Posts by Mere Agency (Page 10)

Posts by Mere Agency (Page 10)

It’s in the details!

By Andy Constable I hate thinking about details. I love thinking about the vision and the concepts but not how we are going to get there. I’m the worst person in the world to organise events because I can envision what I want to happen but am rubbish at thinking about the plan. The leadership team at church have a tag line whenever I forget something, they say: “Remember…

Wanted: Female Youth Worker

by Mike Stark One of my overall strategies for the future of the youth ministry at Niddrie Community Church is to have youth work shared between a team of committed leaders. One of the things I have become increasingly aware of in Niddrie over the past 2 years is that I’m incapable of having a significant impact in the lives of young people in Niddrie by myself. A…

Keeping Community Real

by Andy Constable It’s the cool and trendy thing these days to talk about the need for ‘community’. Christians talk like it’s the best thing since sliced bread and that it’s the thing that the church is really lacking in the West. The argument goes that the evangelical church has been great at preaching God’s Word but lacking in gospel community.  Whilst I agree that this…

Eating like Jesus

by Andy Constable Jesus proclaims in Luke 7:34, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking”. It’s interesting as you read Luke’s gospels just how many encounters Jesus has while eating. There are over 10.  It’s one of his main mission strategies. He uses the dining room as a place to teach, to challenge social norms and show up people’s hearts. Jesus’ actions around meals,…

Effective Discipleship For a Non Reading Generation

Great little post here on community-shaped discipleship in youth work by Josh Cousineau. He sets up 2 models of discipleship we might employ in our youth work; 1) giving them a chapter of a good book to read and discussing it together the next week, or 2) living life together in community, allowing…

Gospel Zeal

by Andy Constable Paul writes in Philippians 1:12 “Now I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”  There must have been questions flying round the church in Phillipi whilst Paul, their spiritual leader, was in prison. What’s going to happen to the gospel? What’s God doing here? Is Paul OK? But Paul reports that what…

Growing Indigenous Leaders

We’re really blessed on the ministry team here at NCC to have 8 individuals with different gifts, abilities, and backgrounds. We wouldn’t be so effective as a team if we were all the same as Mez. God intends for His church to be a diverse body of believers (Rom 12:4-10, 1 Cor 12:14-31), and the ministry team benefits from a similar diversity. It would be…

Redeeming Tiredness

by A Constable Work on schemes is tiring. The people we deal with everyday have some sort of drug or alcohol dependency and/or one or more mental issues.  When you are building a relationship with someone from that kind of background you aren’t going to be asked very often how you’re doing? The relationship, at least to begin with, is very one sided as you sew into their…

Children need time, not stuff

According to the BBC, British children are among the least happy in the developed world. This is the breaking news that we’re living in a materialistic world where parents are working longer hours to make more money, and as a result are spending less time with their children, which, according to the Unicef research, is the thing the children crave most.…