Posts Tagged ‘Discipleship’
How to Deal with Criticism
Criticism has a unique way of controlling us. One critical word and we want to rethink everything we believe or stand for. Ironically, I have been criticized for being overly critical at times. Unfortunately, I have passed this “gift” on to my children. Somehow over the past 11-16yrs of their lives, they have become genius…
Read MoreThe Correctives of Intentional Discipleship, Part III
The most well-known statement of the Great Commission is the one given in Matthew’s Gospel: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you…
Read MoreSeeking the Praises of Man
Are you a people-pleaser? Do you struggle with living more for the praise and approval of men, more than God? In my devotional reading this morning, in John 12, I read of highly respected religious leaders of Christ’s day struggling with this very problem. “Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in [Jesus], but because…
Read MoreThe Correctives of Intentional Discipleship (2)
Too often the discipleship that takes place in our churches comes only by osmosis – if one hangs around long enough she will catch on to the Bible’s story, important doctrines of the faith, and tenets of Christian living. This series has advocated that our discipleship be intentional (see here) and has suggested that a…
Read MoreThe Leadership Crisis: Searching for Answers (2)
Many are writing about the rapidly growing leadership crisis in America’s churches. In part one of this series, I suggested that there are two glaring omissions in many of our lives and churches that contribute significantly to this vacuum of leadership. These two omissions may even create or encourage other causes pointed out by other…
Read MoreThe Correctives of Intentional Discipleship
Previously, I described the process of intentional discipleship as opposed to the haphazard approach so many churches take (see here). A successful discipleship program must be focused, universal, and church-based, thereby addressing several issues with which churches often struggle. Because it focuses the ministries of the church on one overall objective, making disciples, it forces…
Read MoreThe Leadership Crisis: Searching for Answers (1)
The churches of America have entered a major leadership crisis. Many churches don’t have pastors and cannot obtain one. The number of churches without qualified spiritual leaders is multiplying by the day. This vacuum of leadership has hit every denomination and group. This situation is a relatively new one for Bible-believing American churches. How Do…
Read MoreHaphazard Discipleship
After over twenty years in pastoral ministry, it is my observation that most people in our churches have not been intentionally discipled. Rather, all too often the approach taken in our assemblies is one of osmosis. The unspoken but very real rule is, “If you hang around long enough you will catch on to how…
Read MoreMentoring Our Next Generation
Jeno’s pizza, rock quarries, and filing cabinets are three items that to most people do not mean much of anything. But to me they symbolize times in my teenage life when someone mentored me. To this day, whenever I eat a Jeno’s pizza, I remember the graciousness and sacrifice of a young couple who invited…
Read MoreThe Misuse of Biblical Knowledge
Some years ago, I read this humorous but real account from a Presbyterian layman whose article lamented that too often the churches in his denomination preoccupied themselves with peripheral issues. What he described could be any denomination or church that takes theology and learning seriously: I remember my first visit to a Reformed church all…
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