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Mission cannot just be about living a good life and doing good deeds. It has to be that; but it also has to be about taking the initiative to explain the gospel. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do [...] I’m challenged by what Ian Parkinson writes about leadership development in the context of transforming communities: If we have vision to [1] see our own churches grow and above all to [2] grow in influence as agents of community transformation, then these are the two things which need to become our consuming passions. It’s the second one [...] I’ve just come across this fascinating illustration about Diet Coke from Slavoj Zizek in The Fragile Absolute. Zizek sees all social reality as ‘empty’ driven by antagonisms and contradictions as opposed to something real that we aspire to. He points out how coca-cola was originally invented as a medicine – a nerve tonic, stimulant and headache cure. [...] My good friend Simon Jones writes some challenging words on his blog about the need to “bless everyone and save many”: It means that we have to work at being good news on two fronts simultaneously. The first is the obvious one of what we do to reach out and embrace people of all kinds, offer to [...] It’s rather to easy to point a finger at American Christianity, without first acknowledging the paucity in the spiritual life of many UK Christians. However, I was fascinated by this data from the esteemed George Barna about the changing views of Americans. In a recent survey, his organisation found that: • One-third of all adults (34%) believe [...] David Fitch (www.reclaimingthemission.com) writes about the impact of church turnover. He quotes Darrell Guder as saying “stop looking at visitors as new members – instead ask ‘what purpose God has for sending these persons here?’”. Fitch argues that our focus should be about Kingdom growth and not our own church growth. He says that each time [...] This is a definitely a sit down and read in one sitting type of book. Helpfully, Frangipane outlines the three battlegrounds that are in every believer’s life: The Mind, the Church, and the Heavenly Places. In my view, the best section deals with the areas of personal darkness. These strongholds include thoughts and opinions, unbelief, [...] When we had Sky, I rarely watched the religious channels. Now we have FreeView, I do miss stopping at the God channel and enjoying the passion with which TD Jakes speaks. Jakes pastors the The Potter’s House, a nondenominational church, in Dallas, Texas. In just over seven years, The Potter’s House grew from 50 families [...] I like what John Ortberg writes. I heard him once when he was a teaching pastor at Willow Creek. In his latest book, Faith and Doubt, he is honest about his faith and his doubts. Ortberg assures us that doubt is not the opposite of faith. The line between belief and unbelief may be less [...] People today are hopelessly confused about sex. On the one hand, it is meant to be something special. On the other, it is casually dismissed as trivial – merely or ‘just’ sex. Sex has also become a big issue for Christians. Faced with a barrage of messages from a sexually permissive environment and lacking a [...] |
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