A Few Significant Problems With the Four Spiritual Laws
One of the most popular ways of presenting the gospel over the last half century or more is the idea of the Four Spiritual Laws. Billy Graham popularized this approach to simplifying the gospel. I will list the laws and then explore the issues. Law 1 – God made us to know Him and be […]
Five Benefits of House Church You May Have Never Considered…
1 – You can meet where the people are at. You might not be able to take you 500 person church to a park or out by the lake but you can with your house church. This allows the church to have a visible presence. If you do this, make sure you do more than […]
Five Reasons the “Workers are Few” in Today’s Cultural Christianity
“Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Matthew 9:37-38 Why are the workers few i today’s church? 1 – Ecclesiological reasons The focus of cultural Christianity is “going to church” not […]
If You Are Going to Get Advice…
When I was 21 years old, I was running parents and their children through a manualized child behavior treatment program. I was young. I was unmarried. I had no kids. Often parents in the program would ask me how I knew what I was doing and why it was going to be successful (which it […]
Five Reasons Ministry Is Moving Bi-Vocational & Para-church/Secular Employment
The future of congregational ministry is where the minister is either bi-vocational or working a full time job outside the church (either parachurch ministry or secular employment). Todd Wilson is the first person I heard say this and I was skeptical. Now, in post-COVID church, I think he is absolutely right. Here are five reasons […]
Kingdom Contraction? Is the Kingdom Shrinking?
We hear about it all the time. Churches are closing. We have less Christians than we used to. People aren’t attending church with the same consistency. Is the Kingdom shrinking? The Bible talks about an ever expanding kingdom. The Kingdom is like a mustard seed that, though small, grows into an invasive plant that expands […]
When Church Meets Where the People Are!
We planted a second church. It is a slow start (no surprise) but we are intentional and prayerful. We don’t want to see one church get big. We want to see many small churches form relationships and ministries that go deep. That means we have to plant more churches, which means we need more leaders […]
Read From People Who are Following Jesus
In the last post, I encouraged you to read more from the Bible than from people talking about the Bible. That isn’t to say that there is no benefit in reading other books. They have much to teach us! But we should take care to not let reading what people say about the Bible take […]
When We Read More About the Bible Than We Read the Bible
I have access to a few thousand books about the Bible. As much as I love and appreciate so many of those books, there is only one Bible. As much as I love studying about the Bible and as necessary as that is for our understanding of the Bible…reading about the Bible is no substitute […]
The Hidden Cost of A Divided Christianity
When we are divided we are not as effective at being disciples or making disciples. If I believe that my preference trumps our unity then I have bought the lie that my feelings and opinions trump Jesus’ instructions. Bottom line – Our disunity and division cost the kingdom new disciples. There are people we might […]