Practical wisdom for Christian life together
People that operate with mechanical order treat the church as an object and attempt to program church order into being. As they do, they program the Life right out of it. They create plans that intend to control the future. When things happen, they always look at them in light of the plan that’s already been established and how they think the plan is being served.
This Is The Way Church Order Emerges From The Life Of ChristRead More
The ways humans choose to belong to each other and accomplish things together should not be prescribed to them like traffic patterns are. If they are, it fractures relationships. Sometimes slowly. Sometimes quickly. This is because prescribing patterns of being and working together forces connections, purposes and tasks that are unnatural, awkward and uncomfortable.
How Forced Church Models & Programs Quench The Holy SpiritRead More
In organic order, the Life of Christ leads the group through each individual in a unified way (I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4). This means the life and activities of the church emerge as an expression of the Spirit through each person’s uniqueness as they look to how they can participate for the good of the group as a whole.
Feel Like You Don’t Fit In At Church? This May Be Why.Read More
A church environment that allows the Life of Christ to provide order uses the story of its relationships together to emerge what should happen and how it should happen.
When numbers are the plan, the people that are a part of the plan become numbers. They feel that way too.
Numbers Lie. What Happens To A Church When They’re In Charge?Read More
Keeping one another accountable tends to result in guilt brought on by chronic legalism. The expectations set aren’t met because that’s why they were set in the first place. If they were being met, they would not have been set.
Accountability groups operate by mechanical order. They’re a plan or program built to get a desired output.
Accountability Doesn’t Help People Grow In Christ. Here’s Why.Read More
I recently wrote about how a church that is ordered by the Life of Christ will be one where you can observe power revolving through the members as they lead in areas of competence, motivation and gifting given by the Holy Spirit. This is not a new concept. This is how the New Testament authors describe healthy Christian unity in life together.
Better Understand How God’s Power Should Work In A ChurchRead More
When Life through relationships is what is ordering a church’s life together, things are constantly moving, changing and growing. What was healthy in one season is not healthy in the next. Where God’s power is working today is not where God’s power is working tomorrow.
Are These Popular Christian Words Nouns Or Verbs? You Get To Choose.Read More
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard stories of people approaching leadership at a church with ideas about how they can serve or new ministries to start or whatever – only to be shut down. One or a few people at the church decide that the person’s ability or idea doesn’t fit into what the church is doing at the time. So the person never does that thing. Or more likely, they end up leaving to look for a new community that might accept what they’re offering. They just want to feel like they belong. Smashing possibilities Fear …
Fear vs. Faith: What Will Be In Charge Of Life Together?Read More
