Go Where God Is Not At Work

Work! by Billy Wilson on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Eddie Arthur challenges the popular notion that mission is ‘finding out what God is doing and joining in’.

What do you think about this?

Three Steps In Turning Around A Church

See what you think of this video. For me, it was striking about one minute in when the speaker said that telling an aging congregation mission was a church priority was like telling a leper colony they needed to be healed: there was an obligation to agree, but a feeling it couldn’t be done. Listen for how Don Ross approaches this problem, and for his emphasis on making bold decisions.

Where Is The Church?

See Dave Walker’s cartoon.

Whimsy As An Agent Of Mission?

Monday Night Dinner

How do Christians deal with contentious issues? Sometimes every bit as badly as anyone else. If it’s on the Internet, Christians engage in ‘flame wars’ and even ‘troll’, just like other people do.

Here is one Christian leader who has opted for a different approach. Lysa TerKeurst sees this style as vital for the integrity of Christian witness. What do you think?

Mission At Christmas

Merry Christmas Everybody by Terry Grealey on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Thoughts from Mark Dance on living out Jesus’ mission this Christmas.

Moving The Date Of Christmas

Christmas On Main Street by Justin Brown on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Are you fed up with the commercialisation of Christmas? Are you cheesed off with the removal of Christ from Christmas? What can we do about it? Fight back? Campaign? Tell people off?

Rollin Grams has another suggestion. Read his proposal. Would this make for a more authentically Christian Christmas, and also be a witness to the world?

What do you think?

Prisons Week

The Prisons by Emiliano Iko on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Yesterday, the annual Prisons Week began. It aims to help Christians remember and support ministry and mission in British prisons. Did you know how much is done by church representatives? Are you also aware of the ministry of organisations such as Prison Fellowship?

And if you want a good cause to support this coming Christmas, you could do a lot worse than support Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree project. It enables the children of prisoners to receive Christmas gifts from their incarcerated parents.

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Church Has Left The Building

Here is a report on the Get Out Of Church Sunday initiative promoted by Elaine Lindridge, the District Evangelism Enabler for the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Methodist District. Is this something your church might try? Why? Why not?

Families And Christian Mission

Family by photon_de on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

John Murchison is writing on why families resist being missional. On the other hand, Hugh Halter and his family have put it into practice, as his brief and highly readable ebook ‘A Righteous Brood‘ demonstrates.