Bruce Manners
Bruce Manners, PhD, is a retired editor and pastor residing in Kilsyth, Victoria, Australia.
Articles by Bruce Manners
Seven things pastors should know about their retirees
January 2024
I knew little about retirement until I was asked to write a book about preparing for it.1 At the time, I was in pastoral ministry but heading for retirement.
I hesitated but finally accepted the challenge. Since publication,…
Questions for pastors as they prepare for retirement
November 2017
The worst thing a pastor can do when preparing for retirement is nothing. Retirement needs thought and intentional preparation.
As a pastor, I had not thought much about retirement, and any thinking tended to focus on having enough…
Homosexuality: One pastor’s reflection
January 2016
Homosexuality is both a divisive and an awkward topic. When someone “comes out,” there is a natural inclination to want to keep them, and the topic, in the closet. Yet, if we are serious about ministry, that will include ministering to gay1…
Battling the worship committee
October 1996
Don't get the idea that I'm against worship committees. I'm not. Bless their computer-printout programs, the worship committee is the best thing that's happened in church since Isaac Watts revolutionized church music.
But…
And Jesus came preaching...
July 1998
Jesus is the greatest preacher the world has ever known. Yet we have only two of His sermons recorded in full: the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), and the Sermon on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24,25). It could be…
Reclaiming church identity in a whatever society
October 2009
"Whatever.”
Said with attitude, that word is the ultimate statement of apathy, and a very good descriptor for post-postmodern society in which truth or values are really only personal choices depending upon how each person sees the…
The challenge of change
May 2009
Why can’t women join the clergy? That was the question on the floor of a General Synod of the Church of England in the 1980s. Back then, it was a controversial proposition—and hotly debated. One speaker spoke with passion against women being…
Ministry lessons from war
November 2005
When rifleman Burton Eccles came under fire during World War I, he reported heavy casualties and a bombardment punctuated by "the cries of wounded men." According to Eccles, "Four men had their heads blown off. Then…
Developing an Adventist concept of spirituality
April 2008
Spirituality has been described as “a broad concept referring to the ways in which people seek, make, celebrate and apply meaning to their lives.”1 In a society with growing uncertainties and ample…