I listen to music through headphones while I work. I use it to block out the noise of the office so I can concentrate. Recently, after several years of hard service, my headphones conked out. I quickly rushed to replace them cheaply. As I cut open the impossible plastic packaging encasing my purchase, a small note fell out. This is what it said:
Some time ago, I had a dream in my sleep.
I dreamt that I was shipping millions of boxes around the world
(which is exactly what my company Sweex is doing).
And in spite of useful products in them,
I experienced an empty feeling in myself.
I sat with the dream for a while and pondered over it.
Then I realized ā I needed to fill the boxes with my wish for you.... continue reading
Copyright. A word that produces a number of reactions, all dressed up as a yawn. But whatever we think about copyright, the law has certainly tightened up on this over the last few years and Iām pretty sure that many churches are (in most cases unwittingly) breaking that law. As gospel-loving Christians we need to be subject to the authorities on this (Romans 13).
Itās quite an easy thing to get sorted ā The Christian Copyright Licensing International organization sees itself as the āone stopā copyright resource for the Church. Its existence has eased many consciences all over the world about this matter by helping us to be legal. It can be expensive, but CCLI was set up because of a $2 000 000 lawsuit taken out against the Chicago Diocese for copyright breaches, so better to be slightly hard-up than completely broke!
Here are some nuts and bolts.... continue reading
"For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God."
Ezekiel 36 v 24-28
When Godās people were scattered all over the place, their enemies mocked them. āTheir God must be weak to let that happen.ā Now God would bring His people home so the world would know Heās a God of power, justice and holiness. Thereās great hope for Godās people. He gives them a new start, a new heart, a desire to obey Him, and His Spirit to help them do it.
Murmuring underneath everything weāve seen so far is a fifth and final reason why our discipleship of others is failing so badly.
5. Our churches are ashamed of the gospel.
Not so long ago, I was invited to speak at a church just outside London. Numbers had been dropping, so the church was going to significant lengths to attract young people. Theyād added another service at a more convenient time on a Saturday evening, they were getting in guest speakers from all over the country, they were spending money on marketing, and they had paid a worship band to come from 100 miles away.
I got chatting to a delightful congregation member about the reasons for their flagging, elderly attendance. āThis may be a sensitive question,ā I said, ābut howās the preaching of the gospel going?ā His response came with a knowing and slightly embarrassed smile. āWell, we have to give people what they want.ā... continue reading
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Welcome to āWhy We Donāt Disciple #4ā³. Or, as you may prefer to call it, āBiting The Hand That Feeds.ā
4. Our churches are programme dependent.
Hereās a modern day parable for your delectation, told to me by a friend at seminary. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is (possibly) true.
A young man walked into a Christian bookstore in Chicago and asked where the bumper stickers were. The assistant said, what kind are you looking for?
The man said, Iād like to buy a fish sticker. The assistant said, Oh Iām afraid weāve sold out of those. To which the man responded, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO EVANGELISE WITHOUT FISH STICKERS?... continue reading
Pakistani girl accused of Qur'an burning is a minor, say medics
Harvest America with Greg Laurie: Largest US Evangelistic Event Ever?
Report: Multisite Churches Number Over 5,000, on the Rise
Atheist group removes billboards targeting presidential candidates' religious faith
The curious allure of child preachers
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Hereās a third reason our discipleship of others is so shallow, and may even be non-existent.
3. Our churches are less converted.
Our churches have fewer truly regenerate Christians in them, and so there are fewer people able to disciple each other.
No doubt the reasons for this are complex, but let me suggest two.
Firstly, it used to be the way that to be known as a member of the body of Christ, you had to be a Christian. Thatās the assumption made by the New Testament.
But now, in many churches ā even in some large, well-known evangelical churches ā you can become a member of the church simply by ticking a box on a welcome card. Itās a voluntary practise. There is little or no attempt to examine the person spiritually to try and ascertain that they are truly followers of Christ.
How can we expect people who arenāt disciples themselves to be discipling others?... continue reading
Let me suggest another reason our discipleship of others is so shallow, and may even be non-existent.
2. Our churches are seeker-sensitive, but believer-insensitive.
No church has done more to research and develop āseeker-sensitiveā services than Willow Creek in Chicago. They first started tailoring their church services toward āseekersā 30 years ago.But in 2008 they published the results of a four year survey on how effective they had been in fulfilling Jesusā call to āmake disciplesā (Matthew 28:19). Their conclusion was that after three decades, they needed to shift from seeker-sensitive services, to services which focused on enabling believers to grow in their faith; from seeker-sensitive, to believer-sensitive.... continue reading
