[featured_image]On Monday, January 23, I begin a week of teaching at Adelphia Bible School. I have really been looking forward to this opportunity to teach on the mission of the church!
As part of this week’s teaching sessions, I am asking the students to comment on 10 missionalchallenge.com posts and to interact with one another as they consider the application to their lives. So I thought I’d extend the same challenge to my readers: Consider commenting on 10 missionalchallenge.com posts this week! Here are 10 of the 512 posts that I’d recommend…
1. Cookie Jars and Church Planters (July 14, 2010) As I work with church planters, I’ve seen that many of them are more interested in designing cookie jars than they are in making cookies. They spend a lot of time and effort and money on having great cookie jars. They look at other cookie jars and try to copy the best designs that they can find. They dream of having large, over-flowing cookie jars – Mega Cookie Jars. Church planting isn’t about the cookie jars – it’s about the cookies! (read more)
2. How Do Non-Christians View Your Community Service? (April 26, 2009)
As believers take steps to focus on meeting needs beyond the walls of the church, it’s important to consider how those being served (as well as those who may observe your acts of service) will interpret your actions. It’s possible that your best intentions and efforts to serve may be misunderstood. (read more)
3. Training Disciplemaking Trainers (June 13, 2011)
If you want to see a multiplication movement, switch from simply training disciples, to training disciplemaking trainers. Don’t just train leaders, train leaders who are training leaders. (read more)
4. 7 Elements of Starting Churches (February 9, 2010)
In an effort to equip church planters as missionaries, I’ve developed a new training model that focuses on embodying the gospel in your community and making disciples, rather than moving into a community and starting public worship. (read more)
5. 3 Simple Skills Every Christ Follower Needs (August 8, 2010)
Jesus was a disciplemaker. He started a disciplemaking movement. He not only made disciples, but He sent His disciples to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). In the 21st Century, the practices of being a disciple and making disciples aren’t intuitive to Christians. Yet it should be the most basic missional activity for all believers. (read more)
6. Pastors Don’t Know HOW to Make Disciples (July 20, 2010)
One of the reasons that many pastors don’t personally disciple anyone is that they don’t know HOW to make disciples. That’s what one of my friends suggested to me in a recent email. He writes, “One of my concerns is that pastors are not personally and intentionally involved in making disciples.” (read more)
7. Pre-Conversion Discipleship (March 26, 2008)
When Jesus sent His disciples to “make disciples” – He wasn’t telling them to find “baby Christians” and help establish them in their faith. He intended that they would engage with those in the culture around them who did not yet believe and proclaim the Good News of the cross! (read more)
8. Developing Leaders: What Kind of Leaders Do You Want? (May 15, 2008)
“How many training events have you been to that missed the mark because they were irrelevant?” The key question we need to ask when it comes to training leaders is: “What do leaders need?” One of the best ways to get an answer is to ask them. Then provide training that actually provides what they need. (read more)
9. 4 Ways to Show Outsiders You Care (February 4, 2011)
Those outside the faith typically aren’t interested in knowing what you believe. They are probably more interested in knowing how you live out what you believe. “What difference does you faith make in the way you treat me, or in the way you care for others?” (read more)
10. Remove the Queen (February 10, 2010)
Many churches overuse the Queen. What is the Queen? Too often the “Queen” is the Sunday morning worship service. Churches tend to use the Sunday service to try to accomplish everything – worship, teaching, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship. What if we could change that? (read more)
I hope you enjoy reading these posts and adding your comments.
You may also consider: Take the Missional Challenge: 31 Days to Align with Jesus’ Mission!
Also – like Missional Challenge on Facebook or join Missional Challenge on LinkedIn.
