The Hidden Lives Of Congregations

In the book, “Breaking the Missional Code,” Ed Stetzer and David Putman lay a foundation for church leaders and pastors to break the missional code that has caused so many churches today to decline or worse, shut their doors. It is not easy to grow a church because there are many factors that have to be dealt with when dealing with people. This book does a great job to connect the dots in showing how churches can achieve their mission to connect the message of the gospel with the community at large. It is also evident that others are equally frustrated, following the exact same model for outreach but with lesser results. The authors go to great detail to show that just because a missional breakthrough occurs in one place that does not mean

During nine years of pastoring in the United States, a new challenge presented itself. People attending the two churches he pastored struggled to find purpose and meaning in their busy lives. Purpose and meaning appear a common quest of people, whether they’re living impoverished in Africa or affluent in

When I am reaching the final stage of my journey of studying the degree on Christian Ministry in Gordon Conwell and needing to decide a topic for this graduation paper, I have reflected what I have learned from the school during the last few years, what I have experienced God in my business, my church, and in my family life, and what the calling that God has given to me. I am eventually to conclude that the Church is the passion that God has planted in my heart.

The members of the local congregation are “Christ’s body” (v. 23) and that Christ is the Head of the church worldwide (v. 22). Those who are born-again comprise the parts of the local body with each person having gifts to use in benefit of the collective group and others as well. Involvement is crucial for any congregation, and small groups are they key to ensure that all are able to be involved in the life of their church. If small groups operate as they should, the benefit to the corporate body should be realized in terms of faith, service, prayer and edification. Comiskey, Dempsey, et.al underscore service to all with the term “body” fleshing away ethnic patrimony against the “unity and universality of the church, for the church reconciles Jew and Gentile into one body (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2:16; cf. 4:4)”. No distinction is made in Scripture regardless of nationality, and that means Jew and Gentile as both are expected to work together in accord with the Spirit as he wills. The ministries of small groups facilitate the idea “on multiple levels by incorporating missional/intentional principles which are exponents of the transformational when one has become born-again in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.”

Jacob volunteers as the college and career pastor with the Grace Place church in Arlington, but also desires his church to reach beyond the walls and influence college students at both the TCC Southeast campus and The University of Texas at Arlington. After studying for one year at the University of Texas at Arlington, he transferred to Southwestern Assemblies of God University where he completed a Church Ministries. For this profile, I will focus on the stated goal of seeing the church influence local college students; empowering and encouraging Jacob to engage current TCC Southeast students attending the Grace Place in the local ministry and leveraging these relationships to expand his campus network.

How we connect people with the church, but more important, how we connect people with God. Everything may start with a “welcome home” and end with “how can I pray for you?”, “how was your week”, or “we have small groups”.

Before plodding full steam ahead, it would behoove us to pin down some important definitions and qualifiers. First- the term "emerging church." In 2006, at a lecture at Westminster Seminary, Scot McKnight proffered that, "there is no emerging 'church'...it is a movement, or a conversation." This statement, now nearly a decade old was made in an attempt to clarify to his audience that "emerging/emergent" ≠ "denomination". This clarified distinction still stands; however as time has gone by, the aforementioned conversation- as well as the term "emergent" itself- have experienced some emergence. Indeed, there are now some churches that would willingly self-identify (or allow others to take the liberty of identifying them) in such a manner. More often than not, however, they would also (and preferably, I might add) identify themselves as "missional". (More on that in a bit).

Bob: I’m trying to learn more about the Church and you seem to know a lot of stuff about the

Mission and culture have always been inseparable in doing theology in any cultural context. They have always been considered imperatives in the ministry of touching lives. The talk of Fr. John J. Markey, OP on October 12, 2015, at the Catholic Theological Union auditorium had highlighted essential insights and realizations regarding mission and culture in the cultural context of the United States. It highlighted pressing concerns on the following issues: mission and culture, inculturation and Christian traditions. Contextualization in terms of understanding theology had been pointed out as well as an important part of the mission.

In thinking about the potential for new forms and models of church, we must first articulate what the goals are for this church as well as for the community. With respect to the church, one of the main emphases at this time according to judicatory, is to care for the congregation. The second goal for the church is to develop a new ministry plan that is more extensive than the previous plan. The third and final goal is to organize work in the community. These goals will guide the possibilities for new forms and models of church. Another aspect of this church that forms the discussion of the models and forms of church is the idea that this is a “Community church.”[1] What this means is that this is a church that is intentional about being

What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of evangelism? That’s scary! Am I going to be rejected? It’s not my spiritual gift! This paper explains the Great Commission and its relationship to evangelism on the vision and challenge of what God is doing in my life in the area of evangelism. It also looks at how I think of evangelism, gives explanation of evangelism and challenges my rethinking on how evangelism could be done in a way to help me begin to share my faith in new

There is a correlation in cultures between its sense of purpose and its sense of vision which leads its members into asking themselves “why are we here and whom do we serve?” While a church’s main purpose is to glorify God by finding, keeping and building individuals, it lacks an explanation of how it will successfully complete these goals which is where vision comes from. Framed as a discussion between

The landscape of the church has changed greatly since the early days of the 1st century. The small groups, seen in the Book of Acts, have been replaced by large centralized denominations and religious institutions, and in the process, the idea that the Body of Christ is a family has been relegated into large groups of strangers. The early church was a family unit that extended far beyond the ideals and principles experienced in the church today (Sprinkle, 2015). The 1st-century church exemplified fellowship, commitment, and service to others and was held together by an unconditional bond made possible by Jesus Christ (Sprinkle, 2015).

The role of Christ’s church as it relates to evangelism, institutional change, and its ministry to the general laity, is a continuously growing dynamic that demands resources from church, while expanding the opportunity to grow the church which inevitably impacts the culture of the secular institutions from which most of its laity are employed. I believe that the understanding and revelation of God’s word is all encompassing; so that in every season of our maturity in Christ, we can visit upon a word, a precept, with a fresh understanding and a new perspective that does not violate the integrity of it meaning and/or alter our doctrinal understanding. I believe that the role of evangelism is a prime example of how God has not only used the ministry of the gospel for the call to salvation, but also how he builds the body, institutionalizes the body, equips the body, empowers the body then dispatches the body back into the world from which it was called (Matthew 5:14). It is very difficult to dissect the anatomy of the body into its heterogeneous functions, then focus on one of them, when you know that the body of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit is really a single organism (1 Corinthians 12:12 ), with a single purpose, The Kingdom of God. However, it is one of the prime functions of the body to evangelize, which is the bringing of the good news, and the message of hope, that Gods people will become alive in him. This mission of evangelism (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15) was

In saying yes to the missionary spirituality we renew our faith rooted in our baptism and confirmation. Pope Francis sheds light on the three evils which derail our “Yes” to this missionary spirituality. #78 “As a result, one can observe in many agents of evangelization, even though they pray, a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervor. These are three evils which fuel one another.” In all of the three evils the self is the center instead of God. We live in an “I” society and this mentality has definitely trickled into the Church. The “your way right away” individualized consumerism is how people have been conditioned and they expect this in all areas of life. Sadly, this is true for those who serve the church as staff, lay minsters and volunteers.