Children’s ministry is so much more than just childcare!
Here are 3 ways to encourage discipleship in your children’s ministry.
Mission Centers of Houston seeks to bring positive change by working with children and schools to increase student success.
There might be no greater need in the church today than the need of a growing number of believers living sent. People aren’t coming to us, so we’re going to have to go to them. Going to those who won’t come to us begins with loving where you live.
“It’s time for believers in Jesus Christ to awaken to our reality of being sent, not simply making a move.”
Shauna Pilgreen shares her journey of living sent in her book Love Where You Live (Baker Publishing Group, 2019). Born in the South, married to a Baptist preacher, Shauna’s family answered the call to move to San Francisco and plant a church. Overnight, everything changed. Rural turned to urban. Grass became concrete. Deep family connections gave way to strangers. The familiar gave way to the foreign. Shauna details many of the changes—some humorous, some heart-breaking, some shocking—while keeping in the forefront that all changes were divine opportunities to live sent.
“Going to those who won’t come to us begins with loving where you live.”
We live in a world of change whether we see it or not. Many of those who once lived around the world now live across the street. Increasingly, those across the street have little or no interest in church, regardless of whether they grew up in Houston, Los Angeles, Islamabad, or New Delhi. It takes a pretty sequestered life not to see it. Love Where You Live helps the reader see these changes as divine opportunities to live sent.
The book also provides a variety of tools and practical examples. I found the chapters on mapping quadrants, circles, and hubs particularly helpful in understanding how God can use our normal pathways and life rhythms as platforms to build gospel-centered relationships. Nearly every chapter contains helpful examples that leave the reader saying, “Well, I could do that.”
Perhaps Shauna’s greatest contribution, though, is her ability to inspire believers to go in the love of God to those who aren’t going to come to us. Story after story shows how warm courage, welcomes, and redeeming love win in the face of fear, isolation, and brokenness. The book is at times painfully honest with failures and genuinely humble with successes. This book taps a deeper vein of joy and purpose found only in the mission of God.
Love Where You Live would be a good read for every church member and should be a must-read for every church leader. Nuggets from this book could greatly enhance a new member’s class. And this book is ideal for small groups, especially those groups that want to begin the journey to live sent.
“Love Where You Live reorients church members to welcome with gospel intentionality those moving in and to send with gospel intentionality those among us moving out.”
Additionally, I think the gentle and practical approach of this book could make a valuable contribution to fragile churches that are too inwardly focused.
This book also addresses an urgent need. The average American will move 11 times. Love Where You Live reorients church members to welcome with gospel intentionality those moving in and to send with gospel intentionality those among us moving out. Shauna helps us realize that in this changing climate, “It’s time for believers in Jesus Christ to awaken to our reality of being sent, not simply making a move.”
As the Senior Consultant for Sending Pathways, Cris Alley helps support the local church in thinking and acting like missionaries.
May we take encouragement from Lough Ah Fook’s story. God can use whatever “small” thing you’re doing for the gospel today to make an impact you could never imagine.
Whether it's making a meal, teaching Zumba, doing crafts, or playing games, serving others (and allowing yourself to be served) is a blessing to us all.
Let’s put aside time and convenience to embrace a desperation for God.
By reclaiming the the biblical understanding of brothers and sisters in Christ, the church can be a picture of healthy community in a relationally confused world.
What was once the fledgling project of a local Christian radio station has now become a ministry project that has impacted children and families in nearly every corner of the world.
How can you look up from the needs and ministries of your local church to strategically identify, equip, send, and support people for ministry? Sending Pathways helps you do just that!
Through the lens of God's love, parents can learn to love their children well and be the best example for them.
What do women bring to church ministry? How can their involvement build up the Body of Christ?
With small shifts in our mindset, we can tap into the resources that we already have to identify, equip, send, and support the next generation of gospel ministers.
Photo by Alisa Matthews on Unsplash
I think theology gets a bad wrap. For some people, theology generates images of portly men in academic regalia debating questions fit only for ivory towers. If that’s all there is to theology, then theology is irrelevant.
For other people, theology conjures up thoughts of unbending traditions that, over time, become more important than the authority of Scripture. To the extent that this is true, theology is oppressive.
However, I believe theology takes place where the gospel meets culture. And I’ve found very few things in life more exhilarating!
Theology takes places where the gospel meets culture.
H. D. Beeby wrote a wonderful little book called Canon and Mission. In this book, he argues that, throughout the long history of the Bible, the unchanging message of God encountered a multitude of different cultures. The context may have changed, but the message stayed the same.
Perhaps, that’s why we have four books in the New Testament called gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). God had one gospel message for four different contexts. The Bible is filled with good theology.
The gospel first encountered Jewish culture through the person of Jesus. It quickly encountered Greek culture, providing the original language of the New Testament. In time, the gospel encountered Roman culture and Latin became the dominant language of theology for more than a thousand years. There is even compelling evidence that the gospel made it to India before the close of the first century.
There’s more to theology than language. But language illustrates the point that when gospel meets culture, some things need to change so the message of the gospel can stay the same. History is filled with good theology.
“Nothing is more exhilarating than doing good theology anywhere the gospel meets culture.”
Modern travel and technology exposed the Western world to a previously-unimaginable variety of peoples. These advances led to an explosion of Bible translations and missionary societies. It also led missionaries to wrestle with the best ways to communicate the unchanging message of the gospel to a host of different cultures. Modern missions is filled with good theology.
In our cities, towns, neighborhoods, and schools, cultures cascade one over the other. Formerly, travel and technology carried us to distant shores; today, they bring those distant shores to our doorsteps.
As we encounter different cultures today, theology will wrestle with what needs to change so the message of the gospel can stay the same. We can learn a lot about good theology from the Bible, from history, and from missions. In all honesty, it behooves us to learn these valuable lessons from the past. But nothing is more exhilarating than doing good theology anywhere the gospel meets culture.
A version of this article originally posted on CrisAlley.com
Children’s ministry is so much more than just childcare!
Here are 3 ways to encourage discipleship in your children’s ministry.
Mission Centers of Houston seeks to bring positive change by working with children and schools to increase student success.
In anticipation of this year's celebration, we asked the staff and churches who attended what their favorite parts of last year's event were. Here's what they had to say.
The Annual Celebration is one of the best living experiences of UBA's diversity, gospel unity, collaborative nature, and celebration of God's work in all corners of our city.
Here are five things you need to know before you get there.
It took at least a week of intentional, embodied rest and practices for the clouds to peel back and for the sun to break through to my soul.
La fuerza para continuar el camino no proviene de nuestros propios esfuerzos, sino del descanso que encontramos en Él.
I found the strength to continue the journey comes not from our own efforts, but from the rest we find in Him.
Behind all the spreadsheets and schedules, there's a deeper purpose—advancing the Kingdom and making a difference in people's lives. And that's worth every bit of the effort.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
As a follow-up on why apologetics is important and how to incorporate it into the life of the church, here are five specific people and ministries of the local church that could benefit from apologetics.
Explore how you can leverage your medical training to impact lostness both at home and abroad.