Many of us have heard about the Great Commission, but rarely do we think about that commission in light of Jesus’ resurrection. Our “going” is a result of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. To accomplish our mission to make disciples from all the nations, we should not be motivated by guilt, but by Jesus Christ Himself. And because He rose from the dead, we can be assured that Jesus will be with us as we obey the Great Commission.
We live in a world full of borders where people are divided between “insiders” and “outsiders.” In Acts8:26-40, we meet a God who has no borders — a God who saves all kinds of people, all over the world. No matter what you look like or where you’ve been, God promises to rescue you. Even if others have kept you on the outside, God wants to make you an insider.
How can the Christian church thrive when others do not seem interested? Each church must admit its own faults and oversights, so that it can become the Church that God desires. In order to thrive, the Church must be comprised of people who are devoted to God’s Word and who minister to the needs of others. Anything less than that leads to decline.
As Christians, we are called to help and serve others, especially those with the greatest need. As we do so, not all efforts achieve the results that we would hope. To fulfill our calling, it’s essential to evaluate (and re-evaluate) how our mercy ministries function, and then change our approach accordingly. To assist in this process, consider this article by Christianity Today that rates the impact of various mercy ministries: Cost-Effective Compassion: The 10 Most Popular Strategies for Helping the Poor By evaluating the effectiveness of a ministry, we can ensure that we doing what is most helpful, not merely…
I am deeply concerned about a trend in some Christian circles to glorify suffering, as if suffering is somehow a good thing. Over the past few months, I have heard that suffering should not only be anticipated, but gladly accepted because of its benefits. Of course, this is not exactly a “recent” trend, but one that can be traced back to Catholics in the Middle Ages. To this, I would like to offer an important clarification. First of all, there is nothing good in suffering itself. God does not delight in the suffering of a person being killed, nor did…
“For the leader, creativity is essential. Life is constantly changing, but people always fear change. The leader is responsible to help them adapt and do something new. So, by increasing creativity, suffering or deprivation may feed the springs of leadership in a young soul.” Leighton Ford (Transforming Leadership, 42)
When leading congregations, Christian leaders must be aware of both explicit and implicit theologies. What people believe determines how they act, and because of that, church members will continue to act according to the theologies that they hold. Without an awareness of both explicit and implicit theologies, church leaders can waste time, “spinning their wheels” on technical fixes to problems, while ignoring the deeper issues that are involved. Though it can take years, but church leaders need to address the explicit and implicit theologies of their congregants. To begin with, explicit theology is what a church expressly believes. Explicit theology…
An important, yet often neglected, reason to update hymn arrangements relates to chord structures and patterns. Updating a song, or becoming more relevant, is not merely a matter of instrumentation. Simply adding guitar and drums does not make a hymn contemporary. In fact, many of the hymns were composed for piano or organ, so we can do them a disservice by simply swapping instrumentation. Arrangements need to be flexible. In the music world, arrangements are part of the “language,” just as authors vary their sentence structures. We need to be cognizant of this as musicians — not berating people for…
As a gift from the Gospel Coalition, here are 7 free D.A. Carson books that have been read and loved by many. I am looking forward to reading these, and I wanted to pass them along. The books are in PDF format that can be downloaded, printed, or transfered to an e-reader. 7 Free Books http://tiny.cc/freecarsonbooks Many thanks to Andy Naselli for offering these links on his blog. In addition to these books, there are hundreds of additional resources available at Carson’s bibliography.