy Health Initiative report on United Methodist clergy in North Carolina and Rev. Mark Clavier's reflection out of the Church of England and the Church in Wales, arrive at the same diagnosis from opposite sides of the Atlantic: clergy exhaustion is systemic, not personal. The email reads them across the difference rather than as a mirror, noting the genuinely good news in Duke's data (the first statistically significant improvement across all three burnout measures in seventeen years, and four practices that mark flourishing pastors) alongside Clavier's harder question about why the ache persists: long-term decline, isolation, and a vocation squeezed out by administration and inbox. The pastoral turn is the familiar one, that the response cannot be only individual. If overload, isolation, and displaced calling are structural, then presbyteries, colleagues, congregations, and communities like Ministry Forum share the load. It closes where Clavier closes, with Matthew 11:28 offered to those behind the pulpit rather than only to those in the pews.

Season 7 of the Ministry Forum Podcast launches September 8 with my conversation with the Rev. Dr. Michael Brooks, Lead Minister at Port Nelson United Church in Burlington and the recipient of the 2026 Paul Scott Wilson Preaching Award.

We’re looking forward to welcoming the Rev. Dr. Mark Godin back to Knox College on Tuesday, September 22 for a pop-up worship chapel and a conversation about his first book - A Theology of Particularity: Unruly Bodies and the Stories They Carry.

If you haven’t heard me talking about the need for CANADIAN data on the reality we face in today’s Christian Church landscape - hear me now!!!