Discipleship (Page 21)
Why The Atonement Matters For Church Planters (4)
Atonement’ edited by Gabriel Fluhrer (P&R Publishing 2010) This is a series of lectures about ‘blood’ according to the book’s sleeve and is a compilation of 8 essays on the topic by 7 evangelical theologians and pastors. Such is the importance of this subject for every Christian, whoever they…
Superiority Complex? Try Service and Love
By Andy Constable There can be a temptation when coming to work in schemes to simply see the social problems that many schemes face. People from the outside see the drugs, crime, dysfunctional families and young teenage mothers. These stereotypes fuel a superiority complex where the ‘well-meaning’ Christian thinks that they are coming to release these ‘poor people’ from…
Handling Dangerous People In Your Church
A thoughtful post here from The ordinary Pastor. I am not sure I would so gracious as he in handling this type of individual.
The Importance of Training Leaders
by Andy Constable When I wanted to start working in ‘poorer’ areas I genuinely thought that it would be a case of going in, sharing the gospel, praying and everything would change. Although these are the fundamentals of any gospel work I was naive about the culture, the work of the local church and the pressures involved working in a scheme. The heart was good but I…
Missional Lifestyle v Pulpit Monologue: FIGHT!
‘Expository preaching’ can appear to be a dirty word in some church planting circles. Likewise, for many the ‘Sunday gathering’ is relegated to an afterthought in the pursuit of authentic ‘missional community’. There is talk that ‘Pulpit Preaching’…
Why We Need To Commit Long Term To Housing Schemes
By Andy Constable As I have worked in some of the most deprived areas of our world I have become convinced that for any deep down spiritual change we need to commit to area’s long term. Recently my wife and I have decided to commit to Niddrie for the next 10 years unless God calls us on. This is a…
Are You Running on Empty (2)?
Yesterday we looked at the issue of stress and burnout. We looked at some of the ways in which over tiredness can affect us and those around us. Today, I would like to offer some practical tips to help us. Rest is such a hard thing to achieve in our frenetic culture. Finding things to do for the sheer pleasure of doing them is difficult. I read a report recently that…
The power of an invitation
by Mike Stark This past week we’ve had another team over from Champion Forest Baptist Church, Houston, Texas. This is the second team we’ve had over from the US this year. Its always a great encouragement to us as a church, as the Americans inject a bit of money, man-power, and enthusiasm to the work in Niddrie. On Saturday night we had an X-Factor style…
Advice for brand new Christians
Colin Adams from the ‘Unashamed Workman’ offers some great advice here for new believers. If I was to offer some of my own it would be: 1. Find somebody you trust and know as a Christian and ask them to (a) teach you how to pray (Matthew 5 is a good place to start) and (b) ask them to commit to praying for you every day as you begin this new phase of your…