FUNDING YOUR MINISTRY is an in-depth, Biblical guide for the successful raising of personal support. It is a book written by Scott for everyone who longs to see their journey in ministry not being held back by the slow lack of understanding, whether they are gifted or not. Scott points out that we often feel secular when trying to raise money in our ministry journey. We criticize ourselves wondering why…
Read MoreA call to spiritual reformation
When we’re thinking about reformation we can easily focus exclusively on the ministry of the Word and forget the desperate need for prayer – or rather the desperate need for God expressed through prayer. In one of the best books available on the subject of prayer, Don Carson shows us how Word and Prayer go inseparably together. iServe Africa apprentice Ann Mwari reviews this must-read book. A Call to Spiritual…
Read MoreBuilding a RAFT: transitioning well
I don’t know if it’s a good idea to write this post when I’m going through transition myself… Or maybe it’s the perfect time to remind myself of these things… Anyway, here goes… When Duncan Olumbe led an excellent session for us at the September ministry training course on transition, there was one thing that he mentioned but didn’t have time to go into detail on: building a RAFT.…
Read MoreThe prayer of a man heading into pastoral ministry
We always praise God when iServe Africa apprentices head into the corporate market place as servant leaders or into school teaching committed to discipling or into medicine as a mission field or into godly marriages that picture Christ and his Church. One of the rediscoveries of the Reformers 500 years ago was that all these can be places of ‘full time Christian ministry’. But be also praise God when some…
Read MoreJinsi ya: Public prayer
Leading a congregation of God’s people in prayer is a privilege but not an easy thing. Here are a few resources and then a few more tips. Kingdom-centred prayer 4 reasons every church needs a time of confession and How to keep it fresh How to lead a prayer meeting 10 tips for leading corporate prayer from the front: Written – it’s not a biblical law that you have to write…
Read MoreMore training Wednesdays
Here are some resources from the last few weeks: From the Bible Overview: The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis) Journeying to and Entering the Land (Numbers to Ruth) From the Hebrews series: The warning passages in Hebrews (Lee Gatiss) Session on Hebrews 8-10 From the servant leadership and ministry skills series: Servant leadership lessons from 2 Corinthians 1-5 How to get things done: time, energy & mission (Tim Challies) Daily workflow (Matt…
Read MoreInjecting eternal comfort into hard realities
The following powerful testimony from Barnabas Omenda, former iServe Africa apprentice, featured recently in the GLA magazine The Link: What do you say to someone who feels they have lost it all, is over the edge with no one there to break their fall? What do you say to someone who feels so unloved, giving themselves away just to be good enough? What do you say to a hopeless soul who can’t remember their…
Read MoreThe heat-seeking missile
One of the things we do with the TransformD team is help them to think about their own hearts in terms of idolatry. Idolatry can mean a false view of God which is then represented physically. In fact that’s usually what it means in Scripture. But it can also mean a whole life of worshiping created things rather than the creator (Romans 1:25; Ephesians 5:5). We are heart-driven beings, constantly…
Read MoreSelf-care: Know your capacity and do all you can
There is a fantastic book by J C Ryle called Christian Leaders which I’d put in my top five must reads. The meat of the book is a series of eleven biographical sketches of the key preachers of the eighteenth century revival in the UK – the days of George Whitefield and John Wesley. One of the lesser known figures who Ryle sketches is James Hervey. The whole chapter is…
Read MoreGod’s Big Picture
Book review by current iServe Africa apprentice Onesmus Onyango: A lot of us struggle to point to Jesus from the Old Testament. In that regard this book has been one of the most mind-blowing inspirational resources I have ever found! Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. (Matt. 5:17) Many people only…
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