Key Question: How do we invite our neighbors to be honest with the Lord and with others about their sin? Confession is a critical practice if we want people to remain faithful, not just in their ministry, but in their personal walk with the Lord.
It can be challenging as a pastor to navigate the line between being a spiritual leader within the community and having the need to confess yourself. But you don’t have to be a pastor to know how intimidating the idea of confession can feel. How can church leaders and congregation members work together to create a culture of confession, forgiveness, and grace?
Today, author Jamin Goggin is joining us to talk about his new book, Pastoral Confessions, as he helps us understand the importance of encouraging honesty, humility, and growth within the church. In addition to being an author, Jamin is an Associate Professor at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and the Director of the Health Pastor Initiative with Finishing the Task. (And if you listened to Season 2 of Just Neighbors, you’ll also remember that he served as our co-host!)
In this episode, Jamin explains how confession gives us the gift of experiencing God’s grace firsthand, the danger of using terms other than “sin”, responses to the most common objections to confession, and much more.
NEIGHBOR-TO-NEIGHBOR IMPLICATIONS:
- We need to be honest about our fears around confession.
- There are no sinless leaders or pastors. Each and every one of us can benefit from the regular practice of confession.
- Confession is not an act of condemnation, but an act that gives us access to healing.
- “We, like Adam and Eve, are prone to hide and cover up our sin. Pastors are not immune to those fears. Can these things be brought into the light and be met with grace and mercy and love—rather than condemnation, rejection, and abandonment?”
- “The lie of the serpent is that the place of healing is actually a place of harm. Confession is drawing near to the Lord and the truth of ourselves, and the truth of our sin.”
- If we want to be the kind of people who love much, then we will be the kind of people who live lives of active and committed confession. Regular confession causes us to confront our sin and show up in relationships with humility and meekness, aware of our own need for a Savior.
Meet Our Guest
Jamin Goggin is an Associate Professor at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and Director of the Health Pastor Initiative with Finishing the Task. Jamin is the author of Pastoral Confessions and the co-author of The Way of the Dragon and The Way of the Lamb. Jamin and his wife, Kristin, live with their four children in San Diego, California.
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