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We all know that God gifts his children differently through the presence and power of his Holy Spirit. We also know that God gives us all different opportunities to increase his kingdom. But, lately, I’ve had a few conversations that have stretched my thinking in other ways as well. For one thing, several people have commented about or asked something like this: “How far does your heart extend?” ...

For the last few days, I’ve published a short series connecting mutuality and various forms of service for the same of the gospel: 1) itinerant (apostle) service, 2) teaching service, and 3) shepherding service. In each case, I stepped through the life of Jesus in the Gospels and the life of his followers in Acts and the various letters of the New Testament to show that these types of service were the work o...

For the next few days, I’m publishing a short series on the connection between mutuality and various forms of serving for the sake of the gospel. I’m sticking to commands, exhortations, and examples that we find in Scripture relating to mutual service and servants. There is a danger in sole-ministry, expert-ministry, and professional-ministry. In Scripture, service (of any kind) was performed mutually – both...

For the next few days, I’m publishing a short series on the connection between mutuality and various forms of serving for the sake of the gospel. I’m sticking to commands, exhortations, and examples that we find in Scripture relating to mutual service and servants. There is a danger in sole-ministry, expert-ministry, and professional-ministry. In Scripture, service (of any kind) was performed mutually ...

One of my favorite bloggers and commenters is John (Aussie John) from “Caesura.” He recently published a very good post called “Family of God.” The entire post is a great examination (from Scripture) of the essence and nature of God’s family, that is, those of us who are reborn into his family by the Spirit. While I encourage you to read the entire post, I want to point out a few thin...

For the next few days, I’m going to publish a short series on the connection between mutuality and various forms of serving for the sake of the gospel. I’m planning to stick to commands, exhortations, and examples that we find in Scripture relating to mutual service and servants. There is a danger in sole-ministry, expert-ministry, and professional-ministry. In Scripture, service (of any kind) was perf...

Jon at “Jon’s Journey” has started what appears to be a fascinating series looking at the who, what, where, when, and why (and perhaps how?) of the “one another” passages in Scripture. His first post in the series, “Five W’s of One Another,” begins by asking “What?” verses/exhortations we are talking about. Jon combines all these exhortations in a list, a...

The title of this post came from my good friend Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” and his post “Not the Same.” In the post, Eric is making a distinction between the church and the organizations and institutions that are often created by the church. I think this is an important distinction. Why is it important? Because these organizations and institutions (in all of their varieties and fl...

In my last two posts, I’ve talked about “pastoring” people. In one, I suggested that it is impossible for someone to shepherd hundreds or thousands of people. (See “The dangers of ‘pastoring’ hundreds or thousands.”) In the other, I suggested that we often consider the wrong things when we look for leaders among the church. (See “But he has an MDiv and ordination pap...

For most of my 30 plus years of experience in the church, “pastoring” was a function relegated to one or two (perhaps a few) and towards hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of people. So, on the average, one person was responsible for “pastoring” hundreds of others, while those hundreds were primarily responsible for being pastored. From what I’ve seen in seminary and from the books and a...