Many people struggle with the idea of reporting progress on church or ministry growth. Reporting in disciple making movements can be controversial. Recently, I had a meeting with some people to bring a better understanding of this issue. There was a lot of confusion related to this topic. Emotions ran high. Why report and track? There …
When people typically think of church, they think about a building, pastor, pulpit, church members, and a weekly meeting. Sadly, this is what the definition of a church has become. Even Merriam-Webster defines the word church as “a building for public and especially Christian worship.” This definition, though a commonly used one, is sadly not …
Last week we looked at the questions related to being ready for baptism. Today I want to look at another important baptism question. Are They A Believer? *Can someone be considered a “believer” or “disciple” if they don’t desire (or are not willing to take) this the step of obedience? To find answers to this …
Church definitions can be confusing. As a result, this question “What makes a church a church?” is an important question to ask! Last week, in Part 1, we looked at the two primary metaphors in the New Testament used to describe the church; the Body of Christ and the Family of God. Today we want …
What makes a disciple making movement move? How can you get multiplication growth to happen (and be sustained) as you make disciples? There are certain movement growth factors to keep in mind in your ministry. The following are the most important keys to pushing your disciple making into multiplicative growth. Some are obvious. Some are …
One of the important aspects of a growing movement is that it becomes indigenous. Disciples are free to live out the gospel message in a contextual way. What does the word indigenous mean and how can we contextualize without going too far? Miriam Webster defines indigenous as: produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a …
Merry Christmas! I hope you are reading this blog with a happy heart as you celebrate the miraculous arrival of our Lord! What incredible good news we have to share with the world! Sometimes this message seems so incredible it is almost scary. The shepherds definitely felt afraid when they first heard of Jesus’ birth …