Tag: discipleship

#exponential Rethinking WITNESS. Danielle Strickland. Lifting The Veil.

#exponential Rethinking WITNESS. Acts 3:1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they […]

Alan Hirsch at #Exponential on Discipleship

We can’t say when a person becomes a Christian. Not even at what point the apostles crossed the line. We are to make disciples He makes Christians What is discipleship? 1. Becoming more and more like Jesus 2. Letting more of Jesus abide in me It’s a response to Jesus being my Lord and Savioiur We believe in Jesus’ death, resurrection and return But what about the focus on incarnation – if we are to go as the Father sent the Son. What about his teachings? His life? That stuff is the LORD part It’s not just the Saviour piece -as sin management We are eternally destined to be confirmed to his image. Bonhoeffer – ‘Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.’ CS Lewis … the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the […]

#RunAlpha – Nicky Gumbel at #Exponential

Invite A Generation: Run Alpha 166 different nations 110 languages 24 million people have done the course 20 to 50% express that they’ve fully come to faith.   A – for anyone L – learning and laughter P – Pasta/ food H – Helping each other A – Ask anything   This was a great session, where we were shown how to run an Alpha course by the man himself, Nicky Gumbel.   Went through some icebreakers;   1)  What’s your name, and a positive adjective? 2)  You’re stuck on a desert island – what two items would you take with you?   Then they get a little more pointed… 3)  How did you end up coming here to Alpha tonight? 4)  If it turned out there was a God after all and you could ask God any question, what would you ask him?   Write down the questions! You hope to answer them as the weeks progress.   NB. The leader is not the main conversationist here. The guests are there to pass it around each other.   This […]

The Beautiful Gospel – Brad Jersak at Ivy – #Bgbg2 for @wtctheology

Brad hails from Canada and teaches Gospel Studies on the faculty of  Westminster Theological Centre (which I am delighted to be a trustee of and teach on). My notes from his talk last week. He talks fast so I got as much as I could!!  The beautiful gospel is of a God of unfailing love. It’s not a sales pitch I have to convince people of. A presentation that prisoners and the poor say ‘YES!’ to because it’s good news to them. The gospel in itself does not need upgrading. It’s a faith once delivered to the apostles from the Lord Jesus. But we need to be careful how we tweak our presentation of it, for every generation – so they hear it.  We can have approaches, but it’s not steps. He then showed us the gospel in chairs: with two chairs (one black and one white chair). How I heard the gospel first off: the version I came to Christ through – was the legal gospel. Composed by Calvin. Courtroom image. Sin is lawbreaking that must be punished. God can […]

STOP PLANNING, START PREPARING

(Thanks to Dan Reeves for working on the blog – looks a lot better now!) Jesus indicated that it is more important to be ready than know what’s going to happen. During World War II General MacArthur called one of his engineers and asked, ” How long would it take to throw a bridge across this river?’ ‘Three days’ the engineer told him. ‘Good,’ said the general, ‘have your draftsman make drawings right away.’ Three days later the general asked the engineer how the bridge was coming along. “It’s all ready Sir,’ he was told. ‘You can send the troops across right now, that is if you don’t have to wait for the plans – the plans aren’t done yet.” Look at the world around you with open eyes. The only thing that’s certain is that we live in a world of radical and acute uncertainty, so we need to be ready to see what’s working and what isn’t working, to adapt and change and be flexible and if it doesn’t work one way we go, go another – or […]

WHAT MORE COULD HE HAVE DONE FOR US?

(This is from last Sunday night’s talk at the Ivy AGM – Awesome Gratitude Meeting) One of my favourite author/ speakers died last year – his name was Brennan Manning. If you have ever read ‘Ragamuffin Gospel’ you’ll never forget it. I have read lots of what he’s written and listened to many of his talks, but it was only this week I heard the amazing story about how he got the name “Brennan.” Because his real name was Richard Xavier Francis Manning – a good Irish catholic name, to be sure. While growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: went to school together, bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated, and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together and fought on the frontlines together in the Korean War. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the trench. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, […]