Articles for tag: Evangelism

Laura-McKillip-Wood

Julio and Arminda Arria: From Mission Field to Missionaries

Noni stretched her back as she straightened from her work. She’d been putting in long hours at the café she owned trying to pay off debt incurred when the café was closed during the worst of the pandemic, but she still owed money and worried she would not be able to pay it. She thought of her son, who had been pressuring her to let him move to live with his father. Her eyes teared up as fear filled her heart. The future seemed uncertain, and she wondered what would happen to her and her family. Just then, the door

‘Lead Like You Are the Colorado River’

If not for the obstacles standing in the way of the Colorado River, there would be no Grand Canyon. Without these natural barriers, the river would not have created dramatic ravines, horseshoe bends, and whitewater rapids. Instead of a Grand Canyon, we would have a “Grand Trench.” How awe-inspiring would that be? Not very. If I could give any counsel to Christians and ministry leaders in today’s world, it would be this: Lead like you are the Colorado River. Anticipate impediments to your progress. Don’t expect the way to be free and clear of obstacles. No matter what the barrier,

Back to the Drawing Board: How to Lead a Church Built Around Making Disciples (No Matter the Cost)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is well-known for penning the book The Cost of Discipleship about what it costs each of us to follow Jesus. In addition to that cost, discipleship—or disciple-making—also costs church leaders who take it seriously. I recently spoke with a lead pastor who serves not far from where I live. Our conversation went something like this: Me: Disciple-making is the mission Jesus gave to the church. Him: I think we need to focus more on evangelism. It seems like all I hear of late is “discipleship,” and [to me] it sounds like “work harder, learn more, go deep.” It

Elders Who Disciple: One Key to an Effective Church

In his book Disciple, Juan Carlos Ortiz says the greatest problem facing the church today is “the perpetual childhood of the believer.” The fact that most of our churches are made up of spiritually immature believers is a major issue to the church fulfilling her mission. This extreme lack of spiritual development continually cripples the dynamic advancement of our churches. We will never take our cities for Christ if the vast number of our people remain at a “kindergarten” level of spiritual growth and maturity. This deep and widespread problem can be attributed, more than anything else, to the lack

Trustworthy Church Leadership

“The greatest source of power available to a leader,” said Dr. James O’Toole, founding director of Neely Center for Ethical Leadership at the University of Southern California, “is the trust that derives from faithfully serving followers.” Three decades earlier, Howard Hendricks, longtime professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, told a Promise Keepers rally, “The greatest crisis in America is a crisis of leadership, and the greatest crisis of leadership is a crisis of character.” During the past several decades, a proliferation of books, journals, degree programs, podcasts, online conferences, and DVD series have addressed the issues of character and trust in leadership in virtually all arenas

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