Church Planting

Steps to Make Disciples

Steps to Make Disciples

Consistently, I come across church people that have never made a disciple.  Spiritual self-centeredness is antithetical to the Christian life.  To experience the gift of God's grace and keep it to yourself is one of the most selfish and least Christ-like thing a Christian can do.  

Be it for apathy or ignorance, too many of us have ignored Jesus' greatest call to action (Matthew 28:19-20).  Have we forgotten that we were once dead and now alive?  Do we neglect so easily the gumption of the Holy Spirit?  Or, do we simply not know where to begin.

Church Multiplication and Giving Up Control

Church Multiplication and Giving Up Control

Dear Pastor, Jesus is King, and you are not.  

The hardest thing for people to admit is that Jesus is King and they are not. We all want to be in control.  We want to be the masters of our own destiny, but fundamental to Trusting Jesus is surrendering to Him.  It's no different for pastors. Pastors, like kings can fall into the self-deception that everyone is better off when they are in charge. "If everyone would just listen to me, everything would be ok." This is one reason why churches don't multiply. 

Multiplication means pastors aren't as important as they might think. It means their vision language will get diluted as the church becomes decentralized.  It means people won't hear their sermons every week.  It means they can't manage leaders within a church structure.  It means they lose control.  

I'm not saying pastors have sinister plans to control people. Their control doesn't usually come out of selfish motives...usually. It comes our of fear. They want the best for people, and they are afraid of what will happen if they aren't in control. They forget that Jesus has been leading the church since before they were born, and He will be leading it after they are gone.