Alan Hirsch The Forgotten Ways Chapter Summary

While the goal of Christian education and discipleship is spiritual formation of the new believer into a true disciple who makes other true disciples, this concept has been watered down in the American church today by emphasis on programs instead of progressive spiritual growth in every member’s life. There are many

Hull, Bill. The Disciple-Making Church: Leading a Body of Believers On the Journey of Faith. Updated ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize Module 5 of the AOL program, specifically group 226, through the evaluation of a contemporary Christian leader. In this paper I will discuss the contemporary Christian leader I have selected, analyze their effectiveness in business performance, and discuss how they have inspired me. I will also talk about what I have learned from this module that most benefited me. My hope is that through this paper, my readers will have a broadened scope of Christianity in our contemporary world.

Western Christians in global missions by Paul Borthwick is about the interdependence and unity of the global Church. The book starts at the conclusion of an era of missions where North America has taken the helm. As the global missions community changes, North America needs to reassess its role. There are 4 main integrated points that Borthwick makes that should change the perspective of the white American middle class missionary.

God loves his Church and Jesus is the one who builds the Church. Then, it goes without saying that God loves the local church and Jesus builds the local church. Unfortunately, there are many factors that come into play, causing churches to become complacent or stagnate before entering into a season of decline. Yet this can be avoided through the process of revitalization.

Subsequently, the church has a mission which is to go into all the nations making disciples, baptizing them, and to teach them to observe the ways of Christ as noted in Matthew 28:19-20. When looking at the differences between the missional model and the attractional model is the missional goes out to win the lost, and the attractional seeks to bring the lost in not focusing the cultural boundaries. Stetzer and Hirsch state, “Missional represents a significant shift in the way we understand the church. As the people of a missionary God, we are entrusted to participate in the world the same way He does—by committing to be His ambassadors.” In retrospect, Hirsch cites that, “The attractional model, which has dominated the church in the West, seeks to reach out to the culture and draw people into the church—what I call outreach and in-grab. But this model only works where no significant cultural shift is required when moving from outside to inside the church.” Both have their uniqueness, however, they are designed to seek and make disciples.

As expected, the reformed evangelical community was critically affected by the fall of Mark Driscoll and the closing of Mars Hill, but not like you may think. Rather than writing-off Christianity or drifting left towards the emergent or progressive movements, many young believers followed the compass of Holy Scripture towards

Edward L. Smither, Ph.D., is a member of the staff of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, VA where he serves as assistant professor of Church History and Intercultural Studies. He has a great love for teaching as he has taught in such places as France and North Africa in his lifetime. Edward L. Smither has written a helpful book for those in Christian leadership today on mentoring focusing mainly on the early church bishop Augustine of Hippo entitled Augustine as Mentor: A Model for Preparing Spiritual Leaders. Throughout this book, Smither discusses the approaches that Augustine took to mentoring and strengthening others as well as the manner in which his mentors helped him mature as a Christian and as a leader. One of Smither’s main concerns is that “Many pastors today, especially in the West, are struggling in isolation without a pastor to nurture their souls. Sadly many of these, unless they encounter a radical change, will not finish the race” (p. v). This review will assess, critique, and apply the subject of mentoring from Augustine of

In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its’ strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Self-improvement industry is a $10 billion dollar a year industry. The self-improvement industry for pastors is the church-growth movement. The temptation is great for pastors to look to the latest strategies, books and programs to have growing ministries that look successful in the standards of the world and yet bares little resemblance to God 's mission and vision for His Kingdom. Into this divide Tim Suttle, as a recovering church-growth pastor now seeking to faithfully follow God and participate in God 's mission, interjects his voice in Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture. Sounding a call to a return to a faithful following of the teaching of the Scripture, Shrink challenges pastors to rethink success not in the terms of the world but by how well one chases after the vision God has given for His Church. The following examines Shrink and Suttle 's suggested paradigm shift through redefining success, insisting on three essential transitions to be made by the church and the virtues that pastors must embody in leading faithful ministry.

than the nineteenth century. Central to everything is our testimony of Christ and our identity as

During the twentieth century, world Christianity had a major shift in which over sixty-five percent of the world Christian population now lies in the areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Due to the exponential growth of the Christian church in these continents, today, nations such as Korea and Nigeria regularly send thousands of missionaries around the world each year, and the global movement of Christianity is now expressed in many different languages and cultures throughout the world. In his book “Global Awakening: How 20th Century Revivals Triggered a Christian Revolution,” Mark Shaw, seeks

There are many people in scripture that God has placed in leadership roles. Jesus himself, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart. Leaders establish a model of the way others should be treated and how goals should be pursued, with standards and examples of what others should follow by exemplifying God’s example. Christian leaders inspire a shared vision to make a difference

Furthermore, it is vitally crucial for the church leadership to clearly articulate its missional vision, which is to be embraced by the rest of the church’s community. The process of spiritual transformation starts from the invitation and continues through engagement and discipleship. This transformational process embodies the missional vision and the language for 'right now ' and 'here '. Surely, the church’s vision ought to be aligned with the missional attributes of the gospel itself, which are 'the good news is for everyone ' and 'belonging before believing '. Our witness should take place amidst relationship and listening. One principle that I consider to be exceptionally useful in my community is St. Patrick’s idea of Celtic Evangelism: establish community, engage in conversation, and invite commitment (2009, 101).