5 Current Church Views of “Discipleship”
I have been in many settings with church leaders where the question was posed, “What is your church doing for discipleship?” I am grateful that church leaders are asking questions about the church’s fundamental mission—making disciples. After all, a church can excel at anything and everything else, but if the church fails to make disciples, […]
5 Ways to Develop a Great Relationship with Your Senior Pastor
The following post is a guest blog post from Jim Law. Jim is the executive pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. It’s my joy to serve as executive pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., going on 23 years now. One of the most distinct privileges of this position is the opportunity […]
Groups and Groups Studies Matter
In my most recent book Transformational Groups, which I co-wrote with Ed Stetzer, we share that research strongly indicates the people in your church who are in a group are more likely to serve more sacrificially, share the gospel more frequently, give more generously, and repent more regularly than those not in a group. For […]
What Dwells in Your Life and Your Community?
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [Colossians 3:15-16] The […]
3 Reminders from the Cult I Accidentally Joined
About six months ago, something unexpected and strange started happening to me. People, it seemed, began to wave to me as I was driving. For 18 years I had driven the same ’95 Nissan pickup truck, the one I purchased with my father my freshman year of college. Because the truck died, my plan to […]
Who, What, and Where
Yesterday I was talking to a good friend about his next ministry assignment and what is most compelling to him about his next step in vocational ministry. We talked about which is more important to him during this next phase of his life—the who, the what, or the where. Through my years in ministry, I […]
How People Grow…in Groups
In Transformational Discipleship, we unpacked the important relationship between truth, posture, and leaders. God brings about transformation as godly leaders apply the truth to our hearts while we are in a teachable posture. Truth: The Lord transforms us, sanctifies us, through His truth—and His Word is truth (John 17:17). The truth of the gospel and […]
Neither Dependence nor Independence
I am excited about the launch of my latest book, Transformational Groups with Ed Stetzer. Ed and I are both big believers in small groups because we are both big believers in Christian community—community that is rooted in Christ. The Christian life is meant to be interdependent and interconnected, believers in partnership and fellowship together. […]
Learned Helplessness and the Need for Community
Martin Seligman’s research in the 1960s on “learned helplessness” is still widely respected among psychologists. Seligman and his team placed a dog in a cage designed to receive electric shocks. When they hit the cage with a jolt of electricity, the dog jumped and yelped as expected. They waited a few minutes and shocked the […]
Only the Gospel Forms Deep Community
“PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST . . .” This phrase is used countless times each weekend when churches gather for worship across the United States and around the world. And while such wording is helpful in describing the intimacy of our fellowship with God, it is only part of the truth—because it neglects the reality that […]