Discipleship requires management as much as leadership
Pastors manage churches as much, if not more, than leading them. Making disciples requires pastors to be involved in the day-to-day operations of a church.
Pastors manage churches as much, if not more, than leading them. Making disciples requires pastors to be involved in the day-to-day operations of a church.
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It’s tempting to imagine that legendary ministers like E. M. Bounds or Andrew Murray or someone known as “Praying Hyde” were simply born to pray. Along with the likes of David Brainerd, Leonard Ravenhill, Armin Gesswein, Bertha Smith, George Müller and so many others, there is a group of Christians who are primarily remembered for their prayer lives or their teaching on prayer. But no one was ever born praying. The men and women most known for prayer were not members of a spiritually elite corps the rest of us weren’t invited to join. They learned to pray.
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One statement from the introduction of Katie McCoy’s book To Be a Woman sets the stage for the conversation our culture is afraid to have but can’t afford to avoid.
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About four years ago, I was a student heavily involved in collegiate ministry, growing in my understanding of Scripture, and being discipled by a woman in our church. However, even as I grew and learned more about the church, I remember asking myself, “Where do I fit in to all this?”
Most of us agree with John Maxwell’s well-known adage, “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” By that definition, the pastor’s leadership influences the ministry of the local church. This is particularly true in building a culture of prayer. Your culture determines your future, so it cannot be left to chance.
There are about 20 biblical examples of Jesus praying. Here are 3 that serve as lessons for our prayer lives.
A large number of Americans are optimistic about personal change. We make resolutions and set goals even though we are generally terrible at keeping them.
Do you pray to get things done? Do you believe some things will only occur if you pray, or that God can refuse to act until someone prays?
Earl was an IMB Missionary in Central America before he retired, but he wasn’t always a Christian. In the 1970’s Earl liked to drink and get high with his buddies from school. When he got home late at night, reeking of weed and alcohol, he tried to tip-toe past his parents’ bedroom on the way down the hall to his own. But Earl’s parents were prayer warriors, and he often saw and heard them kneeling beside their bed, praying their son would give his life to Christ.
Metaphorically speaking, prayer and Scripture combine to be nuclear energy for your spiritual life. It’s the combination of the two forces of the Word and prayer that creates dynamic, spiritual fusion.
Charles Spurgeon was right. He once said, “He who prays much will pray more and he who prays little will pray less.” In fact, a new survey finds that the Americans who want to pray more are the people who already pray.
Prayer connects us to Heaven. Fasting disconnects us from Earth. For these reasons, churches are setting aside days for fasting and prayer in January 2024.
We learn about grace, worship, sacrifice, and generosity from shepherds and magi. But if we want to learn about prayer at Christmas, the stars of the pageant don’t really tell the story. Instead, to learn about prayer we turn to the “bit players” in the Christmas story. Let’s pull the curtains back to get a glimpse of the heroes of prayer.
According to the late Stephen Olford, “Only one thing will ever take the place of great preaching – and that’s greater preaching!” The concept of what constitutes “greatness” is a reflection of priorities. In this regard, the earliest preachers saw the greatness of preaching as an outgrowth of their commitment to prayer (Acts 6:4). Eventually, in the process of preaching, the two apostolic ministries uniquely conjoin when we preach on prayer.