Discipleship Principles vs. Methodology

Discipleship, Uncategorized

Methods, approaches, and styles change over time. Different strategies work in different seasons. Trends in ministry come and go. Yet I wonder: among all the change, what stays the same? As the culture shifts and changes around us, what proven principles remain firm...
Discern the core principles from your experience

Discern the core principles from your experience

Training

You want to make a difference. Your experience can help others. However, you don’t want to create little clones of yourself, you want to empower others to have their own experience and live into who God created them to be. Discerning the core principles from...

Third generation training

Leadership, Training

The first time I planted a church, our first public gathering was at another church building on a Sunday evening. I had one guy who was the head usher (head meaning we only had one). He was the setup guy, the logistics guy, and the greeter. Before our first service...

Principle #7: Cultivating others to live incarnationally

Missional

Leave it to Jesus to be forward-looking.  He knew there’d be many years to come when he couldn’t be there with his followers, showing them how to do things.  He taught them how to figure out how to take the next steps.  He shaped their characters and prepared them to...

Principle #6: Calling people to follow Jesus

Missional

Jesus didn’t shy away from calling people toward commitment, but he did approach it in a surprisingly wide variety of ways. He was gracious to those who were struggling. He was unrelenting to those whose hearts were hard. With the woman at the well, he was tender and...

Principle #5: Serving the least of these

Missional

I’ve written about this on my blog before, but it really stood out as I read the gospels with an eye toward seeing how Jesus lived.  He really focused his ministry on the least of these.  I’d challenge you to take some time this week to look through the following...

Principle #4: Engaging authentically with others

Missional

Jesus not only lived among those he served, he truly interacted with them at a personal level.  He treated people as individuals and engaged in conversations with them around issues that mattered to them.  Here are some of the observations I made as I read the gospels...

Principle #2: Living with purpose

Missional

Jesus wasn’t just wandering around the Holy Land aimlessly.  He was walking with a purpose.  We too, as we seek to live incarnationally as he did, need to walk with a purpose.  That doesn’t mean we’re in a hurry or that we’re not relational.  Quite the contrary,...