alt="Wordle: James 2"
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Friday 22 May 2009
James 2
title="Wordle: James 2">
alt="Wordle: James 2"
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alt="Wordle: James 2"
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Monday 11 May 2009
What New Converts should be doing for ministry
This is part 2 of last weeks post, on why new converts shouldn't be in upfront ministry.
I'm not sure what the exact statistic is, but it is known by church leaders, that within a certain amount of time, New Christians’ lose almost all of their non-Christian friends, and yet it is these people who need saving and helping.
For this reason it is my belief that New Christians should be supported, discipled and trained in order to effectively evangelise to their friends and workmates.
In today’s culture and throughout church history, the church has been called to be missional. I believe that in order to best do this the church must not continue on a path of "assimilation" of new Christians, but should instead focus on these converts being properly equipped and impassioned for ministry within the culture that they live, so that not only they may be saved but there friends too. This should be the focus of new Christians and ministry, not serving the other members of the church only, but serving the wider community, while they still have those contacts and networks.
Similarly, last week I read an article by Jonathan Dodson, over at resurgence, that was all about missional living, and didn’t so much speak to new converts as it did members of the church, and it made me consider how I can be missionally living in my world and culture. I recommend Everyone give it a look.
ja
I'm not sure what the exact statistic is, but it is known by church leaders, that within a certain amount of time, New Christians’ lose almost all of their non-Christian friends, and yet it is these people who need saving and helping.
For this reason it is my belief that New Christians should be supported, discipled and trained in order to effectively evangelise to their friends and workmates.
In today’s culture and throughout church history, the church has been called to be missional. I believe that in order to best do this the church must not continue on a path of "assimilation" of new Christians, but should instead focus on these converts being properly equipped and impassioned for ministry within the culture that they live, so that not only they may be saved but there friends too. This should be the focus of new Christians and ministry, not serving the other members of the church only, but serving the wider community, while they still have those contacts and networks.
Similarly, last week I read an article by Jonathan Dodson, over at resurgence, that was all about missional living, and didn’t so much speak to new converts as it did members of the church, and it made me consider how I can be missionally living in my world and culture. I recommend Everyone give it a look.
ja
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Why new converts shouldn't be in upfront ministry
If that title doesn't start controversy and get me flamed i don't know what will.
This whole topic came around through 2 things. a conversation I had with one of the Ministers at church and blog posts on the resurgence.
For some background, on Sunday I was bible reading at church, and had a discussion with the minister preaching about what translation i should read from. I normally read from the ESV but at church we read from the NIV, both great translations. Through the course of the conversation we discussed how new Christians are often shoved into ministry, and often this ministry is Bible reading.
I think this is a sad reflection on how we view certain parts of our communal worship culturally. We put lots of emphasis and practice into our music, but other things (except sermons, which preachers put large amounts of energy into) are often shoved to the side. In reality, the Bible reading and prayer are possibly the most important parts of our time together.
The Bible reading is when the word of God is opened up, and God speaks directly to us, through his word. Likewise prayer is in my view the second most important part, because that is where we, communally speak back to God.
Secondly it is essential that all parts of our services and time together follow scripture as closely as possible, and in that we must view the bible reader as a leader. After all they are reading God's word out to us, and therefore the guidelines for leadership set out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 must be followed.
This whole topic came around through 2 things. a conversation I had with one of the Ministers at church and blog posts on the resurgence.
For some background, on Sunday I was bible reading at church, and had a discussion with the minister preaching about what translation i should read from. I normally read from the ESV but at church we read from the NIV, both great translations. Through the course of the conversation we discussed how new Christians are often shoved into ministry, and often this ministry is Bible reading.
I think this is a sad reflection on how we view certain parts of our communal worship culturally. We put lots of emphasis and practice into our music, but other things (except sermons, which preachers put large amounts of energy into) are often shoved to the side. In reality, the Bible reading and prayer are possibly the most important parts of our time together.
The Bible reading is when the word of God is opened up, and God speaks directly to us, through his word. Likewise prayer is in my view the second most important part, because that is where we, communally speak back to God.
Secondly it is essential that all parts of our services and time together follow scripture as closely as possible, and in that we must view the bible reader as a leader. After all they are reading God's word out to us, and therefore the guidelines for leadership set out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 must be followed.
- Husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:6)
- Above reproach (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:6-7)
- Able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:9) (While teaching may not be essential, they should be confident speakers)
- Hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:8)
- Respectable (1 Timothy 3:2,)
- Well thought of by those outside the church (1 Timothy 3:2)
- Not a new convert (1 Timothy 3:6-7)
- Self controlled and Disciplined (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:8)
- Not Arrogant or conceited (1 Timothy 3:6 & Titus 1:7)
- Not quick tempered or violent (1 Timothy 3:3 & Titus 1:7)
- Not a drunkard (1 Timothy 3:3 & Titus 1:7)
While I have stated that I don't think new converts shouldn't be in upfront ministry this doesn't mean that i think they shouldn't be in ministry at all. I think that there are ministries within the church where new converts are essential. I'll write more about this soon.
ja
(Note the list above was taken from the passages listed, however links to passages are from theResurgence.com article on worship pastors by Barry Keldie)
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