Go Ahead, Make Me a Disciple!

We discovered in my last post that the average Christian is only exposed to 15.6 hours of Bible teaching per year if they attend the Sunday services 60% of the time. (60% is the national average) So, what can the local church do to increase the number of hours for discipleship? Here are a few suggestions. (each of these would occur weekly except reading of the Bible which would be daily)

1. Provide a mid-week meeting where there is one hour of expository Bible teaching. Stream it live to those who can’t attend. (1 hour)

2. Provide small groups that meet for teaching scripture and have discussion of a biblical topic. (1 hour)

3. Encourage the reading of the Bible such as the One Year Bible plan. Do it as a congregation and encourage them often to participate. (1.5 hours per week)

4. Encourage everyone in the church to discuss their questions about scripture and Christian living with a more mature and wiser Christian friend. (1 hour)

5. Look for opportunities to make discipleship a lifestyle rather than just another service in the week. (? hours)

Adding numbers 1-4 to the discipleship regimen of your church would add 234 hours per year of increased discipleship opportunities. The total would rise from 15.6 hours per year to a total of 249.6 hours per year. Then if you employ point number 5 a few times per year you would pass 250 hours per year…Just a thought.

Call me crazy…

Billy Hornsby

Is Social Justice a perversion of the Gospel?

Glen Beck, Fox News anchor and analysts, made the comment that social justice was a perversion of the Gospel. “Social” meaning it covers all people in the society, and justice meaning that “equality” or more specifically “fairness,” must be legislated in order to have justice for all people. When it comes to the Gospel, some have suggested that serving the less fortunate and disenfranchised is the same as preaching the Gospel. What are your thoughts.

What makes the Church Attractive?

I read this short description of the Early Church and why it was so attractive to the people in the Roman Empire pre-Constantine. It made the Church so attractive that it grew and grew….here it is.

“And yet the early church grew and grew and grew, even without intentional evangelistic strategy or ministry. How? By being the most attractive community in the Roman Empire. The early Christians rescued abandoned babies and raised them as their own. They gave dignified burials to all, regardless of economic status. They cared for the sick; instead of abandoning the cities in times of plague, they stayed and cared for the sick and dying, even if it meant their own deaths. It was said of the early Christians that “they alone know the right way to live.”

What do you think is the best way to make the Church attractive today to our nation?

Before you do that…think about the consequences.

The Weak Mind…we all have one.

The Weak Mind Defined

*Showing a lack of judgment.” You know better but you misjudge the consequences, the effects or the seriousness of what you are about to do…so you do it. Like a person who may be very intelligent may also be a drug addict. His intellect tells him drugs are bad for him but his weak mind, due to a lack of judgment, tells him it’s okay. His weak mind helps him justify doing things that are bad for him. A weak mind is a result of wrong thinking or wrong conclusions about what results your actions will bring. Here are some examples that I have seen over the years.

How do you get permission to share Christ?

How Do We Gain “Permission”?

For Permission Evangelism to work, we need to learn to recognize a heart that is open to hear the Gospel. There are times when people are openly asking us to share our beliefs and talk about our relationship with Christ—and we don’t even know it. Quite often, unbelievers and seekers open the door for us to share Christ with them without expressing that desire in words. For some seekers, an invitation for us to witness to them can be found in their actions or conversations.

Always look for an occasion to share the Gospel with someone, whether that someone is a friend, relative, or a recent acquaintance. God gives us divine appointments, and we need to be alert and able to recognize the opportunities He gives us to share our faith.