By Jeff
By Jeff
Posted at 09:00 PM in Attractional, Christendom, Discipleship, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Mission, Missional, The Church | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
By Caitlin
ou have probably heard the term “ring before spring.” And it is unusual to find an unmarried seni or pastor at any church. I’ve found that the Christian Church in America definitely emphasizes the importance and sacredness of marriage. Considering that we live in a culture obsessed with sex, this emphasis is probably a good thing. After all, Paul does say in 1 Corinthians 7:9 that “it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”
Posted at 08:00 PM in Culture, Discipleship, Faith, Family, Leadership, Marriage, Mission, Missional | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
By Peter
Posted at 07:00 PM in Attitude, Discipleship, Faith, Humility, Leadership, Prayer, Religion, Religious Freedom | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
By Corey
his way back to Esau to ask for forgiveness. The story continues on when Jacob is left alone at night and “a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day” (Genesis 32:24 ESV). As morning arrives the man tells Jacob to stop wrestling but Jacob holds on and will not let go of the man. And as we know, Jacob is blessed, his name is changed to Israel and his life delivered.
Posted at 06:00 PM in Christ, Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Prayer, Struggle | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 02:00 PM in Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, Missional, Movements, Prayer, The Gospel | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
By Troy
Posted at 06:00 AM in Church Planting, Community, Discipleship, Incarnational, Mission, Missional, The Church, The Gospel, Theology | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
That's my experience anyhow. I gave in to the pleading for an all-nighter, which kids might claim to be the true "life-changing" event of our time, because it's one of the events they have always done as a youth group. So who I am to stop it? I mean, I'm sure the parents just love the seemingly useless, zombie-fied status of their post-all-nighter children for the next 48 hours, right?
Posted at 09:00 PM in Contextualization, Culture, Discipleship, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Missional, Youth Ministry | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
By Brendan
Posted at 11:00 AM in Attractional, Christendom, Community, Culture, Discipleship, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Mission, Missional | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 09:00 AM in Christendom, Community, Discipleship, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Missional | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
By Laura
It is interesting to me that family is such a central part of the Church, and yet families often do not go to church together. Well, they go to church together, but once they get there the kids are put in the care of others to have their own time of age-appropriate biblical learning, while the adults attend the main service without ‘distractions.’ As I have grown up, I have seen both positive and negative aspects of this practice in the church. Personally, I went through children’s Sunday school as a child, and later participated in multiple youth groups as a teenager. These were all great places to grow in my faith in fun ways with people my age, while my parents were able to have more in-depth teaching with older adults. This was good.
But at the same time, I think much could have been gained from eliminating such a big separation of age (and often gender). Parents are the ultimate role model that kids look up to and learn from, and I believe that I could have learned a lot from attending church services with my parents, even as a child, and observing how they worshiped, learned, and interacted with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. There are times when I am under the impression that parents send their kids to child-specific programs to learn about God, and they feel that their duty to raise their children in the faith for that week is complete.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with having programs formatted for kids and others for adults, but I agree with Hugh Halter when he says, “Discipleship of the whole family must begin by handing back the primary ‘teacher’ role to the parents. Church-based ministry should augment- not replace- what they receive at home.” I don’t know if this means including children more in the main ‘adult’ life of the church or finding a better way to merge the two groups to incorporate families more, but I do know that children are likely to mature in their faith as they see their parents growing and living out their faith not just on Sunday, but on everyday of the week.
Posted at 08:40 AM in Christendom, Community, Discipleship, Family, The Church, The Gospel | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Sabbath
This has got to the best book on this subject ever written.I would rank it as one of the best books I've read this year!!! (*****)
Chris McChesney: The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
Vision and strategy are only part of the equation. Lack of execution of a plan is the dream killer. This book is helpful. (****)
Donald Miller: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story
Really enjoying this book. It is not earth-shatteringly insightful, but D Miller's writing style is always engaging and has made me go, "hmmm," more than a few times. (****)
Mike Breen: Launching Missional Communities
Read while in Europe. Pretty good, yet quite elemental. Honestly, seems like stuff we worked through a long time ago. For some, however, I'm sure it will be helpful. (***)
Joshua Foer: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Fascinating and fun to read. Alas, you can gain techniques to assist memory, but in the end, you are still stuck with your raw material. It was very enjoyable to read though. (****)
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