Missional Living (Page 6)
Engaging Muslims with the Gospel
By Andy Constable This week I was privileged to attend the Acts29WE conference in London. Mez is going to write a report on what he learned from the main sessions, but I thought I would share one of the seminars that I attended on ‘engaging with Muslims’. It was taken by J.D. Greear who spent 2 years planting a church in Indonesia (a place that is 99% Islamic)…
One Gospel Conviction But Two different Outlooks on Outreach!
Can the outlooks of two generations coexist in one church? James Merritt, 59, serves as senior pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Georgia. His son, Jonathan Merritt, 29, joined the church staff in 2008. In many respects, they couldn’t be more different. James represents the Boomer…
9 Recommended Books on Leadership
The TGC websote gives their titles here.
My Top Tips For Surviving Ministry In Hard Places!
It’s been an up and down week in Niddrie. A man was stabbed to death in a drug related incident, two young boys crashed their stolen motorbike into a lamp-post being chased by the police, a young man killed himself, there was a knife fight on the steps of the church and an African man was…
Are You a Controlling Leader?
Church planters and pastors of all ilks are united by the fact that they (normally) have strong personalities. This is doubly so for those of us who work in housing schemes and/or other similar situations. We have to lead, often make snap decisions and carry/encourage/develop/mentor a group of people seeking to live for Christ in hard places. I have to work very hard with…
Good News to the Poor: “Sharing the gospel through social involvement”
I recently got hold of a copy of this book by Tim Chester and have just finished it. Firstly, let me start by saying that at 170+ pages long it is a short, sharp read on what can be quite an involved topic. For those of us who have read anything written by Ron Sider, particularly, it is not going…
How To Keep Going when People Screw Us & We Want To Give Up!
By Andy Constable The last couple of weeks have been particularly tough and tiring in Niddrie. One of our “pre-interns” who was getting his life together in Christ made a very unwise decision to leave the structure of our tailored discipleship programme/life to go back to his home town.…
Church Planting in Belfast!
I got this little video from Vimeo as I wait to publish a fuller interview of Lucas on the blog soon. It doesn’t give loads of details but it does two things: (1) It at least shows his mug and a little about his vision and (2) it introduces Acts 29WE, and organisation I am going to blog about shortly. Bottom line: He’s a church planter and we love those!!…
How Can We Train Future Church Planters?
1. Make sure you prioritise time for people. Many pastors (correctly) tend to lean heavily toward study but there is a real danger of hiding away in an office (which far too many do). This is where I have been impressed by Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington. When I spent a coupe of days with him last year his study was full of young men being trained and…
Reaching Out to the Heartbreak Hotel!!
By Andy Constable Last week I was able to have a meeting with Kenny Macaskill who is the MSP for Eastern Edinburgh. We were meeting to discuss the possibility of opening a drop in centre up at Greendykes flats. As a church we are desperate to start a ministry up there because the area is filled with many difficulties. The flats are known as heartbreak hotel in Niddrie.…