Jun 05, 2023

The danger of a culture of consumerism over disciplemaking in the church today

 


There is no country where the church has the American church's resources. And yet, with all the advantages it has: wealth; technology; training; strategy, and Biblical knowledge, we are not doing well in many congregations. In fact, we inadvertently hurt ourselves by focusing on the wrong things, which causes us to miss the best things. We are often building a culture of consumerism over...

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Oct 20, 2014

Words that should strike fear in every Christian leader

There are two statements of Jesus that ought to strike fear in every Christian leader. They are these: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), and "Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me" (John 15:4). The reason those are frightening words is that we are so used to doing things with the latest strategies, our fine education and great resources (in the west) and it is very easy...
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Oct 20, 2014

Words that should strike fear in every Christian leader

There are two statements of Jesus that ought to strike fear in every Christian leader. They are these: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), and "Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me" (John 15:4). The reason those are frightening words is that we are so used to doing things with the latest strategies, our fine education and great resources (in the west) and it is very easy...
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Oct 08, 2013

Apps and operating systems: Why disciplemaking programs often fail in the church

We all know the mandate of Jesus to go and make disciples. We also know that in general the church has done a poor job of helping people become genuine followers of Jesus. We are great at acculturating people into our evangelical subcultures but not so great in seeing real life transformation take place that looks like what Jesus and the New Testament describes.

I define a disciple as one who...
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Oct 08, 2013

Apps and operating systems: Why disciplemaking programs often fail in the church

We all know the mandate of Jesus to go and make disciples. We also know that in general the church has done a poor job of helping people become genuine followers of Jesus. We are great at acculturating people into our evangelical subcultures but not so great in seeing real life transformation take place that looks like what Jesus and the New Testament describes.

I define a disciple as one who...
Read more
Apr 17, 2013

Language, culture and discipleship

Language is powerful and reflects societies mores and commitments. You can be a friend on Facebook without really knowing someone. If they have more than five thousand friends you can be a fan on their fan page. And many of us both follow and havefollowers on Twitter. While there are up sides and down sides to social media (and I participate in them regularly) they are the reality in an...
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Apr 17, 2013

Language, culture and discipleship

Language is powerful and reflects societies mores and commitments. You can be a friend on Facebook without really knowing someone. If they have more than five thousand friends you can be a fan on their fan page. And many of us both follow and havefollowers on Twitter. While there are up sides and down sides to social media (and I participate in them regularly) they are the reality in an...
Read more