Jesus said to His disciples: "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost."John 6:12 Jesus said this after the feeding of the 5,000 people on the Galilean hillside. He was teaching His disciples about more than being tidy. In this same chapter Jesus taught "I am the Bread of Life" Jn 6:35,48,51 and …
Category: Church reform
Learning basic Exegesis
There are some basics in exegesis that Christians can learn and develop to improve their personal Bible study and their discussion at collective Bible studies. Drawing out of (ex-egesis) Scripture will feed the soul. Which is the most significant word in the following sentence? "The red car went down the hill." You may say that …
What constitutes a ‘good’ minister?
Not so long ago I discussed the subjective nature of a 'good' sermon. A good minister is not so subjective to assess as a sermon because the apostle Paul discusses it in his letters and he gives advice about a good minister 1Tim 4:6 and evangelist 2Tim 4:5 when writing to Timothy. Ministers and preachers …
Confidence to converse
This is a continuation of my series to help Christians to witness to their neighbour. Lack of confidence Young Christians usually want to witness to their friends about their faith in Christ but they lack confidence. They need guidance but they do not have many examples to follow. It is important for those who lack …
Will I meet you in heaven?
I promised a follow-up on this parting greeting. It is a very useful one-liner. The purpose of one-liners is to capture interest and to convey information in short compass. It provokes thought on an important topic. There should be many one-liners in the repertoire of Christians who wish to be effective in Christ's kingdom. One …
It’s who you know
Commonly people say: "It's not what you know – it's who you know." There is truth in this, but not the whole truth. It is a false antithesis. They do not need to be opposed to each other, but are complementary. The statement is sometimes used as an excuse for not knowing things. We cannot …
Evangelistic one-liners
Recently I drew attention to Goodbye meaning 'God be with you'. This is one in a series of evangelistic one-liners that Christians should practice. Christians need to learn how to use one-liners. The role of one-liners There was a time when people read books. As advertising became more prominent, leaflets were used, not so much …
What constitutes a ‘good’ sermon?
The answer to this question is subjective, although it ought to be objective. The difficulty in making it objective is that everyone has a different idea of 'good'. The preacher will have a different assessment from his hearers, and the hearers will differ according to their readiness to receive instruction from the preacher. Even Jesus …
Pastors and teachers
Scripture makes a difference between pastors and teachers. "He gave ... apostles ... prophets ... evangelists ... pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints."Eph 4:11 The apostle Paul distinguishes pastors and teachers. Pastors are shepherds and preachers are teachers. Some preachers call themselves pastor, such as Pastor Jack Glass, but a preacher teaches …
Why we need Christian voices in public life
A Christian voice is a Christian articulating a Christian perspective on issues. It is not enough to have a Christian perspective, but one needs to articulate it. The Scottish National Party measures everything in terms of Scotland, the feminists in terms of gender, the homosexuals in terms of sexuality, the Greens in terms of the …
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