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Meeting a newbie? Assume two opposing things
They arrive, join in, seem to settle in well. They smile when you talk to them, they nod when you say Christian stuff. They talk about their last church in favourable terms. There’s two opposing things you need to assume:… Continue reading
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Be faithful not only to the content, but also to the intent of the gospel
The gospel is not a creed to be remembered, but a message to be proclaimed. It is not an answer to a question, but a question that seeks people’s answer. You can be faithful to the content of the gospel,… Continue reading
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The kids all crowded around the bird and learnt to ignore death
While our kids were at a play centre there was a loud thud on the window as a bird crashed into it, and slid down to the ground outside. Kids ran over to the floor to ceiling window and saw… Continue reading
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Reblog: Using metrics badly
We’ve seen how God’s sovereignty is behind all metrics, so how can we use metrics well and how can we use them badly? Part of the problem is the way we often see the world use metrics. The world often… Continue reading
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Before I drop my kids at the school gate, I tell them 4 things…
I thought about the type of legacy I wanted my kids to have drilled into them as they went through their school life… I thought about what type of high-school kids I wanted them to be and realised those principles… Continue reading
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How many staff should you have per person?
Israel had about 1 Levite per 11 other Israelites. But that’s not particularly helpful. This is a difficult question to answer because really… Who knows!?! The best you can do is have what you think is an appropriate ratio. But… Continue reading
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If listing while preaching, it’s best to tally palm out
It’s a very minor thing, but please don’t give your congregation the rude finger when preaching. It’s a common accident when you have three short points to make… On your first point you make a fist and point your index… Continue reading
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A map to help people find their way into serving…
One of my responsibilities is to help pastor everyone at our church to have servant hearts and find their way into serving in formal ways at HBC. We recently sat down and realised that the types of roles we would… Continue reading
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How we arrived at the Purposes Model
After recently attending the very encouraging Nexus Conference I thought it’d be helpful to outline how we arrived at the Purposes Model. Back in 2008, we had 3 congregations and 1 more about to kick off. We had a Senior Pastor (Greg… Continue reading
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The Nexus Conf and the “Portfolio Model”
One of the “controversies” (apparently) at the Nexus Conference was comparing the Congregational Model of staffing to the Portfolio Model of staffing. While I was really pleased to see brothers keen to sharpen in their thinking about how to get… Continue reading
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Reflections on Nexus Conference
On Monday I had the pleasure of getting able to attend the Nexus conference. Some reflections… Pete Orr did a careful and considered job of showing that “the work of the Lord” that is “not in vain” in 1Cor 15… Continue reading
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Are your songs articulating your God?
The other day I heard this phrase on Triple J, “the more songs we hear, the more we will be able to articulate our culture”. And I began to think about the phrase, not in regards to culture, but in… Continue reading
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Categories for thinking about your church flock… (a.k.a. boxes to put people in)
Ok, I know that no-one – including myself – likes to be put in a box. When I take personality tests, I’m constantly trying to second guess what box they’re going to put me in and trying to offset that… Continue reading
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Reblog: Empty bucket theology
Some people have complete ideas in their heads, some people have fuzzy ideas in their heads, and some people have “empty buckets” when it comes to certain ideas. All of these people have things they need to change… “Complete theological… Continue reading
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When people believe they have rights… they can’t get past the “big questions”
Following on from yesterday’s post… I tried to argue that even though humans rights are good (for human relationships), they do not apply to our relationship to God. And this is such an important idea, because if you don’t get… Continue reading
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Don’t let people buy Satan’s lie… Keep reminding them they have no rights.
One of the growing ideas in our society is the concept that “I have rights”. I have a right to free speech, I have a right to equal treatment, I even have rights when I’ve been arrested (to remain silent)… Continue reading
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A Christian Event with a twist… wouldn’t expect anything less from Mikey Lynch.
A mate of mine, Mikey Lynch, is trying something kinda’ cool. He’s been blogging (about the similar sort of Christian leadership stuff I do) for ages and ages. And he’s had the idea to try and take it on the… Continue reading
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Before you go to a “Purpose model” of church (like the Ms)… resign!
If there’s one aspect of the Purpose model of church structure that you really need to get, it’s that you need to resign as a single Congregation Pastor before you do it. I don’t mean resign in the sense that… Continue reading
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Reblog: Do you use “# of conversions” when assessing a program?
I’ve spoken to some people who think we shouldn’t use “# of conversions” when reviewing a project or program they’ve run. They’ll say something like; “conversion is God’s work”, or “we don’t have any control over that”. And on that… Continue reading
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The gospel is a press-release not an archive.
The word gospel is usually thought to mean “good news”, but it’s more like “important news”. The gospel is what happens when the president calls the TV stations and says, “Clear your airwaves, I need to address the nation in… Continue reading
MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS 