Edward Donnelly is pastor of the Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. He also serves as principal and professor of New Testament in Reformed Theological College, Belfast, the seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Pastor Donnelly and his wife, Lorna, have three grown children and three granddaughters.
Help for Today’s Pastors 2001: Colossians
Edward Donnelly
We turn in this second hour to Colossians, one of Paul's shortest letters written from prison in Rome to the young church in Asia minor. The founder and the pastor of the church, Epaphras, has visited Paul in Rome and he has told the Apostle that there is much in the church for which to be thankful, but these new Christians are threatened by danger, potentially by a very serious danger, and the young pastor needs help from the wisdom and insight of the senior man. This is Paul the Apostle's response to Epaphras's account of the situation in the church which he serves.
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Help for Today’s Pastors 2002: 1 Corinthians
Edward Donnelly
We speak of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus as the pastoral epistles, but all of Paul’s epistles are pastoral epistles. He always writes as a pastor to the people of God, and he is always pastoring them. All his theology is pastoral theology.
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Help for Today’s Pastors 2003: 2 Corinthians
Edward Donnelly
I’ve been a pastor for 35 years, this week. Over the years I’ve had a number of men seated in our front room, often with their wives. Many of them have wept, their wives have invariably wept. Their faces have been white, their hands have been shaking, their confidence has been shot to pieces, they’re not sleeping properly, and they’re on the verge of quitting. These are not wimps or weaklings, these are strong men who have been ground down by problems, and, I think in every single case I can remember, within their own churches; not from the world, not from the outside, but from their own people. I’m seeing more of such men, not less.
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Help for Today’s Pastors 2003: Galatians
Edward Donnelly
All of Paul’s letters are pastoral letters. They are all written by a pastor to churches in specific contexts. What can we learn as pastors for our work from the way Paul the pastor does his work? I would like for us to look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The theme that we are going to look at I have entitled “Contending for the Gospel.” He says to the Thessalonians, “we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel” (1 Thess. 2:4).
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Help for Today’s Pastors 2004: Galatians 1:11-17
Edward Donnelly
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Help for Today’s Pastors 2004: 1 & 2 Thessalonians
Edward Donnelly
This is a subject that I have been treating at this conference for some years, working through the Epistles of Paul. The only ones left, after today, are Philippians and 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. So, if we’re spared, you’ve got an idea of what we’ll be looking at, God-willing, this time next year. For the benefit of those of you who are new to the conference, these are not expositions of the Epistles, nor are they overviews or surveys of the Epistles. We are treating them as pastoral documents. Paul is a pastor, these are his flock. How does he shepherd them? How does he advise them in their different situations? What can we learn about pastoring people from the example of the Apostle?
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