I work with a lot of churches, church networks, and denominations. The vantage point of this is the opportunity to see trends and the movement of the spirit of God in the body of Christ at large. On the whole, this vantage point is overwhelmingly encouraging, with the occasional point of discouragement. One point of…
A quick observation from what I’m seeing in some of the people I’m coaching right now and experiencing in my own life.For many Christian leaders, a sad reality is that there aren’t the scriptural patterns of abiding with Jesus in a rhythmic way that define their reality. Rather than working from a place of rest,…
Maybe it’s just me, but lately, I’ve noticed that many people confuse or blur the difference between DISCIPLESHIP and SPIRITUAL FORMATION.
by Will ManciniThe discipleship results of your ministry are not defined by content of your preaching alone. One significant factor that impacts disciple-making is tool-making. Unfortunately, you might not recall any seminary classes or conference breakouts on making ministry tools.Why not? The simplest explanation is that we rely too much on teaching. As a result, we as…
by Jessie CruickshankThankfully, there is new wave of impetus on discipleship in the church. Because of that new recovered interest in the subject, many rush to publish books on the best methods and curricula. While these are helpful and a great place to start, it is very important to think about the historical background and…
By Eric PfeifferA Rabbi of mine once said to me, “You can have anything I have, but it will require proximity and pace.”PROXIMITYWe know the kingdom of God is often better caught than taught. Why? Because it’s the way we’re wired to learn and grow. From our earliest hours as infants we spend most of…
By Neil ColeJesus defined success differently. For Him, success could be summed up in three words: Faithfulness (Matt 25:21; Heb 11:6) fruitfulness (John 15:8) and finishing well (Matt 25:21; 2 Tim. 4:6-8).If these three things are what Jesus is looking for to determine our success then perhaps our priorities should reflect them. Christian leaders put so…
By Neil ColePerhaps the single most consistent need in churches is more leaders––more children workers, youth workers, worship leaders, musicians, bean counters and technicians. It doesn’t matter how big the church is, leaders are still in demand, in fact more so in larger organizations. There is always more ministry than leaders.Our big problem is that…
By: Alan HirschInstead of giving you more theory about the why and the what of discipleship, this week I thought I’d show one of the great benefits that arises from thinking differently (more movementally) about something that we think that we Evangelicals think we already know pretty well…evangelism. Here is evangelism as understood through the…
By: Alan HirschWe are continuing in our series of blogs designed to translate the six elements of mDNA into the necessary competencies needed to reframe a church as movement. Last month we looked at the mDNA of Jesus is Lord and saw that the key competency is to declare our identity as people who claim…