Skip to main content

#1 Agenda; It's all about people and the Gospel of Christ.


It's all about people and the Gospel of Christ.

I was asked the other day by a pastor, what my agenda was, in answer I related the following story;
In 1982, I had the privilege to visit my friend Gary at Christ for the Nations Institute Bible college, in Dallas, Texas. This was my first trip to the United States, and I was excited to see how the college operated. I had heard such good reports, and in comparison, my own college had been dead, dull and boring. One evening at a youth meeting, the leader stood up and said, “Let’s sing the cockroach song.” Laughter erupted, and music started. With great gusto, the young people (about 1,500 of them) sang these words:
            “They rush on the city, they run on the walls, for great is the army that carries out God’s Word.”
It struck me afresh in that moment that the church is purposed to be a vast army advancing rapidly and taking ground with direction and focus. Those young people passionately believed that in singing these words they would extend and take forward the kingdom of God. Today (more than thirty years later), we are constantly being told by the world’s media that the church is in decline. Many claim that Christianity is no longer relevant and has no bearing on the way people live. I dispute this! I see that the church worldwide is growing, is still relevant, and still has a purpose for today’s society. However, many (not all) Christian leaders have lost focus and forgotten their purpose. Many of those leaders are still using antiquated ideas to try to grow their churches and then wonder why their churches don’t grow. Christian leaders have become so cocooned in their Christianity that they no longer understand what is happening in their communities or in ordinary people’s lives.
Far too much time is put on creating a process by which we can put a great event on, on Sunday morning. We completely forget that it's all about people! Many have asked me what my agenda is. This is it, to see great leaders, do great things for God and ensure that people and the gospel of Christ are at the centre of it all.
Want to read more? Click on the link

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The myth of Ministry Leadership.

The myth that all leaders are leaders. Not everyone who leads in church is a leader. I think it is wrong, for Church leaders to believe that those they train up to take various ministry leadership positions, are in fact leaders in their own right. They are not. At best I would categorise these people- that many churches call 'ministry leaders' as ministry managers.                 "At one level there is nothing wrong with title inflation; it is a cheap way of recognising people who work hard and make serious contributions" Jo Owen. I am of the opinion that this title inflation undervalues both the leader and the ' ministry manager' and can often bring about confusion and mismatched expectations. Many churches have ministry training evenings for their volunteers. Many use the reason for this training is "to make a person a better leader," when in fact the only thing actually happening is that th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 1970's Christian Coffee Shop

I remember as a new Christian being invited into a Christian Coffee shop in the town where I grew up. It was clean and tidy, the table tops were all brightly painted in different colours,  but mainly yellow and scattered on top were a random selection of Christian tracts. Fish symbols and Christian posters proclaiming that there was but 'One Way' to heaven were everywhere. The music playing out of the stereo was The Bill Gather Trio or Dolly Parton singing Gospel. The crockery, was a mixed assortment of coffee mugs, donated by keen supporters of this outreach to the unsaved sinners and ungodly people living in the city. The coffee was a local brand heavily mixed with chicory. In all the years the Coffee Shop operated, I never saw a non-Christian go in and I never heard of a person coming to faith through having coffee there. I never really understood its purpose. Fast forward to today, when I was asked recently, to advise on helping a local community church open a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Playing well with others.

Today's rambling. Looking over some of my old school reports the other day and was amused at how some of the comments, that teachers made about me have shaped my life and in many respects made me who I am today. One teacher wrote that I didn’t play well with others, I was 5 at the time maybe I had an excuse. Another teacher in my high school years, the wood working teacher or wood shop teacher for my American friends wrote; “If you value your life you will keep him away from power tools and other dangerous equipment. I can’t remember why he wrote this, obviously I did something that made him fear for his life. Today as an adult I have to say that I don’t do well in committees, for most of my life I have been self- employed. I have steadfastly stayed away from power tools and other wood working equipment, basically anything that can cut something off and is a danger to life and limb. Over the last 10 years I have been looking at and teaching about Emotional Intelligence ...
Post a Comment
Read more