Church
It depends….
Thanks for your thoughtful responses to my last post on altar calls. The consensus is – “it depends.” So my next question is – it depends on what? Let’s talk about the factors determining methodology when the Bible is silent.
How does your personal experience influence your methodology? Many of you referenced personal spiritual growth as [...]
Churches Without Pastors
This week we attended a friend’s ordination and induction at the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland (Sydney congregation in Riverstone). The church had been without a resident pastor for over 30 years, so you could definitely feel the weight of the occasion! It was appropriately solemn, yet also a joyous celebration.
We marvelled at God’s providence [...]
Altar Calls: Yes or No?
Let’s discuss the use of altar calls in church services. For the purpose of this blog post, an altar call is an event that takes place after preaching. It involves an invitation from the preacher to come to the front of the church in response to the message.
FOR
Faith demands a response. In Scripture, there are [...]
Have You Heard Of These?
If you lead or help in a church ministry, here are four Australian resources which can assist and encourage you.
Matthias Media is a local evangelical publisher with a distinct focus:
“We’re not the slightest bit interested in adding to the already monumental pile of Christian books churned out each year by the Christian publishing industry. The [...]
Face to Face with the New Testament
See this morning’s post for the context of this post.
I wanted to give you the information for Dr. Don Barker’s seminar Face to Face with the New Testament. You can get the information on the web here (go down to #4). The following information is taken directly from the pdf brochure which Dr. Barker emailed [...]
New Church In Lismore
I am really happy to let you know that a couple of friends of mine are planting a Bible believing church in Lismore, along the north coast of NSW. The team are Pastor Peter Mitchell and Brother Steve Alvarez with their respective families. They are young and gifted men with a heart to see souls [...]
Evangelism In Australia
Have you ever wished your church was more effective in evangelism? Or that your church could connect better with your community? You might be interested in these statistics. The 2006 National Church Life Survey found that:
Only 16% of those surveyed actively sought opportunities to talk about their faith. Around half of the respondents felt “mostly [...]
8 Marks of a Dangerous Church
I have, over my lifetime, had the opportunity to interact with hundreds of churches around the world. I’ve seen some wonderful, healthy churches. I’ve also seen some dangerous churches. Here are some marks of a dangerous church.
.
Mark 1: The leadership structure has a lot of similarities to a totalitarian regime.
This is the church where one [...]
Endowed by a Creative Giver
The Bible indicates that we are given more than just one of the available spiritual gifts.
This makes perfect sense when so many other scriptures command all believers to do things like:-
-preach and teach;
-encourage and minister;
-give and serve.
God also determines the measure and extent of our giftedness and the results that follow. It is likely that [...]
The Gifted Ones
Unless we are genuinely talented, or have a very high esteem of ourselves, we tend to think of others as being the gifted ones. We often long to have the same abilities, looks, talents, opportunities, education or wealth of others.
Yet every believer is supremely gifted of God. More in fact than we could ever imagine.
When [...]
For Members Only
It has been a blessing these last couple of Sunday afternoons to run a church membership class for believers interested in joining Trinity.
Our classes have, so far, focused on our core values, philosophy of ministry and then onto our constitution and doctrinal statement.
The classes have allowed for open and wide ranging discussion so that concerns [...]
The perfect church
.
Right. So you finally find the perfect church.
The pastor, the preaching, the music, the fellowship… everything. It’s perfect.
And it’s a good thing because after all these years, you were beginning to think it didn’t exist.
.
But it does of course. You have proof. You’ve just joined it.
Thus you dwell in heavenly oblivion as you relish the [...]
