“None of this means that church strategy or mission statements are necessarily wrong-headed. But it does mean that if yours is to be faithful to Scripture, it will look pretty much the same as the strategy that every other gospel-preaching church in your city also has.” - 9 Marks
“It shall be left to each individual heart, and each member of the church, to answer for himself the question, whether his own church is in a state of spiritual health, taking these things as a test; namely, purity, soundness, unity, and prayerfulness.” - 9 Marks
For some unidentifiable reason I enjoy tormenting students with an important albeit slippery theological and philosophical question. What is good? As you might imagine, the answers I get are quite diverse. One student recently responded by citing an online dictionary that offers forty-seven definitions of the word. Forty-seven! Most, if not all, of the forty-seven were not legitimate, as they typically erred by defining the word by the word itself. As you might expect, the question itself is simple, but an appropriate answer has been far more elusive for the unaided human mind.1
Ambition in life is generally a good thing. Ambition in ministry is indispensable.
We have all heard the tired trope about pastors working only one day a week. It is sad when people repeat such drivel. It is tragic that some ministers have actually provided fodder for this criticism.
Yes, the ministry can, sadly, become a place for the indolent to hide. I’ve never understood why anyone with this mentality would seek the ministry to begin with, but some undoubtedly have.
“for the most part, what we really need to do is keep doing the same things that Christians in every age have been called to do: to make disciples and to love one another and to speak the truth and to be kind and ask good questions…. there really is no secret. It’s what it’s always been.” - Kevin DeYoung
“A ‘top-down approach’ essentially means that theologically speaking, God has the right to inform and reform how I — or anyone — should approach him in worship.” - P&D
“The church’s biggest problem is the lack of assurance in pursuing God’s glory. Slow giving trends are a symptom of a greater problem. The decline in average worship attendance is a symptom of a greater problem. Poor leadership is a symptom of a greater problem.” - Sam Rainer
“Eighty-four percent of pastors say the local church’s role in community is to ‘tell others about Jesus’” vs. 58% of Christians and 30% of non-Christians. - Barna
“The ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ of the modern church calendar is marked to proclaim the victory of Christ, but with that date comes very specific ideas of success and uniquely heavy burdens required to achieve them.” - C.Today
“…the history of evangelical ministry is filled with examples of spectacular, theatric, and entertaining methodology. Since so few Christians have a working knowledge of our history, we continue to fall prey to the next big thing.” - Ken Brown
