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Continue reading →: How to Build CommunityThe church where I now serve as resident author has supported Inner Hope Youth Ministries for years—with prayers and through the church budget—well before I arrived on the scene. Then two years ago, when I first met executive director Jenny Shantz and heard about Inner Hope’s Ride for Refuge fundraiser,…
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Continue reading →: On Love, Intimacy, Power, AbuseA number of months ago, I received a request to review a collection of sermons by Gary Harder along with Lydia Neufeld Harder. I’ve known them both for years—Gary as a pastor, Lydia as a theologian, as partners together in life and ministry, raising their children together, participating in denominational…
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Continue reading →: On Building Endurance for MinistryIn Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare, the hare was so confident that he would win their race—and so tired from running hard—that the hare took a nap in the middle of the race. Meanwhile, the slow and steady tortoise overtook the sleeping hare, passed him by, and…
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Continue reading →: Summer Reading and Book Giveaway: Potluck at Rabbit HillOne of the fallacies of summer holidays is that you are going to get some serious reading done while you are lying on the beach.—Nancy Stahl, illustrator I’ve been getting some serious reading done this summer, though mainly at home instead of lying on the beach. I finished Anabaptist Witness:…
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Continue reading →: Summer Reading: Mission and Peace in EthiopiaA few months ago, I received an invitation to read and reflect on the latest issue of Anabaptist Witness. The journal had just released a special issue focused on Mission and Peace in Ethiopia, written by Ethiopian pastors. Editor Jamie Pitts and guest editor Henok T. Mekonin then invited a…
When You Work for the Church
Hello,
I’m April Yamasaki
Welcome to When You Work for the Church. I’ve been a church volunteer and a full-time pastor. I’ve led small groups and served on denominational committees. When I resigned from pastoral ministry to focus on my writing, I knew that I wanted to be—needed to be—grounded in a local congregation. I love the church!
But I also know that churches and church organizations have not always lived up to their calling, have brought harm instead of healing. So I started this website to share resources for doing ministry better, and pray that together we might serve more faithfully and effectively.
For a healthy rhythm of work and rest, I’d love to send you my ebook.
When You Work for the Church 