clear ways for Sydney on weekends?
One of the problems with four year terms for government is the long term strategic needs such as transport, a second airport for Sydney, etc are often overlooked.
Churches are no different. Research suggests that successful churches have had the same leadership for more than 10 years! How is your church leadership structured? What needs to change to give you long term leadership?
How should the church handle sin amongst its members, or should it?
Church discipline no longer seems to be seen as an essential part of the modern church and even holiness seems to be rarely discussed or preached upon. In fact many Christians would struggle to be able to clearly express what holiness is or its place in the church.
Churches seem to think that there role is to preach the gospel (if they even faithfully do that) and to “allow the Holy Spirit to convict those living outside the message”. They seem to have lost all focus on mutual accountability and the responsibility of each of us and of the church leaders to exhort each other to holiness.
Ablert Mohler says “The decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church.” As the society has moved to moral relativism, so has the church. Where society once had a moral stance that individuals were expected to follow, now it is seen that each individual has the right to full self-determinisation. Unfortunately, the church has followed in the same path. It does so at its own peril and whilst it chooses to continue to do so it will continue to experience a lack of holiness.
The church is meant to be a representation of God’s holiness on the earth and yet statistics show that the lack of morality in the church is at the same statistical rates as those not in the church. How did this happen? It happened largely because the church gave up its responsibility to expect holiness from its members; instead choosing to leave it to the Holy Spirit to convict people. Yet this is not the Biblical approach.
Consider Galatians 6:1 where it says that if someone is caught in sin, those who are spiritual should restore him gently. At large this seems to be interpreted with the focus on gently, to the extent that it becomes, we need to be gentle with one who is caught in sin, and the concept of restoration is almost lost completely. What about passages like 2 Tim 3:16 which talks about how scripture is good for rebuking and correcting.
There are also passages such as Gal 5 and 1 Cor 5 where Christians are told not to associate with those who do not practice holiness. Yet, when is the last time you saw a church actually exclude someone from fellowship because they resisted efforts of discipline? Although it does still happen, it is very rare and most churches do not follow this scriptural guideline.
Discipline is about training in righteousness. Yes, teaching is part of this. It is vital that through disicipleship and preaching that a clear standard for holiness is preached. However, it is also vital that a culture of restoration be created, whereby people understand that they have a responsibility to look out for each other, and if sin is observed, to be loving enough to talk with the other person about what has been observed. If the person engaging in sin refuses to give up the sin that they are involved in (this can be a process sometimes!), then they should ultimately be excluded from the fellowship of believers.
This is not legalism. Discipline is about restoration not punishment. The only time exclusion should be implemented is where the person involved in sin resists attempts at discipline.
Yes, ultimately it is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict people and bring them to repentance. However, the Holy Spirit through the scriptures has also given each of us who believe a responsibility to be part of that process. We not only fail each other but we fail our Lord Jesus Christ when we refuse to carry out his mission on earth the way that he has asked us to do through the scriptures.
I would encourage you to understand your responsibility in this area either as a leader or just as a believer and begin to actively live out a life not only that demonstrates holiness but that demands it (in love!) from other believers.
• “How to practice church discipline”, Bill Zimmer, (This has a really good section on love and church discipline).
• “Church Discipline: The Missing Mark”, R. Albert Mohaler, Jr.,
• “Church Discipline”, J. Hampton Keathley, III,
• “What does the Bible say about church discipline/excommunication?”
Ever wondered about the many questions that a pastor or author are expected to answer in their daily lives? What about those difficult questions that we all have in relation to the Christian faith?
Max Lucado takes a collection of these and looks at his answers to some of the more complex problems and questions that we all face at some time in our lives. He has categorized these into groups with each question being able to be read stand alone or read like a traditional book from cover to cover.
Normally I love Max Lucado’s books because of his inimitable writing style. I felt that this was lacking in the book and found the content a bit dry, more like a theological text book. I loved the way that he included some hand written answers he had given to people. I would have liked to have seen more of the story that went with the question.
I felt that the book lacked empathy in the way the questions were answered and I found some of the theology was a questionable leap from the texts provided. If you are looking for answers then this is not the book for you. If you would like a coffee table book to start you thinking, then the book contains some really brilliant insights.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Are you still trying to con people to do work for you (volunteer) or to give money (offerings) at church? Have a look at Ex 36, where the people had to be told to stop giving because they had given to much and all those who were willing were the ones that served. This is what church should be like!
If your church is not like this, the answer is not to try and pressure people into giving of their time and talents. The answer is to find out why they are not. If you find out why people are not serving and giving and fix that then people will give abundantly, just like their heavenly father does.
Some reasons that people don’t give:
- they feel pressured;
- they don’t feel like they can meet the expectations;
- they don’t feel they have anything to offer;
- they are not living in a grace based environment;
- they weren’t treated well when they gave before;
- the gifts they have bought haven’t been valued;
And there are many more.
If you have this problem in your church and you would like some help, let me know.
Would love to hear your thoughts on why people don’t give or experiences that you have had when you gave that either made you want to give more, or to never give to that ministry/church again.
Brad has also recently been engaged by the … Church at … to teach them on “Hearing the voice of God”. This is Brad’s area of specialty and all the reports back have been outstanding including an open letter … from one of the elders at the … Church thanking Brad for his contribution and commenting on how they are now hearing God’s voice more clearly. Brad has also continued to meet with the Pastor to provide support and has also been helping one of the families…
Everything that Brad puts his hand to is done with excellence and dedication. His ability to develop a concept through to implementation and delivery is amazing and he has developed the skills to be able to work through issues that arise with people in a sensitive way that wins him support and allows him to take people and churches on a journey with him to a stated goal.
I have recently heard a couple of the parables from this book. I found that whilst both of them had points which I thought were important and well communicated, there were elements of each that I also found of concern… so I decided I would buy and read the book.
If any of you have read the book I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Unfortunately I can’t transcribe the parables into this blog, so if you want more detail you will have to buy the book. I got my copy on Kindle, so it wasn’t that expensive!
The first parable is about whether there is enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian… oh and by the way, you can’t count going to church, reading the Bible, or even blogging about Christianity… is there still enough evidence to convict you?
Rollins argues that there is really only enough evidence to convict you when you become counter-culture to the extent that you become problematic to the culture… an interesting perspective, especially since much of the church in our western world is hardly differentiable from the world in the first place!
Are there areas of our western culture that you have taken on board, that really do not reflect Christ? What areas of your life need to change to be come more counter-culture?
Brad’s tremendous capacity to both lead and facilitate group discussions, as well as his ability to deliver an exciting and rich array of insightful and interesting presentations were well worth my time spent with him. He comes highly recommended.
Ex 17 and again we see the Israelites grumbling because there was no water.
Are you grumbling? Is there something you think you need that you don’t have?
Moses directly challenges the children of Israel here accusing them of putting the Lord to the test. This is what we do when we grumble. Grumbling just shows a lack of faith in Dad(God)!
So how do we stop grumbling?
* It is a choice just not to go there. You need to choose to stay focussed on things in heaven and not things on the earth. Just don’t let your mind go there. When your mind starts to grumble, just say to yourself, that is an interesting thought and then let it go.
* Spend some time thinking back on the amazing things that Dad has done in your past. This is a great way to shift your focus from the problem (the situation) to the solution(Dad)!
* Let Dad know that you can’t do this, and your only hope is for him to do it for you… and yes that even includes the grumbling. Let Dad know that you need him to work through you knowing that as he works through you he will produce the fruit of the spirit, love… joy… peace… patience… etc.
Why not take a couple of minutes now, to shift your focus back onto Dad and away from grumbling!
Your style was certainly well received by delegates and was what we like to see from our presenters…Interactive, challenging and engaging are three words that spring to mind … I found your content easy to follow and interesting…
I have been asked a few times lately what I think the leadership model for our churches should look like, so here is a brief outline. More than happy to discuss further if you want to ask any further questions.
I believe in the five-fold ministry of Eph 4. Apostle, Evangelist, Pastor, Prophet, Teacher. I do not believe the Pastor is meant to be the “head” of the local church. The five-fold ministry gifts are given to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, not to do the work of the ministry (although being saints as well, they will also do as well as equip, but the emphasis is on equip).
Hence the five-fold ministry gifts are a little bit like consultants. People who provide input into the local church without having any direct authority over a local church.
The local church should then be run by a group of elders who share the teaching and prayer responsibilities of running a local church. There should also be deacons in the local church, who are people full of the Holy Spirit whose role it is to ensure all the practical ministry oriented function of the church is resourced and functioning well.
You will notice that there is no one person who has control over this structure. Also, decisions made within the church that are enforced on people should be very few and far between. The whole thing should be based on relationship, respect and honour, not control and legalism. People should be free to explore their own understanding of God (as long as it is not heretical, but even then to a certain extent they need to be able to question everything) and find their own call of God on their lives and be encouraged and equipped to pursue that.
Would love to hear what you think of the model I am proposing…
Not sure why people keep wanting to pit these two against each other… they should work together!
Here is an extract from a comment I recently wrote on facebook:
Now to be slightly controversial…
Doctrine is slightly important… it is important that we know our Bibles and doctrine does have a place in holding heretics at bay… however most of what we call doctrine is not even specifically mentioned in the Bible, but has to be pieced together from different bits and implications… now that doesn’t mean that it is bad… just questions the supreme importance that the church has placed on doctrine and the fragmented state of the body of Christ largely due to the emphasis on doctrine…
On the other hand Jesus seemed to focus on experience such as love and being in the Father. God is meant to be experienced. Most people find that the more they experience God, the more it changes their doctrine!
What do you think?
1. Ask Daddy God how the trinity is praying over this situation
2. Pray in agreement with Dad knowing that when you are praying his will you know it will happen (this is faith because you have heard from him).
3. Pray until you feel that it is done in heaven.
4. Stand in faith waiting to see on earth what is done in heaven.
5. Thank Dad for what he has done and share with other people to encourage them to do the same thing.
I challenge you to start praying like this and you will see not only your prayer life become radically more effective, but you will also develop a deeper relationship with Dad.
Love to hear your thoughts, or if there is anything you would like me to pray with you for.
Brad has a great ability to be able to perceive what is going on in a situation. He is able to think “outside the square” filtering out preconceived or long held notions and beliefs, bringing in fresh and soul-searching analysis, which I have found to be of great help in my life.
Brad has always had a positive outlook on life with a willingness to help people wherever he can. He is quick to give encouragement especially when someone is willing to help themselves.
Through these skills Brad has been able to bring a “word in season” which has developed in me:
A healthier, more functional way of communicating …
The confidence to say “no” or “yes” so I fulfil my responsibilities and allow others to realize theirs.
The importance of “Prioritising and Goal Setting” so I stick to a task and accomplish it, instead of changing tasks and not really getting where I want to be.
Enthusiasm for the future. Things don’t have to be the same, they can change and life can be better.”
