When people feel free to be honest, there appears to be a lot of disappointment expressed today about Christianity, about Christian institutions and-at least by implication, about the Christian faith. Most of the disappointment comes from Christians themselves, who find…
I must admit I have mixed emotions about the hype surrounding discipleship at the moment. On the one hand, it’s great that people are talking about it. I’m thankful that people aren’t looking at me with a confused look on…
I personally believe God is working in everyone even if we can’t see it in everyone. If we really take the time to stop and listen and find out what’s going on in their lives, you often find there are…
In the last blog we compared how the Church today gauges effectiveness and how that compares with ‘How did Jesus gauge effectiveness?’ In response Graeme Jones who has extensive experience as a Church leader responded with the following. “I wonder…
‘Many church leaders today fall into the trap of gauging success by the ABC’s of growth: Attendance, Buildings, and Cash. However, there is a serious problem with this scorecard, namely, that Jesus never gauged effectiveness by these criteria. This kind…
Too many people in the Western World believe ANYTHING OLD IS OLD-FASHIONED. But this is not true for disciples of Jesus. This generation of disciples, as with every generation, has a fresh opportunity to reclaim the pattern of ministry that…
Like most Christian leaders these days I subscribe to a number of Blog sites and receive regular articles via email. Even if I don’t know the author of an article it doesn’t take long to work out what they are…
Since at least the beginning of the Church Growth Movement, we have been trying to find quantitative measurements for success. As a former science major, I can appreciate that emphasis on results. How would we otherwise know if we were…
Every age, every generation has its built-in assumptions. There are hundreds of hidden assumptions, things we take for granted that may or may not be true. Historically, the vast majority of these things aren’t true. But we’re locked into certain…
A few weeks ago I took part in the Easter Services (via the internet of course) and again it struck me that the purpose of the incarnation was to establish the Kingdom. The first thing Jesus did in inaugurating the…