'Niddrie Community Church' Tagged Posts (Page 52)
Complete Surrender
How healthy are our spiritual lives really? And what immediately comes to mind when I ask that question? What is the measuring rod we use to divine our spiritual health? We have read the Bible this morning? Check. We have prayed to God for friends and family? Check. Maybe we have listened to some Christian music? Check. So, we feel all spiritual today. It is a good day.…
Soul Sadness
I have just read an interesting quote. ‘A Pharisee who does nothing but focus on avoiding sin is still concentrating on sin, which makes him or her just as obsessed with sin as the person who voraciously lives in it. Both are consumed by sin – one to avoid it, the other to live in it. Both lack the joy, peace and freedom of life in Christ.’ (p88.…
Worship Leader v Biblical Preacher
An informative and biblical essay by Bob Kauflin on this topic can be found here. He quotes Gordon MacDonald, “For many young people choosing a church, worship leaders have become a more important factor than preachers. Mediocre preaching may be tolerated, but an inept worship leader can sink things fast.” Don Carson disputes the whole notion of a ‘worship…
All I have is Christ
Great little animation courtesy of ‘Worship Matters’. The link to them can be found on the right. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23227194]
Thirsting For God (2)
Some time ago I posted on a book I have been reading by Gary L Thomas called: ‘Thirsting For God’. This is the second part of a review of my findings thus far. Consider this long, but interesting quote. ‘Replacing a vice with a virtue can be used to change our social environments. I once worked in a grocery store….and the backbiting and slander…
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (9)
Leading Teams Teams are important for planting churches. The lone ranger approach just doesn’t cut it, particularly in council housing estates. Often, men ask me for my opinion on planting churches and one of the first questions I ask is this: ‘What is your main spiritual gifting?’ Almost 100% of the time the answer is Bible teacher, or preacher. Great gifts but wrong…
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (8)
Living Community I find the whole concept of ‘community’ fascinating. It’s suddenly become very fashionable in ‘forward thinking churches’ (as they very ‘forwardly’ like to call themselves) to throw this whole concept around like a big beach ball. The problem being that people like to bat the thing about but nobody wants to keep it hold of it very long because it is a bit…
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (6)
Visualising Worship According to Stetzer, worship has become more visual. When we (at his church) sing of blood we show blood. When we sing of Christ, we use art from the ages to show Christ.’ (P140). I found this fascinating. In the conservative circles in which I was saved it was noticeable that I never found any images, crosses or anything remotely ‘religious’…
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (5)
Preaching narrative Expository Messages There is an increasing argument (in some circles) that the so-called ‘moderns’ of the last century responded well to more ‘concrete’ biblical messages (on passages like the Epistles, for instance). Whereas, the postmodern mindset responds far better to the story telling approach to biblical preaching. Certainly, when we look at the…
G.O.S.P.E.L
I really enjoyed this clever presentation of the good news. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymfh6RJezQ4&feature=channel_video_title]