How Do I Pursue A Discipling Relationship? - July 14, 2016

This Sunday, we were preaching from Philippians 2:19-30 on the Harderwyk campuses and spoke to the "transfer of the gospel" that we see between Paul and his co-workers Timothy and Epaphroditus as Paul sends them to minister to the Philippians church in his absence.

On Monday I stumbled across a wonderful post by Aubrey Coleman on the Gospel Coalition website called "How Do I Pursue A Discipling Relationship in My Church?"  It is set in the context of women discipling women in the local church, so men can change the pronouns where needed, but I found it to be a helpful extension of Sunday, so I've excerpted it below:

How Do I Pursue A Discipling Relationship in My Church?

Aubrey Coleman

Though most of us would acknowledge the importance of discipleship, we often struggle to find and pursue those relationships in our own lives. As we think about someone in our church who might help us walk faithfully, obediently, and humbly with God, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Who Is Faithful?

When considering meeting up with someone, simply ask yourself, Is she faithful? Referencing Titus 2:1–7 is a great foundation for understanding what faithfulness looks like. Is she a member of my church? Does she serve faithfully in her season of life? Does she show up when she says she will? Does she encourage others? Does she love God’s Word?

You should be able to quickly identify faithful men and women in your church. If you’re having trouble discerning, ask your elders and pastors to recommend faithful saints you can reach out to.

Whom Do I Connect Easily With?

Among the many faithful, whom do you connect with? You may have a great connection with someone instantly. In some situations, you will naturally serve alongside other men and women who are already making a spiritual investment in you. Discipleship can certainly happen organically, but we can’t always expect it to happen that way. It may take more time and effort. It might even look a bit like taking someone on a date! Don’t be hesitant. Invite someone out to coffee and get to know her.

Were you encouraged by your conversation? Do you desire to learn from her? Is it easy to share your life with her? Is it easy to have spiritual conversations?

Just Ask

We may try to overcomplicate it, overthink it, or wait around to be sought out, but there’s no need to formulate a paragraph text or come up with an elaborate discipleship proposal. Just ask! If anyone comes to me discouraged about a lack of discipling relationships, I first ask: “Have you initiated with anyone?” More likely than not, when we reach out to others, they are encouraged by our pursuit. It is deeply rewarding and humbling to be asked to disciple someone.

This doesn’t mean everyone will be able to say yes, but that is the beauty of pursuing more than one discipling relationship. Our dependency for accountability shouldn’t rest on one person, but many members. If you’re a member of a church, you have committed yourselves to build up one another in the faith. Therefore, discipleship shouldn’t be an exclusive relationship among a few people but a normal pursuit among all members of the church.

CLICK HERE to read the entire post.

The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses - June 30, 2019

This Sunday we looked at Philippians 2:1-11; the great hymn to the humility of Christ.  This article from the October 9, 2018 Wall Street Journal was passed on to me by Rod Brandsen who was preaching in our Fusion community.  I mentioned it in passing, but it is a fascinating reminder that the world - in this case the business world - really does value and need things that are a fruit of the work of the Spirit in the People of God.

CLICK HERE for the full article.

Several Excerpts:

• Organizations are making a push to hire and promote workers who lead effectively but don’t seek the spotlight
• Humility is a core quality of leaders who inspire close teamwork, rapid learning and high performance in their teams, according to several studies in the past three years. Humble people tend to be aware of their own weaknesses, eager to improve themselves, appreciative of others’ strengths and focused on goals beyond their own self-interest.
• Among employees, it’s linked to lower turnover and absenteeism. These strengths are often overlooked because humble people tend to fly under the radar, making outsiders think it’s their teams doing all the work.
• Humble leaders can also be highly competitive and ambitious. But they tend to avoid the spotlight and give credit to their teams, Dr. Sherman says. They also ask for help and listen to feedback from others, setting an example that causes subordinates to do the same.
• In interviews, he asks applicants to tell him about a time when they experienced a major failure.  “If they say, ‘Wow, let me think about this, because there are a lot of times when I’ve messed things up,’ that says a lot,” he says. “If they have to pick among a lot of humble learning moments, that’s good.”
• (Humility is) marked by a cluster of attributes that appear consistently in some people, including sincerity, modesty, fairness, truthfulness and unpretentiousness. The same people tend to avoid manipulating others, bending the rules or behaving in greedy or hypocritical ways.
• Teams with humble leaders performed better and did higher-quality work than teams whose leaders exhibited less humility, according to lead researcher Bradley P. Owens, an associate professor of business ethics at Brigham Young University.  The performance gains held up independently of how much team leaders exhibited other positive leadership qualities unrelated to humility.
• Companies with humble chief executives are more likely than others to have upper management teams that work smoothly together, help each other and share decision-making, according to a study of 105 computer hardware and software firms published in the Journal of Management.  Such companies also are likely to have smaller pay gaps between the CEO and other senior executives. These factors predict closer collaboration among all senior executives, which in turn leads to greater company wide efficiency, innovation and profitability, researchers found.

Humility: The Central Precept of Our Faith - June 30, 2019

I referenced this statement on Sunday.  Humility really must be central when it is affirmed by church leaders from the 5th century and the 16th century!

A saying of Chrysostom’s has always pleased me very much, that the foundation of our philosophy is humility. But that of Augustine pleases me even more: “When a certain rhetorician was asked what was the chief rule in eloquence, he replied, ‘Delivery’; what was the second rule, ‘Delivery’; what was the third rule, ‘Delivery’; so if you ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, first, second, third, and always I would answer, ‘Humility.’ ”

But, as he elsewhere declares, Augustine does not consider it humility when a man, aware that he has some virtues, abstains from pride and arrogance; but when man truly feels that he has no refuge except in humility. “Let no man,” he says, “flatter himself; of himself he is Satan. His blessing comes from God alone. For what do you have of your own but sin? Remove from yourself sin which is your own; for righteousness is of God.” Again: “Why do we presume so much on ability of human nature? It is wounded, battered, troubled, lost. What we need is true confession, not false defense.” 

-- From The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin - Book 2, Chapter 2 Section 11 - True Humility Give God Alone the Honor

Muslim People Coming To Faith in Jesus

I often make reference to the amazing move of the Holy Spirit in recent years by saying: "More Muslims have been baptized and come to faith in Jesus as God and Savior in the past thirteen years than in the previous thirteen centuries combined.:

Here are several recent resources that fill in information on this great work of God:

New Film: Jesus At Work In Athens

From The Gospel Coalition - CLICK HERE for entire post.

What I experienced over the next eight years was remarkable. Refugees were finding Jesus, and Muslims were dreaming about him. Eventually I moved to Athens and wrote a dissertation after doing hundreds of interviews and field research in migrant communities. God was at work in remarkable and undeniable ways. These stories overwhelmed me and led me to recruit Pete Hansen, producer and director of the popular Dispatches from the Front series, to capture them.

CLICK HERE for Trailer

Jesus in Athens is a film that attempts to show some of what God is doing amid one of the largest movements of people in history. It’s a front-row seat to the hidden action of God. Afghans worshiping together. Iranians baptizing thousands of new believers. Greeks planting churches. Americans feeding and clothing refugees. These stories are just a small glimpse of the thousands of ways God is at work.

Why More Muslims Are Turning To Jesus

From Newsweek Magazine online of all places!  Dan Garrision has written and authoritative book called Wind in the House of Islam and has a piece here in Newsweek that includes the following:  CLICK HERE for entire post

By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, reports of large-scale conversions of Muslims to the Christian faith were surfacing in many corners of the "House of Islam." Given the fact that conversion from Islam is a capital offense in many traditional Muslim communities, these reports of substantial movements merited attention.

I determined to investigate these reported phenomena on two fronts. First, I wanted to personally visit as many of these Muslim movements to the Christian faith as possible, guided by a questionnaire that would ferret out the secrets of why these individuals would risk their lives to change their religious allegiance. Second, as a Church historian with University of Chicago training, I knew I would need to explore the historical context of Muslim movements to Christ to see if what was occurring today was truly unique, or merely an oscillation of faith that had occurred from time to time in the 14-century ebb and flow of Islam.