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#Nexus2015 – Cross Shaped Ministry – Reflections Part 1
(The recent Nexus2015 Conference “A cross shaped ministry” thought through the implications the cross has on how we think about gospel work in our churches. These are some of my personal reflections.) 1. The cross kills our wrong ministry motivations We don’t do ministry to… Continue reading
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Repost: Speak-up when you agree
This is huge. It’s so important. If you don’t speak up when you agree, then you’re opening the door for a single dissenter to appear like the majority. Whether it’s in a formal meeting, or just a “friendly” discussion over… Continue reading
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Four Leadership Styles
When it comes to leading people, it’s helpful to think about two aspects of every leadership conversation… First, there’s the (horizontal) aspect; who makes the decision at the end of this conversation? Is the final decision way over on your… Continue reading
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As much as possible, don’t be the messenger
If you’re preaching, you are the messenger. And if your passage is saying “hard things” you – as the preacher – can feel like you’ve got to be the messenger of these hard words. But that’s not the best way… Continue reading
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A Basic Structure for Romans
This term our church is in it’s 4th year of taking 10 weeks (term 2) to slowly move through Romans. So, for our first bible study, rather than picking up in Romans 13 straight away, we did a basic overview… Continue reading
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The gospel dares us to ignore our feelings…
The gospel of the Lord Jesus is unemotional… it is simply a truth. Jesus; the God-Man died and rose to life for sinners; to absorb their guilt, punishment and death, and to make them righteous, holy and alive as His… Continue reading
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Repost: What are the little things you can trust people with?
Before you can entrust big things (projects, events, sermons, etc) to someone, you want to make sure they have been faithful in little things (Matt 25:21). We don’t simply do this to make sure they’re effective, or worthy. We do… Continue reading
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Jesus doesn’t want to ‘take the wheel’, he wants…
He wants you to learn how to drive properly. We need to keep explaining to Christians what it means for Jesus to be their Lord. Having Jesus as our Lord does mean he needs to rule over every aspect of… Continue reading
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When being discerning becomes disrespecting
It’s good to be discerning. It’s good to listen carefully and question things and consider other people’s ideas from various angles. It’s particularly good to be discerning about biblical teaching and Christian wisdom. But beware crossing the line from discernment… Continue reading
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Why most people get the ‘T’ in MTS wrong…
The Ministry Training Strategy (www.mts.com.au) is an awesome and much needed part of the Australian Christian landscape. But… most people think the ‘T’ in MTS is about being a Trainee… they think it’s the Ministry Trainee Strategy… and they’re wrong.… Continue reading
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You don’t need a mentor
Mentors are great. The idea of an older wiser more mature Christian asking you if you’d like to sit down with them and read the bible and talk about life… that sounds awesome, right? Sounds like a “good thing”? Great. If… Continue reading
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Repost: Please criticise after you…
1. Think of a better (realistic not idealistic) alternative. 2. Assume the person you’re about to criticise has already thought of that alternative. 3. Assume that the person has some really good reason (or info that you don’t have) to… Continue reading
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Heisenberg’s Church
How’s your church going? How would you test it? What measurement would you use? Who would you ask? What about the individuals? How’s that person going; with godliness, prayerfulness, living out of grace not law, being generous? But, what happens as… Continue reading
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Love is not Agreement
This should be obvious, but it’s good to keep in your head when people just want you to agree with them. Love does not mean agreement. You can love someone and disagree with them. You can disagree with them about very… Continue reading
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Sermon styles: the synonym preacher
There’s lots of communication tools one can use while preaching; illustrations are the most well known. Another method of communicating an idea is to keep using different synonyms. It’s where you take one idea from the verse you’re looking… Continue reading
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Gospel Hurdles: People don’t know what a “King” is
There’re many hurdles to people accepting and believing in Jesus, but one of the commonly ignored hurdles is the concept of even having a “lord” or a “King”. People just don’t get what that means. And this is probably a… Continue reading
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Repost: ‘Doing Theology’ is smashing
Exegesis (using sound biblical context of God’s unfolding plan) gives us certain theological ideas; Sin, Death, Love, Atonement, Creation, Humanity, Suffering, Eternity, Jesus, Life, Responsibility, Sovereignty, Power, Spirit, Law, Satan, Time, Guilt, Sex… these are all just topics that you… Continue reading
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Joke around, but don’t veil complaints in humour
One of our Staff Team Values is that we love joking around. We love laughing, jokes, sarcasm and generally hanging out together. That hasn’t happened by chance… it’s something we’ve worked hard to protect. But there’s a type of joking… Continue reading
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A different form of Church AGM
We had our Church’s 2014 AGM recently and we decided to try a new thing… Every year we try to a new way of communicating a holistic perspective of church (helping people realise that church is more than their personal… Continue reading
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Don’t do things for the right reason… Instead, do them for the right…
Christians have an appropriate concern about their motives. We want to do things for the right motivations, and we want our church families to do things for the right motivations. That’s a good thing. However, we can get caught up… Continue reading
MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS 