Satisfying the Hunger
About this blog
Satisfying the Hunger... is a blog written by the ministry staff of Evangelism & Church Growth
Recent posts
- Simple Church?
- One of the Challenges for Missional Church Planting in Urban North America
- The Prayer of the Troubled Heart
- The dog days of summer
- Discipleship, learning to value what the Lord values....
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New Year a New Life in Christ
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2Cor. 5:17
The YMCA where I live is now crowded! There are people everywhere signing up for a new year of fitness membership with passion and fervor. I am told that the New Year is the busiest time for the YMCA. Everyone is making commitments or New Year resolutions to be more fit for 2012. However, those of us who attend regularly know that the YMCA will be back to normal after the first few months.
People start with great intentions but when life becomes complex and busy, exercise does not become our top priority and loses to other demands of life. People have paid out of their pocketbooks for new gym membership hoping that the financial obligation will keep their exercise routine on track. Rarely do external obligations make us change our lifestyle. Change must come from within.
The above text tells me that when I choose to be in relationship with Christ, the old has passed away and everything has become new. The true internal heart monitor is a living relationship with Christ. But we have to choose to let Christ be in us! Jesus desires us to be new creations, but have we taken the time and effort to make all things new? This New Year I recommend everyone to allow Jesus to make us new. The following video is an excellent illustration of this newness in Christ. May it be a blessing to you!
December 2, 2011
Share Christmas
“If I showed up at a church, the walls would probably fall in.” That is, unfortunately, how many unchurched people feel about intersecting with the church. It is their way of saying: My life is too messed up for me to have a place in the church. In Luke 5, the disciples were eating and drinking with tax collectors and those whom the religious community regarded as sinners. The Pharisees thought the disciples should stay with “their own kind,” but Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32) In other words, it’s the very ones who think their lives are too messed up for Jesus who are the ones Jesus invites to share a meal with him.- Posted at 9:19 a.m.
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December 1, 2011
I am not a fan of the cross
I am not a fan of the cross, my cross that is. I am overwhelmed with joy at the cross of Jesus, but as a church leader I am not a fan of taking up MY cross and following Jesus. Don’t get me wrong I like the principle, not the implementation. I teach that we are to follow Jesus all the time. I simply rarely apply the cross to my church leadership. I follow Thomas Jefferson’s approach to the Bible, I eliminate passages that I cannot explain or that go against my agenda.- Posted at 2:11 p.m.
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December 1, 2011
Learning to Speak Missionally
How do we begin to train ourselves to be missional? John Addison Dally in his book "Choosing the Kingdom" talks about preaching in a way that I find helpful for organizing sermons. But more than sermons, I think it is a helpful way for us to form language and images for a witness that practices missionality. Though I will present these ideas in a linear fashion, they need not be thought of as linear in nature, just parts of how our conversation with each other and the world should go. How do we begin to train ourselves to be missional? John Addison Dally in his book "Choosing the Kingdom" talks about preaching in a way that I find helpful for organizing sermons. But more than sermons, I think it is a helpful way for us to form language and images for a witness that practices missionality. Though I will present these ideas in a linear fashion, they need not be thought of as linear in nature, just parts of how our conversation with each other and the world should go.- Posted at 2:08 p.m.
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