Ninety people in a theatre aren’t a community — they’re strangers sharing an experience. The same is true for passengers on a plane or shoppers in a store. Community is the product of shared ownership and a commitment to the common good. There are many good books on developing community, but the best portrayal I’ve […]
Category: church
Discipleship: Five Guiding Themes
If you cut me off in traffic, it will irk me — unless I know you’re rushing to the hospital. And, if you live next door, we’ll keep quiet at night so we don’t wake you — unless your apartment is on fire. Then we’ll be shouting and pounding on your door. What we understand […]
Discipleship: Character Qualities
Business books are big business. They help you hone skills, build winning teams, and improve your game. Every title boasts great stories and lots of win-win. Biographies and histories are similar. Learning from others is entertaining, provides context, and yields wisdom. It’s hard to beat having examples to follow. Discipleship books are a hybrid of […]
Discipleship: Healthy Habits
When my friend and I interviewed ministry leaders about spiritual growth, many outlined habits that help us grow. Three habits in particular received the most mention — reading the Bible, talking to God, and learning together with other Christ-followers. Consistently doing these things is to spiritual maturity what diet, exercise, and rest are to physical […]
Doing discipleship as a church
Let’s say the goal of church is to help us become like Jesus Christ. Not just a few of us, but all of us, together. This theme is signaled by Jesus and repeated elsewhere in the New Testament. But what does it look like? A friend and I once interviewed scores of authors, pastors, and ministry […]
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