MISSIONAL Archives - Page 23 of 26

Are You Beating Yourself Up With Religion?

If you’re not experiencing the joy and freedom you once did in your faith, it may be that you are beating yourself up with religion instead of believing and living out of the true gospel of grace. Let me explain:

I’ve heard it said that religion is a set of practices and beliefs–a system–of pursuing and maintaining a relationship with God.

Ok, sounds technically right… (more…)

Life in a True Gospel-Centered Community: Kirstan’s Story

Life in a vibrant gospel-centered community –a missional community– is an amazing thing to experience. It’s something I believe we were all created to enjoy. But what does this really look like? How is it different than your current church or small group situation? Let me tell you a true story that will help illustrate the beauty of this.

A Broken Family

Good friends of mine, Greg and Mary, came to faith and become part of our community a few years back. They pretty immediately began to loop others into this life with us as they learned to live as full-time missionaries. One of the very first families that Greg and his wife Mary began to invite into their lives was a 16-year-old girl named Kirstan and her widowed mother, Julianna. They had a pretty rough story. (more…)

3 Easy Questions Quickly Turn Strangers Into Friends

Making new friends or transitioning a group of unrelated relationships into a community can be a challenge. Or feel uncomfortable. However, people are all the same and desire growing connections within any circle of acquaintances. I want to show you how you can easily help facilitate this.

I have used these three questions many times to break the ice and kill the awkwardness of things. They lead to great conversation, a lot of laughs, and a pretty quickly turn strangers into friends. [Be sure to get my 3 Easy Questions Cheat Sheet.]
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How Do I Get Started Teaching My Family to Live Out Our Faith in Everyday Life With Others?

Today, I answer the question: “How do I get started teaching my own family to live out our faith in normal, everyday life with others? What are the very first baby-steps I should take?”

This is an important question Frank, because regardless of where we’re at in our faith journey or family age and stage of life, truly making disciples and living out our faith in everyday life with others starts right in our own home. (more…)

Are You Wasting Time Developing the Wrong People?

I’ve spent decades discipling and developing leaders. While there has certainly been fruit and multiplication, for years it seemed that the amount of effort I was putting into training up leaders wasn’t yielding a proportionate harvest. I wonder how often I’ve spent time developing the wrong people?

In my earliest experiences with starting missional communities and planting churches, I learned that I had to keep my eye on the prize of ongoing leadership development. It had to remain a high priority. We equipped everyone in community in the same way as we tried to raise a new crop of leaders. (more…)

3 Simple Words That Will Change Your Life

If you feel like you have to have the “master plan” before ever making a decision, making disciples or getting started in something new, I want to share three simple words that will change your life forever.

Let me share this simple process that I’ve come to call “What next, Lord?”

This works the same in every area of life, really, but let me tell you a story to illustrate how we’ve come to use this in making disciples and living on mission.

[Download this as a printable transcript and also get my free personal ‘What next, Lord?’ Prayer Journal Template]

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