Your children need to be taken to their after-school activities. Your church has an outreach event this weekend that needs to be catered for. That’s not to mention the weekly Bible study group, or the one-to-one meeting you’ve been meaning to get round to.
Sound familiar? Do you ever feel like everyone wants a piece of you? What should you do?... continue reading
"To pray is to accept that we are, and always will be, wholly dependent on God for everything." (Timothy Keller)... continue reading
Have you ever felt like a faker? Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow us to paint beautiful pictures of our lives. But many of us feel like fakers. If people really knew who we were, what would they think? Would they still care?... continue reading
One of the most forgotten, most crucial words of the Christian life is “together”. And it’s a word that’s frequently forgotten when it comes to evangelism—so often it’s seen as a sort of solo mission. But Christians are made to work together. As an individual Christian, you may be a foot or a finger or a follicle, but you are part of a body, the church, and it is as part of that body that you are most yourself, and most useful, as you contribute to and depend on the rest of your church.... continue reading
It was after the Sunday evening service. My (then) minister asked me if he could have a chat with me. He sat me down and said, “Richard, I think you have clinical depression”. As he is one of my best friends, this got my attention!
I had been feeling very low for a year, and knew the reason why - but then we all feel like that sometimes, don’t we? –yet, that I had ‘clinical depression’ had never occurred to me.... continue reading
I think this is quite a popular view, and one that’s particularly popular in multi-faith, multi-cultural societies.
There’s a story which is quite old, which I find quite helpful just to think through some of the issues. It’s about some blind men and an elephant.
And each of the blind men encounters the elephant at different points, and then has a different idea about what the elephant is like. So the man who’s holding the trunk says: “The elephant’s like a snake.” And the guy holding the leg says: “No, the elephant’s not like a snake, elephants are like trees.” And the guy who’s holding the tusk says: “Well you’re both wrong, because an elephant is like a spear.”
And so it goes on, everyone holding a different part, whether it’s the ear or the side or the tail— everyone’s coming up with a different view. ... continue reading
Does this situation seem familiar? You have a non-Christian friend—and you’d love for them to hear the good news of Jesus. You’ve had some spiritual conversations. Maybe you’ve outlined the basics of the gospel. They sounded interested. But what now? What’s the next step?
Most unbelievers are not ready to receive Christ after hearing the gospel only once, nor are they usually ready to come with us to church. Yet even those who are turned off by the church are still curious about the person of Jesus. Jesus is so different from what skeptics assume he will be like. He is so radical, beautiful, unpredictable and irresistible. So the next step is inviting our friends to take a look at the real Jesus—straight from the pages of Scripture. The greatest shortcut in evangelism is allowing our friends to see the real Jesus!... continue reading
How can we remain faithful to our God in a world that rejects him? Is it even worth standing firm and obeying him, when his kingdom often seems so very far away? How can we live courageously and confidently in nations that do not seek to live under God’s rule? And is it possible to be a blessing to our nations, and show the power and goodness of our God, even in a time such as ours?
Those are pressing questions for those of us who live in contexts where to be a Christian is no longer the norm (if it ever was) and is increasingly to be misunderstood, maligned and even mistreated. And since this is the context in which Daniel found himself, the book that bears his name is a book that will reassure, challenge and thrill us as we read it today.... continue reading
We're very excited to be launching the new Becky Pippert Ministries website. Find out more about Becky, the resources she's published and where you can hear her speak.
Becky is well-known for speaking at churches and conferences on the topic of evangelism around the world—inspiring and equipping Christians to share the good news of Jesus Christ. She's recently partnered with The Good Book Company to produce the DVD-based discipleship course... continue reading
Don Carson introduces Gospel Shaped Outreach:
Gospel Shaped Outreach is part of Gospel Shaped Church - a brand new curriculum from The Gospel Coalition and The Good Book Company.... continue reading
