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| thoughts to consider |
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| "We found these quotes worth
pondering and think you will, too!" -- CPC Int'l Coordinators |
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Identifying New Shepherds
In other cultures one
seldom sees new cells or churches grow out of groups consisting primarily
of mature believers. Groups led by mature Bible teachers almost never
spawn a new group. Rather new cells and churches normally arise from
groups of new believers led by a novice shepherd who is mentored by a
pastor, missionary or other more experienced leader. Let us understand the
potential in zealous, obedient, new believers who want to be taught and
coached!
Source: MentorNet#13 -- Identifying New
Shepherds, by Galen Currah & George Patterson -- To read the full article
CLICK
HERE
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Never Fear Making Mistakes
The U.S.
Marine Warfighting Manual states that risk is inherent equally to action
and inaction. This is manifestly untrue in matters of church planting.
Inaction has infinitely more risks than action.
Almost any way of planting a
church is better than not planting a church at all. For, as Wayne Gretzke
says, “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take.” Nothing
significant is ever achieved without taking risks, and there is no risk
greater than the status quo in our situation. If the situation does not
change, unreached people groups will remain unreached, and millions will
die and enter a Christ-less eternity. No possible alternative is a greater
evil than this. So the greatest risk of all in our situation is the
status quo. We must not fear making mistakes, because the mistakes can be
no worse than the current situation. -- Curtis Sergeant
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Rapid Multiplication
Many years ago my
experience in China taught me that if our object was to establish in that
country a church which might spread over the six provinces which then
formed the diocese of North China, that object could only be attained if
the first Christians who were converted by our labours understood clearly
that they could by themselves, without any further assistance from us, not
only convert their neighbours, but establish churches. That meant that the
very first groups of converts must be so fully equipped with all spiritual
authority that they could multiply themselves without any necessary
reference to us: that, though, while we were there, they might regard us
as helpful advisers, yet our removal should not at all mutilate the
completeness of the church, or deprive it of anything necessary for its
unlimited expansion. Only in such a way did it seem to me to be possible
for churches to grow rapidly and securely over wide areas. -- Roland
Allen
Source:
The
Spontaneous Expansion of the Church,
by Roland Allen |
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Coaching Others
Too often we forget
that the role of leader is not to do all the work alone: it's to prepare
others for the work God has for them. Ephesians 4 explains that the role
of church leaders is to prepare God's people for works of service, so that
the role of church leaders is to prepare for works of service, so that the
body of Christ can grow and build itself up in love as each part does its
work. The role of a Christian leader is to equip. And that role is not
restricted to pastors and church leaders; we can all help one another
prepare for kingdom work. Hebrews 10:24-25 urges believers to consider how
we may spur one another on to love and good deeds. Part of our Christian
responsibility is to help one another release our full potential---and
much of that can be done on a peer level. Coaches are not experts or
know-it-alls---they are ordinary Christians who have the opportunity and
privilege of coming alongside others and helping them succeed in
fulfilling their God given potential.
Source:
Coaching
101, Discover the Power of Coaching,
by
Bob Logan & Sherilyn Carlton |
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Two Ways of Meeting
In Matthew 11:16-17 (Luke 7:31-32) Jesus compares his contemporary
generation with children who call out to each other in the marketplace.
One group of children wants to play funeral, but the others won’t mourn.
The other group has a festive flute player, but the first group doesn’t
want to dance.
So, in my oversimplifying mind, I borrowed this metaphor to
summarize the mainstream churches of today. I can divide them into two
groups: the ones who want to spend Sunday morning playing funeral, and the
ones who want to spend Sunday morning playing music and dancing.
Perhaps this comes from two different assumptions concerning what
"normal life" is like, and what we need when we come together to worship.
Advocates of the "funeral" approach to worship assume that we are
sinning all the time during the week, and probably having so much fun that
we don’t even know we are sinning. What we need on Sunday morning is to
sober up and feel bad, like a good Christian should. We atone for our sins
committed during the week by enduring a forced "funeral" once a week on
Sunday morning.
Advocates of the "dancing" approach to worship assume that our
complicated lives and all the sin in the world are continually dragging us
down. It’s all we can do to pry ourselves out of bed and drag ourselves to
church on Sunday morning. What we need is a celebration! We need to sing
and dance! This will recharge us so we can make it through the next week.
Now, these two approaches to worship seem very different, but
underlying them are the same basic assumptions concerning what "worship"
is. First, "worship" is an event that one attends. Second, the purpose of
this event is mood alteration. There is something that goes wrong in our
individual lives that needs to be "fixed" by a corporate performance. You
have to addend this performance whether you need this mood change or not.
A single church corporation can only produce one kind of performance, and
the performance is not diminished one bit if you aren’t there.
Source:
Sheepcomics.com by "Web Shepherd" |
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