{"id":843052,"date":"2025-01-06T05:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=843052"},"modified":"2025-01-03T11:42:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T17:42:48","slug":"40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. God is always faithful. Always. Always. Always.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. My family is my greatest gift beyond my salvation. I wish I had always realized it.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. I spent too much time worrying about things that I can\u2019t even remember today.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. I took too many criticisms personally. Most critics weren\u2019t mad at me.<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. I always grow stronger when I spend time in the Word and prayer.<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. My wife endured a lot in our ministry. I needed to minister to her more.<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. When I can laugh at myself, I am more effective in ministry.<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. I learned to be more compassionate through the deaths of my parents and grandson. I can now understand the pain many experience.<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. I am always hurt when I hold grudges.<\/span><\/li>\n
    10. I need to ask for forgiveness more quickly.<\/span><\/li>\n
    11. I need friends to share both the joys and the challenges of ministry.<\/span><\/li>\n
    12. I wish my sons had not seen my frustrations when I was a pastor or a dad or a husband.<\/span><\/li>\n
    13. Life is short. Live it totally for Him every moment.<\/span><\/li>\n
    14. I should stand stronger for injustice.<\/span><\/li>\n
    15. Some of my most miserable days came when I grew jealous of others in ministry.<\/span><\/li>\n
    16. Some other miserable days came when I lived to please people rather than God.<\/span><\/li>\n
    17. When I don\u2019t take care of myself physically, ministry seems more of a burden than a joy.<\/span><\/li>\n
    18. Children are young but for a season. Some of my greatest joys have been with my three sons.<\/span><\/li>\n
    19. One of the greatest blessings of life is to have adult children who are my best friends.<\/span><\/li>\n
    20. I\u2019m not nearly as smart as I sometimes think I am.<\/span><\/li>\n
    21. I\u2019ve never seen an argument won on social media.<\/span><\/li>\n
    22. The local church is the best imperfect place on earth.<\/span><\/li>\n
    23. I am always wiser when I listen to the wisdom of others.<\/span><\/li>\n
    24. Too often, I list my problems rather than count my blessings.<\/span><\/li>\n
    25. The devil is always looking for a way to trap me (1 Timothy 3:7).<\/span><\/li>\n
    26. The internet never forgives or forgets.<\/span><\/li>\n
    27. My success is not measured by the size of my church or the prestige of my organization.<\/span><\/li>\n
    28. I\u2019ve had a lot of grace shown to me. I need to pass that gift forward more.<\/span><\/li>\n
    29. Many people who disagree with me have proved right.<\/span><\/li>\n
    30. I am ashamed of how many times I have not shared the gospel.<\/span><\/li>\n
    31. The older I get, the more I anticipate heaven with excitement. I wish I had always had that perspective.<\/span><\/li>\n
    32. I\u2019ve needed to demonstrate kindness more intentionally and more frequently.<\/span><\/li>\n
    33. Every church has some really mean people. God has called me to love and serve them, too.<\/span><\/li>\n
    34. I fight pride more often than I\u2019d like to admit.<\/span><\/li>\n
    35. Some of my worst moments in ministry were when I lost my temper.<\/span><\/li>\n
    36. I\u2019ve learned who my true friends are when I have little to offer them.<\/span><\/li>\n
    37. I need to practice the discipline of repentance more frequently.<\/span><\/li>\n
    38. Encouragement works better than harsh words.<\/span><\/li>\n
    39. I need to read more.<\/span><\/li>\n
    40. My grandchildren are almost perfect.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      What have you learned in life and ministry? What can you add to this list?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193,1,183,195,184,182,190,186,192,177,178,191,14796,180,194,176,187,185],"tags":[20015,107,20014,19054,86],"class_list":["post-843052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administration-and-finance","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-discipleship","category-facilities","category-family","category-health-and-metrics","category-how-to","category-lead","category-membership-and-assimilation","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-preaching","category-revitalize","category-smaller-churches-and-communities","category-worship","tag-40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry","tag-church","tag-lessons-learned","tag-ministry","tag-pastor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more. Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more. Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-06T11:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thom S. Rainer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thom S. Rainer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Thom S. Rainer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90\"},\"headline\":\"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-06T11:00:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"commentCount\":27,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png\",\"keywords\":[\"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry\",\"Church\",\"Lessons Learned\",\"ministry\",\"Pastor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Administration & Finance\",\"Church Answers\",\"Communications\",\"Conflict & People Problems\",\"Discipleship\",\"Facilities\",\"Family\",\"Health & Metrics\",\"How To\",\"Lead\",\"Membership & Assimilation\",\"Mind, Body, & Spirit\",\"Monday\/Wednesday Featured\",\"Outreach & Evangelism\",\"Preaching\",\"Revitalize\",\"Smaller Churches & Communities\",\"Worship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\",\"name\":\"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-06T11:00:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90\"},\"description\":\"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more. Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Man holding a Bible and praying\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90\",\"name\":\"Thom S. Rainer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Thom S. Rainer\"},\"description\":\"With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/thomrainer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry | Church Answers","description":"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more. Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry | Church Answers","og_description":"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more. Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2025-01-06T11:00:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Thom S. Rainer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Thom S. Rainer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/"},"author":{"name":"Thom S. Rainer","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90"},"headline":"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry","datePublished":"2025-01-06T11:00:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/"},"wordCount":618,"commentCount":27,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png","keywords":["40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry","Church","Lessons Learned","ministry","Pastor"],"articleSection":["Administration & Finance","Church Answers","Communications","Conflict & People Problems","Discipleship","Facilities","Family","Health & Metrics","How To","Lead","Membership & Assimilation","Mind, Body, & Spirit","Monday\/Wednesday Featured","Outreach & Evangelism","Preaching","Revitalize","Smaller Churches & Communities","Worship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/","name":"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png","datePublished":"2025-01-06T11:00:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90"},"description":"It was forty years ago that I began serving a small rural church in southern Indiana. I was so incredibly green then; I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t always realize it. I loved those people in that church, and for some reason, they loved me, too. I had to be one of the most inept pastors in history, but they just continued to show me grace and love me even more. Now, four decades later, I reflect on what I\u2019ve learned in ministry. Some lessons came rather naturally; others were very painful.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Man-holding-a-Bible-and-praying.png","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Man holding a Bible and praying"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/40-things-ive-learned-in-40-years-of-ministry\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"40 Things I\u2019ve Learned in 40 Years of Ministry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90","name":"Thom S. Rainer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Thom S. Rainer"},"description":"With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/thomrainer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843052"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":843057,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843052\/revisions\/843057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}