Category

Evangelism

Nov 18
Love1

Chase Value

By Discipleship, Equipping, Evangelism, Missions

When I was making a career decision a few years ago I needed to make a choice which had monetary implications. When I asked a friend for advice, he said to me, “Brad, don’t worry about the money, always chase value”.

Sometimes we look at what we’re giving up instead of what will be replaced by what we’ve given up. We’ll never know what God will replace those things with until we are willing to give up the things we hold onto. So, chase value. Where is the real value found? It’s in what God replaces those other things with. But you’ll never know if you don’t give up the things that might stop you seeking first His Kingdom.

In this article, Tim Chester, writes about Jim Elliot and his co-workers who chased real value.

Read it here
Nov 14
Love1

Enjoy His Grace & Extend His Glory

By Church Planting, Evangelism, Gospel, Missions, Unreached

If you were at our Spring Connect Workshop, you’ll remember we traced God’s heart for the Nations and how, while we must Enjoy His Grace, if it stops there it is incomplete. Together with Enjoying His Grace we must always seek to Extend His Glory. As his Image-Bearers, that is what we are made for.

I enjoyed reading how John Piper expressed this same idea. I think you will to.

Read it here
Sep 22
Love0

Praying God’s Word for the Unreached

By Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions, Uncategorized

Have you ever wanted to use God’s Word to pray for some of the neediest people in the world who have no access to His Word or the knowledge of His Son, Jesus? Here are a few verses that will help you do that. Couple these verses with a tool like the “Unreached of The Day” App, or The Joshua Project. Just fill in the name of the people group you are praying for.

Psalm 86:9 “Lord I pray that all the _____________ people you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; I pray the _____________ people will bring glory to your name.”

Psalm 113:4 “Lord, may you be exalted over all the _____________ people, your glory over the heavens.”

Isaiah 42:8 “You are the Lord and this your name! I pray your glory will not be given to another. I pray the _____________ people will not give your praise to idols.”

Psalm 96:3 “Lord send workers to declare your glory among the _____________ people, your marvelous deeds among all the _____________ people.”

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Matt 6:10

Sep 14
Love0

Jesus In Athens

By Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions

People are on the move all around the world. Many of the 1 million refugees entering Europe intially arrive in Greece. Jesus in Athens is the compelling story of the ways Christians are serving migrants, and how Muslims are encountering the love of God and Christians, believing the gospel, and forming churches. You can watch it on Amazon Prime for free by registering for a free 30 day trial.

Watch it here.
Sep 07
Love0

Inspecting the Bridges We Use to Evangelise Muslims

By Church Planting, Culture, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission

On December 11-14th, we’ll gather together at Lakewood for our end-of-year Connect Open Weekend. This year, we’ll have Samuel Green, author of “Where to start with Islam” as our guest speaker. If you haven’t already, please “Save The Date”.

As the Connect Open Weekend get’s closer, from time to time we’ll post articles here to help us engage with how we can be equipped to communicate Truth to our muslim friends.

Read it here.

Aug 28
Love0

Day 8: G = God’s Global Plan

By Church Planting, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions, WILD

God’s intention for Israel as a people was always clear. He told Abraham that he’d be the father of a nation through which all other nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Later, He told Moses that through Israel He’d demonstrate His power to the surrounding nations (Exodus 34:10). They were intended to be His witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). To demonstrate the incredible blessing of having access to God’s Word (Deut. 4:6,33).

Although Israel failed, God wanted His people to be a light and a witness, to communicate His blessing to others. It was part of who they were as a people, whether they recognized it or not.... read more

We mentioned in Wednesay’s post about identity and purpose being closely linked together. What was true of God’s people under the Old Covenant is also true for those in the New Covenant. The command and commission these New Covenant believers received was directly from Him and they were to pass it on to others, to go out, and to be His witnesses everywhere.

The pattern He described was of His people moving out with Truth from a local base and then out to the nations. From its beginning on the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit empowered the early Church to move out geographically, but also across boundaries of language, culture, worldview, and ethnicity.

The Narrative of the early Church and in the centuries that followed was one of spreading out, of taking God’s Truth into new areas, both locally and globally.

Aug 24
Love0

Day 4: N = Narrative

By Church Planting, Culture, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Meta-Narrative, Missions, Uncategorized, WILD

If you have had the opportunity to be part of a friends journey of faith, you would recognise that it takes some wisdom to help anyone to do this well. In the Bible, wisdom is strongly correlated with order, and an orderly approach to how we use God’s Word is crucial to effective Church Planting & Discipleship.

Think about your own experience, either discipling others or being discipled yourself. Think how well prepared you or a fellow disciple would be if there had already been exposure and some understanding to God’s Word as His complete Narrative, or Story.... read more

What if we had a clear understanding of how and why God created the universe, the world and man and woman? Imagine if you had been able to stand alongside your friend and observe together how God related, from the beginning, to his created human beings that He had made.

If together, or as a group, you’d learned together how Adam and Eve listened to Satan and then saw God’s interaction with them and His response. And what if you’d been able to teach or learn together how through history, you saw the highlights of God’s record of the way he has relationship with human beings.

And then, if your friend or friends hadn’t yet decided to follow Jesus, you’d been able to introduce them to the promised Messiah, the Rescuer. And most importantly, if you’d taught and learned together how all the threads of who God is, what He’s shown us about Himself, how that comes together in His Son, and how we understand that most clearly in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Even if you have not been able to guide an individual, or a group, through God’s Story, I’m sure you can appreciate what a great foundation of Truth you would be working with as you try to help and encourage others.

If the path to faith for anyone we are sharing Truth with involves getting to know God, themselves, their enemy Satan and eventually Jesus the Saviour, through God’s Narrative, then there will be many important areas of Truth we will be able to help them with.

It’s going to be great to discuss these ideas further during our upcoming webinar and workshop.

Aug 22
Love0

Day 2: L = Life

By Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, Missions

Life will be one of our W.I.L.D categories, or lenses, we’ll look through during our upcoming Webinar and Workshop. But what do we mean by Life? We can start by thinking about what living things have in common. They grow, reproduce, and pass their DNA or characteristics on to their offspring and they take in energy (like plants take in energy from the Sun and people eat food for energy).... read more

These are ways of talking about Life, but don’t properly tell us what it is that we see around us and feel within ourselves. It doesn’t properly describe what Life really is. They don’t explain how the Creator, God, gives Life…the kind of Life God has given us as His children.

So, our understanding of Life really begins and ends with God. Speaking to the men in Athens, Paul said that “God himself gives life and breath to everything” (Acts 17:25b) and that “in him we live and move and exist.” (Acts 17:28a).

In the Genesis record of God’s creation, we see a picture there of life bursting out everywhere, from plants and different and amazing kinds of animals. All of this came about by the power of God’s act of communication, His Word. What had been “formless and empty” now had order and was full of life.

Any discussion about Life in the context of Church Planting and Discipleship wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t ask the questions, “Why are we alive? Why do we exist?”. God has made it very clear to us through His Word why we’re here. He has a specific purpose for us, just as He did for the nation of Israel, just as He did for the early believers in Jerusalem, and churches elsewhere. We’re here as a continuation of what Jesus started and then passed on to The Apostles.”

Along with the other W.I.L.D. lenses, we’ll further discuss Life at our upcoming workshop on 10 October.