It’s an important question. If we are looking for a faithful church to be part of. If we are looking towards being involved in pastoral ministry. If we are wanting to be good members and servants of our church week by week. We need to know how to approach this thing which is the centrepiece of God’s eternal plan, the bride of Christ, the agent of mission, the great means…
Read MoreThe un-wasted, future-focused life
Last Friday – the last day of the Ministry Training Course week – we began with an eternal perspective as Harrison preached through the later chapters of Acts and brought out Paul’s single-mindedness, heavenly focus and willingness to be the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies to bring fruit. I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I…
Read MoreOutward-looking
In his preface to the revised (2004) edition of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Pastor Mark Dever has a very interesting potential ‘tenth mark’: “If I had to add one more mark to what you’re about to read, it wouldn’t be missions or prayer or worship; but it would touch on all of those things. I think that I would add that we want our congregations to be outward-looking. We…
Read MoreTotal Gospel: MTC December 2015
Tim Keller puts it like this: ‘We never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced.” The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s of Christianity, but it is the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required…
Read More