Illustrate the Process
Illustrating your church’s process is vital. If you want your church members to see your simple process clearly, you must illustrate it. The simple process is more likely to resonate with each person if it is visual. People are more likely to remember it. Consequently, people are more likely to experience the reality of the […]
Let “Philadelphia” Continue
“Love one another with brotherly affection.” Jesus-centered community is genuine and abhors evil. It is also filled with “brotherly affection.” This is much deeper than sitting in a small group, drinking sweet tea, eating Doritos, and going home, all the while talking about how great our community is because we’ve spent a few minutes with each […]
How Can I Make a Bigger Impact?
Some of the most common questions I have received from people who first enter vocational church ministry relate to their desire to make a big impact in advancing God’s kingdom. Many younger people in ministry are filled with a holy ambition to do great things for the Lord. And while the desire can become an […]
The Folly of Mr. Autocorrect
If you communicate via text messaging, Mr. Autocorrect is often your friend. He appears to be highly educated, knows more words than you know, and knows how to spell words that you never were able to spell correctly. Thus, you often trust him to automatically correct misspelled words for you as you feverishly type messages […]
Living Out the Gospel
In the research conducted for Transformational Discipleship, the issue of biblical engagement was a key attribute in discipleship. As believers grow in their faith, they should have a deeper longing to encounter biblical truth. When believers are willing to place their lives on a collision course with God’s Word, then transformation can occur. When faced […]
Three Problems with Small Goals
If you lead a team, you don’t serve the team or the individuals well if you offer them easy or boring goals. Even worse if you offer them no goals at all. If you fail to rally them around a God-inspired, overarching vision, you fail to lead them well. Here are three problems with small […]
The Pain of Disunity
One of the greatest hindrances to a church making an impact on the community around her is a lack of unity—a lack of Christian love and passion focused together in the same direction. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). […]
Three Keys to Defining Your Ministry Process
Defining the process is formulating a strategy. It is agreeing to a blueprint. And this blueprint describes not only the kind of disciple that will be built but also how. Church leaders must define more than the purpose (the what); they must also define the process (the how). My coauthor of Simple Church, Thom Rainer, […]
Safe, Not Soft
“Abhor what is evil.” A gospel-centered community acknowledges the presence of sin and welcomes the confession of sin. But a truly gospel-centered community never reduces the severity of sin. To “abhor” describes the way a believer should react to sin. The word means to “shiver in horror,” the way your body reacts to an […]
A Pharisee and a tax collector
When Jesus wanted to tell a parable about the condition of someone’s heart, he chose a story about two people praying: a Pharisee and a tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Pharisees were the religious elite. They fasted twice a week. They tithed. They prayed regularly. They were serious about their faith. Mothers wanted their children to […]