One of the most interesting observations of Carl Braaten in his book THE APOSTOLIC IMPERATIVE is that Lutherans are strong on CANON but weak on OFFICE; this got me thinking and asking: what kinds of “offices” do we need in order to accomplish His ministry and mission in the 21st century. In order to explore [...]
How did Jesus do evangelism? Jesus went about all the cities and villages…preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom THE HUMAN CONDITION 1: The parable of the wheat and the weeds 2: The parable of what defiles a person — the human heart and its sickness unto death GOD’S RESPONSE TO THE HUMAN CONDITION 3: The doctor to the [...]
One of my favorite recent movies is NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by the Coen Brothers — it is a great movie in terms of direction, etc. but it is extremely violent in content. But this blog is not about the quality of the movie’s direction and why it deserved to be BEST PICTURE that [...]
Leaders depend on seven principles of TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: (1) Principle of Simplification: are you able to articulate a clear, practical and transformational vision? (2) Principle of Motivation: are you highly effective at gaining the agreement and commitment of other people? (3) Principle of Facilitation: do you have the ability to effectively facilitate the learning of [...]
FAITHFUL AND FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS EXPERIENCE FOUR KINDS OF GROWTH: (1) NUMERICAL GROWTH, as they seek to evangelize large numbers of non-Christians through their life of witness and Gospel proclamation and bring them, by God’s grace, to faith in Jesus Christ; Motivated by His love, and possessing an urgency that none perish but that all people [...]
One of the major positive emphases of the Transforming Churches Network materials is the fundamental questions that are asked of participating pastors and lay leaders: (1) what are you responsible for? (2) what are you accountable for? (3) what kind of authority have you been given to accomplish your mission and ministry? Now, if we [...]
When Christ ascended He gave five gifts to humankind; of these gifts, some were pastors and some were teachers. What was their counsel and practice? Pastoral and teaching counsel and practice would focus on feeding and caring for the body of Christ; guarding and keeping the one true faith; forming and equipping God’s people to [...]
When Christ ascended He gave five gifts to humankind; of these gifts, some were evangelists. What was their counsel and practice? Evangelistic counsel and practice would encourage and equip God’s people to reach out to others with the narratives of Scripture so that they can help those who do not know God’s story to make [...]
When Christ ascended He gave five gifts to humankind; of these gifts, some were apostles and some were prophets. What was their counsel and practice? Apostolic and prophetic counsel and practice answers the big questions that every person has in life; examines and discerns the condition of the lamp stand (Rev. 2-3), that is, is [...]
Loren Mead, of the ALBAN INSTITUTE, advocated that the local congregation embrace, and work toward, four kinds of growth. These are the four kinds of growth identified by Mead, with my personal comments added: (1) NUMERICAL GROWTH, as they seek to evangelize large numbers of non-Christians through their life of witness and Gospel proclamation and [...]