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What place does design have in gospel ministry?
I went through uni with a great student group called FEVA (Fellowship for Evangelism to the Visual Arts) and this was a constant topic for designers and artists. They loved Jesus and they loved good design and making beautiful things.… Continue reading
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How far through your sermon should you start the application?
I wonder if you should – in your mind at least – start the application from your very first words. See, if it’s the application of the truths of the bible, then understanding and being convicted of the truths are… Continue reading
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It’s not just about making good decisions…
It’s about making sure good decisions get made. If you’re the leader, you’re probably making loads of decisions. But if you were to grow, you couldn’t sustain being the decision maker for all those things. There would be even more… Continue reading
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Have you got any Essential Jesus books going to waste in your church?
Over 4 years ago, our church was generously given about 8000 Essential Jesus books. They were left over from other churches mission events and plans. After 4 years and by the grace of God, we’ve been able to give almost… Continue reading
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What should you do when someone starts “venting” to you?
If you’re in that situation when someone talking to you starts to “vent” about someone else… it usually starts small about how hard things are at the moment… but in order to explain how they’re feeling, they feel the need… Continue reading
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When can “venting” be biblical?
When it’s appropriately directed towards your loving heavenly Father. Yesterday I said that there’s no such thing as “godly venting”, meaning venting to someone about other people. But there is a type of venting we find in the scriptures… when God’s… Continue reading
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Is there such a thing as “Godly Venting”?
No. Venting is that thing people (like me) do when something bad or annoying has happened. It usually involves someone else and how they made your life much harder and now all these things are going wrong (read “not like… Continue reading
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What would you define as a “competent” Growth Group leader?
Richard Sweatman and I have recorded a series of PodCasts about the elements of a competent Growth Group leader. Together I think these five aspects set a really good foundation for church leaders who appoint Growth Group leaders, as well… Continue reading
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If you doubt they’ll like the rebuke, that might be a better conversation to start with
Paul sets a pattern of pastoral ministry for Timothy that includes “teach, correct, rebuke and encourage” from the word of God. So there will be times when we are to lovingly and encouragingly rebuke people’s actions and decisions. Sometimes, we… Continue reading
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You actually don’t need to say “actually”
Because you actually could say actually in actually any sentence where you’re talking about actual facts. Because rather than using it before anything, its actually meant to be a contrasting word (like in this sentence)[1]. Look’s like another word that’s… Continue reading
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If their “attitude” is poor, should you tell them to just stop serving?
Well yes, it really depends on what you mean by having a “poor attitude”. But extremes aside, if someone’s attitude is just “off” or “a bit grumpy” about being part of a ministry… what should you do? Tell them to… Continue reading
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The people in the meeting define the purpose, not just the person calling the meeting
This may seem the wrong way around, and to some extent, it shouldn’t be this way. However, every time someone new joins a meeting, the purpose of the meeting changes slightly to accommodate their “needs”; whether felt needs or real… Continue reading
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Learn by preaching small passages or massive passages… but not medium
A common trap for young preachers is the medium length passage… its like 15-30 verses. See, you can get your head around it. You can spend 10hrs preparing it and exegeting it and know what it says. But you’ll want… Continue reading
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Rather than “repent”, should we say “trade up”?
What does it mean to repent of sin? It’s more than just feeling remorse for sin. It often entails taking definitive action… saying sorry, giving the item back, making amends. But it’s more than performing certain actions too. We’ve all… Continue reading
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Should Church meetings be like AA meetings?
“Hi, My name’s Dave and I’m a sinner. Yet by God’s grace I’ve been forgiven for more than 20 years.” “Keep going Dave!”, “Make it through the next week Dave!” People who will tell you that groups like AA helped… Continue reading
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Communicating Church Spending and Financial Plans
Since so much of this blog is about things I’m learning and developing through my ministry at Hunter Bible Church, I think it’s worth discussing some principles that shape how we communicate our spending and financial plans. We’ve just had… Continue reading
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Reblog – Encourage informal ministry or formal ministry?
Both of these are good and vital to a growing church. Informal ministry is simple good gospel deeds; they go under the radar, usually only seen by one or two. It’s things like prayer, meals, phone calls, catching up, helping,… Continue reading
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Reblog – Don’t confuse your church-support-network for your church-organisational-hierarchy
Christian brothers and sisters should invest relationally by encouraging each other, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking these “lines of encouragement” should be the organisational shape of your church. Why? Because it leads to Catholic hierarchal pope-ism. It… Continue reading
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Reblog – Let people finish your…
sentences. Whether you’re leading a growth group, preaching a sermon or just a one on one… don’t just say everything and rely on people’s hearing and memory. If they are listening to you, they’ll be able to finish your sentence.… Continue reading
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Different glasses to re-read the text
We’re often encouraged to keep reading and re-read the text we are going to preach… But once you’ve got one idea in your head, it’s very hard to see any other reading than the one you’ve got. So here’s a… Continue reading
MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS 