Category: Church

Low cloud at Christmas

The Christmas lights had been switched on at the beginning of December and then we had low cloud.

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Image 112 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Enlarge

This was a magical moment that just asked to be captured. The Christmas lights had been switched on at the beginning of December and then we had low cloud. The top of the church tower was partly obscured, but other buildings in the town were not tall enough to be affected.

I took several shots, and this one seemed the best of them. So here it is for all to see. Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year of grace and peace as we head into 2025.

See also:

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

A living organism-2

You will need good character, deep relationships, respect for others and appreciation for what they are and do. Do whatever you can to help others succeed in mission.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This is the first part of the fifth forgotten way.

Connect and communicate

Churches on mission usually connect with one another to form networks. Read Acts and the New Testament letters and you will see this everywhere, for example Acts 11:20-23, 21:3-4, 1 Corinthians 16:19-20. These networks may be formal or very informal, but where there is no network, encourage people to talk and swap ideas. Adapt what others have done rather than developing it again from scratch, and work together, especially for training. Host workshops, share books, DVDs and digital resources, go on retreats with other groups, share meals, share bread and wine together.

Don’t keep things to yourself (Colossians 4:16). Let others learn from your mistakes and tell them about successes. Share newsletters and calendars. Set aside time in meetings for people to share, use email and the web to send out materials and stories. Promote good books, provide lists of email addresses, perhaps set up a social network group.

Try to dream and plan with other groups. People with strong APEST gifts will wake everyone up and get them dreaming, thinking and planning. Ask questions like, “What is Jesus preparing for us?”, “Where is Papa already at work in the community?”, “What does good news look like for the people around us?” Make alliances.

You will need good character, deep relationships, respect for others and appreciation for what they are and do. Do whatever you can to help others succeed in mission. Identify the essential issues and choose to understand more than to be understood. Be willing to listen.

Discuss or consider – What have you already done as a group that you could share more widely? Even very early in your shared lives there will be good things to offer others; make a list of them. Can you think of other people or groups that would benefit from hearing some of your stories? How will you
contact them? Don’t just talk about this, but begin doing it.

Sneeze the gospel

The gospel will spread easily and widely if the conditions are right, just as it did in the first few centuries in the Roman world and beyond (Acts 2:36-41). Part of our task as Jesus’ followers is to match the message to the society and culture we are part of. Read Acts together and list the ways the early church did this.

Simple, deep, meaningful messages work best; “Jesus is Lord” is a really great example because it captures a central and essential truth in just three words. The message and the people who carry it need to be very easily and quickly transferable. Distil the essence of the gospel and make church as simple and reproducible you can. At the very least, avoid unnecessary complications in both the message and the messengers.

Experiment right away without waiting until you have a perfect approach, but learn from your mistakes. Look for new ideas, new people and shared learning. Value and celebrate anyone who pioneers new ways of thinking about mission and church life. Let new believers develop their own forms of church as you pass on the basics about gospel and community. Use the passions, gifts and lifestyles you find in groups of people.

The gospel should be really simple to catch and very infectious. But progress may seem slow so you will need to be quite persistent and very, very patient. Pray often and with great hope and expectation; think carefully and sympathetically about the host community but keep church as simple as you can, small and really easy for others to copy. Pray especially for more workers to gather in the harvest (Luke 10:2).

Discuss or consider – You are already far enough along to begin spreading the good news far and wide. I’m telling you – you are! Talk about how this process is going. Think together about better ways to work in the future. Can you simplify things? Pray for specific people you know who need to hear and see the truth. How will you demonstrate Jesus to them?

Facilitating growth and change

Think deeply and talk together about what you are doing; pray about how you might reach those around you (Ephesians 6:18-20). Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and guide you (as he did Peter in Acts 10:9-23). Consider re-reading this part of JDMC later and revising your approach as necessary.

Do your best to be practical but try to understand the underlying reasons for what you are doing. Bounce ideas off one another and keep thinking about how living things grow and reproduce – that is how church will grow and reproduce too. Something big can grow from the tiniest seed. Try to work out where you are weak and where you are strong. The objective is to keep moving forwards and trying new things. Think in terms of new ways and old ways, going forward but also reflecting on where you have come from, focussing on Jesus but not for one moment forgetting the people living all around you. Remember the seeds but don’t forget the tree, remember the tree but don’t forget the forest!

Discuss or consider – You decide to plant a daffodil in your garden. Would it be better to buy a plastic flower for immediate effect, or plant a bulb, water it, keep the weeds away, and wait for it to grow? How many daffodils will you have in ten years time? Did you make them grow?

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

A living organism-1

Encourage passion and ownership by telling great stories; invite people to act with boldness and ‘have a go’; involve everyone in planning.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This is the first part of the fifth forgotten way.

Introduction

The New Testament likens the church and the kingdom of heaven to various other things. These include the human body (1 Corinthians 12:27), farmers’ fields (1 Corinthians 3:9), the effect of yeast (Matthew 13:33), seeds (1 Corinthians 3:6) and trees (Luke 13:18-19). These are great illustrations because church actually does behave quite like a living thing. Church is alive! It is Christ’s body. Of course, church and kingdom are two different things; church is part of the King’s domain, though by no means all of it. But both are alive.

Think about it. The church grows, reproduces and responds to the world around it. It develops and matures; it spreads like seeds or a virus. The good news about Jesus spreads from one receptive person to the next as we talk about it and especially as we live it out. You can see all of this at work in the book of Acts. Some of the most astonishing Jesus movements have had loose network structures and have spread widely and rapidly. Think in terms of a forest or a city of people; each tree or citizen is like a local church while a movement is a network like a forest or city.

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.

It’s very important to encourage real life in church; we need to get the structure right for that and we will have to help the lifelike processes of growing and reproducing come to the fore. To do this, we must avoid too much organisation and control, things we tend to like because they make us feel useful and safe. But we shouldn’t be in control – Jesus should!

Discuss or consider – Talk about the structure and management of what you do. Are there things you need to change? Are there things you should stop doing How might you free people up and encourage more natural processes to take over.

Keep moving on

Think and talk about church as a movement. Aim to plant movements, not churches. Pay attention to stories of great movements past and present, read books about them, get excited about the possibilities.

Begin consciously behaving as a movement. Be fluid and adaptable, ready to take risks, build in lifelike structures, aim to multiply, dream and experiment, look into ways of changing from what you are to what you need to become. Remember that movements are networks; find as many ways as you can of connecting people really widely.

Discuss or consider – What might prevent you from moving forward? Talk about the way you think, your expectations and your goals. Are these as flexible as they need to be? When change becomes necessary, what forces might stand in the way? What is the difference between a movement and a church?

Structure for life

Change or remove anything and everything that stifles real life; good structures are very simple and easy to copy. Think about gardening rather than engineering because gardening involves living things. What is the easiest way to make a city? What is the easiest way to make a forest?

Remember that living things grow by themselves according to the life code (DNA) that is within them. An oak tree cannot produce grains of wheat and an acorn can never grow into a cabbage. In the same way, it’s impossible for the church to produce seeds of injustice and someone who continues to follow Jesus can never grow into a thief. Each grows according to its type. Jesus said we’d be known by the fruit we produce, either good or bad. Aim to produce plentiful, good fruit! (Matthew 7:15-20).

In other words, you don’t need to make the church grow. You can’t! All you can do is help the process start and provide the right conditions. Take good seed, bury it to the right depth in well tilled and manured ground, make sure it has enough water, keep away weeds and pests and your job is done. There will be a good harvest, but it might take a little time and patience.

Make sure leaders give power away, not hold onto it as the world tends to do; leaders should see themselves as servants (Matthew 20:25-28). Encourage every part of your group to think for itself, and give everyone the opportunity to use their gifts and interests freely and fully. What did Paul write about the body of Christ? (Ephesians 4:11-13) Encourage passion and ownership by telling great stories; invite people to act with boldness and ‘have a go’; involve everyone in planning. Celebrate every success; rethink and retry after every failure. Learn from every mistake and look for the positive aspects; never give up.

Share information as widely and openly as possible. Get apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to explain what they do to everyone. Share any problems and talk about them; if possible become part of a wider network; welcome change whenever it’s needed. Don’t try to turn chaos into order but instead see if you can find meaning in the chaos. You may need to change your point of view or encourage others to say what they think.

It’s best to structure things around the passion, energy and life that you see in people. Everyone is a potential power house in their own, unique way so encourage them to be more active, not less. Don’t build ‘windbreaks’ that slow the wind down, instead build ‘windmills’ that harness its energy. Remove obstructions to active life and, when that is not possible, find alternative pathways to get around them. Build mission and church around people’s interests, and choose meeting times to avoid clashing with social gatherings in the wider community. Let go when something is no longer useful, support new ideas and fresh energy whenever they appear in the group.

Shared beliefs and purposes are great at holding networks together. So form common values, beliefs and practices and help newcomers to understand them. Find simple, clear, memorable ways to talk about them. Share the stories of the group’s origins often and in as many ways as possible. Encourage one another and tell people why you value them.

Discuss or consider – Spend some time right now to dig out the stories of how your group got started. Write these stories down; perhaps someone will
volunteer to collect them in a notebook or folder or post them to a blog.
Also, talk about the ideas in this section. How many of them are you already doing? List examples. Where do you need to do better?

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Gifts for building-2

Talk together about the gifts you see in one another, give one another feedback; most people are strong in one or more gifts.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This is the second part of the fourth forgotten way.

B – Activating the forgotten ways (continued)

2 – Encouraging one another
As you go out to reach the world together, put time aside to think and pray about what you are doing. Ask one another questions about how things are going. A weekend retreat now and then will help with this sort of planning and remembering. Don’t slip back from mission and become inward-focussed; it happens all too easily.

Reawaken one another to the gospel, are you drifting away from your first calling as mission-minded people? Avoid becoming lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-22), be wary of busyness and make mission an essential part of life. Mission-focussed prayer helps the six elements work together as they should, so keep mission at the heart of your prayer together. This will help everyone remember that Father stirs up mission and is involved in it. Jesus said we should pray for more workers in the harvest (Luke 10:1-4). Consider prayer walking areas where you’re connecting with people.

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.

Discuss – How are you doing in these areas? Talk together about successes
and failures, ways you might do more or improve your focus. Pray  about it.

C – Identifying purpose

There will be a reason that your group exists, it is likely to be something to do with a shared passion which has been implanted in you by the Spirit for a specific purpose. Read Isaiah 55, and especially verse 11. Find out what you are passionate about, Papa will reveal it to you, and he will walk in it with you as well. Is it a particular function (such as helping the poor, feeding the hungry, or reaching the lonely)? Is it to reach out to a specific area or people group? Whatever it may be, talk about it, pray about it, and ask one another significant questions. Apostolic leadership will help this process.

It takes patience and commitment to discover purpose. Pray regularly, reflect and work together, ask outsiders who are familiar with what you do. Here are some useful questions… Why did the Lord create the group? What was the original dream? How has the group been used? What does the group do best?

Discuss or consider – What is your purpose? If you don’t yet know, agree to spend some time investigating.

D – Growing the gifts

Read and watch material that helps you develop an understanding of the five service gifts – they’re often called ministry gifts (Ephesians 4:11-12). Check out the JDMC section on The APEST gifts as a starting point. Talk together about the gifts you see in one another, give one another feedback; most people are strong in one or more gifts. Recognise that these gifts are not limited to experts, but are distributed throughout the body. If any of the gifts is significantly absent in your group, ask Jesus to bring the right people to join you. There’s no room here to examine all the service gifts in depth, but make time to understand them early.

Use the do it and consider it approach mentioned earlier. Provide books, DVDs and articles and encourage people to go to conferences and workshops. Find suitable networks. Explore ‘For more information’ at the end of this part of JDMC and use the material.

Be careful not to control anyone (Matthew 20:25-28), there’s no need for it and it undermines the life that Father has poured into the group. Instead, just inspire people and let them do what they do best. People don’t have power because it’s been granted by a leader but because it’s been granted by Jesus (Acts 1:8). Look for passion, ask questions, encourage experimentation. Free up time for all this, don’t over-programme, and aim to get the group dreaming.

Discuss or consider – Delegate five people from your group (or five small teams of people) to find out more about the five service gifts. One person or team to investigate one gift. Agree a time to report back, perhaps a week or two.

E – Sparking connections

Apostolic people link others together for positive action (Acts 11:19-30). Encourage them! They are starters, full of ideas, and inspire others. As catalysts, they get people talking and connect those with similar passions. They intuitively keep track of people and relationships. Sometimes they even network networks. If that sounds strange, just think of the internet. It’s called the internet because it networks company, government, and other networks. Apostles sometimes work at that sort of scale – Paul did.

People with an apostolic gift are widely connected and love to put the people they know in touch with one another. Sometimes the results are startling and unpredictable (in a good way). Movements really need people who can do this, it makes it far easier for good ideas to be shared widely and rapidly. A well-connected movement is an agile movement. Not everyone who sparks connections is apostolic, but all apostles are good at this.

scuss – Do you know anyone with this ability to connect people and
build networks? Could you do this too? Like all the gifts of service, this is
part of the church DNA that is in all of us to some degre

Discuss or consider – Do you know anyone with this ability to connect people and build networks? Could you do this too? Like all the gifts of service, this is part of the church DNA that is in all of us to some degree.

Develop and encourage each other

Bounce ideas off one another and keep thinking about the gifts of service. Try to work out where each of you is strongest and encourage any strengths (2 Corinthians 13:11). Tell one another, ‘I noticed you come alongside Steve when he was struggling. It seems to me you have some of the instincts of a shepherd. Well done!’, or, ‘I’m glad you reminded us to pray earlier, we needed to hear that.’ And above all, look for and encourage everyone who shows signs of going out to actively press forward with new things, laying foundations, making a fresh start, stirring people up, drawing out dormant gifts.

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Gifts for building-1

By watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice.

< Previous | Index | Next >

This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This makes a start on the fourth forgotten way.

Everything that happens in life depends on its surroundings, and that can have a big impact. Any gardener will tell you that some plants need plenty of sun and a freely draining soil, others need moist and shady conditions, and yet others only grow in acid soils. And of course almost nothing grows in a desert.

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.

Discuss or consider – What do you think an apostle is? What does an apostle do? Don’t worry if you are vague about the work of apostles; church in the West has had little to say about them for a very long time.

Gifts of service

People with an apostolic gift draw the church back to its essential task, guiding it into reaching and changing the world. This work of mission has been forgotten again and again throughout church history. Not only that, apostles stir us up into developing our own gifts and callings.

These people care for the gospel and remind us of its eternal purpose. They pioneer new forms of mission and church, they take care that all six forgotten ways are present and active. They keep things on track, and they offer a nurturing home where other essential gifts can work to good effect. In the list below, each gift produces a suitable environment for the next one.

Work of an Apostle > Work of a Prophet > Work of an Evangelist > Work of
a Shepherd > Work of a Teacher – (APEST).

These are all gifts of service; the purpose of the gifts is for the building up of the church so that we can all become mature (Ephesians 4:11-16). Throughout the long history of the Western church, the apostolic and some other service gifts have been overlooked and only those of pastor (shepherd) and teacher have been widely used. The results have been ineffective and short on impact. There is no space in this section to detail the other gifts, but they’re all covered in Part 9, The APEST gifts.

We’ll look at the five main activities of apostles (A – pioneering mission, B – activating the forgotten ways, C – identifying purpose, D – growing the gifts, and E – making connections). See if you can spot people like this in your own group; they’re almost certainly there. Help them to become active, value them, encourage them. And why not try for yourself? Anyone can do apostolic things at some level, but people with an apostolic gift will revel in them and excel.

Great places to look for inspiring examples are Acts and the New Testament letters. Paul is a wonderful example of the gift of apostle. Read Journeys to Significance for more about Paul. And don’t forget that Jesus reveals in himself all of the gifts from apostle right through to teacher, so look for powerful examples in the gospels too.

Discuss or consider – Can you find at least one or two examples of of each of the five apostolic activities in the New Testament? If you’re stuck, come back to the question after completing the rest of this part of JDMC.

A – Pioneering mission

Releasing new communities is a healthy thing to do, so always have new projects on the go. Dream, pray, form teams, and make a start (Luke 9:1-6). Apostolic stimulation and guidance are needed for this to happen, and it can’t be rushed. Close supervision and micromanagement are very unhelpful.

Try lots of new ideas even if they seem risky: see failure as a chance to learn. It’s useful to think about Christianity as always pioneering things; there are plenty of biblical examples of this; find them and study them. Make and cheer on some heroes (people who will go out and try new things). See how quickly Paul seized an opportunity in Athens (Acts 17:16-34).

Implant the idea of mission in the heart of the community. Tell stories about the early church and the church in China. Suggest everyone reads books like The Starfish and the Spider. Get everyone to consider how to make church simple and reproducible.

Map out the process needed and get people to work through it. Often, the map will emerge later and can be written down when it’s clear.

Discuss or consider – Are you at a stage where you can begin to spawn off new communities? Even if you are a very new group yourselves, you can dream about it, pray about it and talk about it. If you’ve been together for more than a year, ask yourselves, ‘What is holding us back?’

B – Activating the forgotten ways

1 – Thinking it through – This is all about a culture and a way of life. Encourage people to work through JDMC and read The Forgotten Ways; help them understand the ideas they contain. It may not be clear to people at first; parts of it have been forgotten for a long time and are not part of normal church life in the West. Clarify thinking about the entire system, not just the six parts individually. Active mission helps us live out Jesus’ calling. Apostolic people will help a group absorb these ideas by explaining their value and guiding their development.

As a group, think about Father’s work in redeeming his creation through the Son (Revelation 21:5). Read and explore the Bible on this, go to conferences together, listen to recorded teaching, share books and articles about going out and going deep. Retelling stories of success is an inspiring thing to do. It will help you see how you’ve been used, remind you of your calling and make the future clearer. Write down your most exciting stories, ask people for memories, keep photos and make slide shows, interview people and collect the stories in a book.

Here’s the theory – by watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice. Demonstrate Jesus’ love and grace to the people around you. To do it you will need to live a life that’s deeply integrated in the local culture.

Discuss or consider – Even if you are a new group, it’s likely you have at least a few stories to tell. Re-share them and write them down now, before they are forgotten. They’ll be useful later!

See also:
More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!