Tag: ministry

Churches: Don’t Work The Body To Death

When the next opportunity for service or ministry comes around, don't cave in to the easy temptation to call the same old people (who are really so dependable and who will do it on such short notice!) and ask them to serve, or minister, or help, or provide in some way. Find other people to do it. Let it be known loudly that it's time for that core group of workers to have a rest and that everyone else is going to have to start showing up. [Click title to read more.]

Stop Caring So Much About Results

Sometimes you give your all and the results are nothing great. Nothing special. Sometimes actively awful. That doesn't always mean you're doing it wrong. [Click title to read more.]

Coincidentally, All Our Sins Always Happen To Be In The Distant Past

It's more than a little disingenuous to pretend that our 'worst' sins are always something that we recovered from a while back, the remnants of a time long-ago in early Christian-hood before we became the strong believers we are now. [Click title to read more.]

God Values Your Creative Ministry

All too often I suspect our faith is bound by the laws of logic - if not the logic of reason, then our own peculiar logic of how things are and how the universe should be. Or even by the logic of what our churches say "proper" ministry should look like. [Click title to read more.]

The Future of America Does Not Depend On Politics. It Depends On You.

It's easy to complain. It's easy to pretend to ourselves that one vote or one candidate will make or break something. It's a lot less easy to go out and do the work of love. For all of us who sit around complaining about the way the world is, I wonder: have we been doing all that we can do to serve? [Click title to read more.]

Be A One-Person Ministry. No Hullabaloo Required.

I feel really compelled to encourage people today that if there's an idea you have for a ministry - if there is something that you'd love to do for God - you should do it. Now. Today. As much as you are able. [Click title to read more.]

Hold The Space For Questions

We should strive to be the Local Friendly Christian: the person who's always willing and able to help answer questions or give information or simply ponder aloud, without demanding that people surmount the barriers of our church walls and two small groups just to gain an audience with us. [Click title to read more.]

Knowledge and Wisdom: Or, Five Gut-Check Questions For Christian Intellectuals

A love of learning and knowledge can also lead to particular pitfalls, temptations, and problems. In light of that, there are five questions I try to constantly ask myself to keep my path straight and my focus on God. [Click title to read more.]

We Need To Rediscover The Meaning of Fellowship

I suspect that much of our current definition of fellowship - and, if I dare say it, of "doing life together" - coincides little with the concept of fellowship that the ancient church shared. [Click title to read more.]