Similarly, I’ve found that many Christians assume new churches are born somehow, without realizing the process of church birth.   How did your church begin: was it planted by a missionary or by another church?  Or did your church form as the result of a church split or a fellowship?  And at what point did that initial group of Christians become a church?

When you consider how churches begin, you will gain more appreciation for your own church’s history and God’s grace in starting new churches. How were churches planted in the story of Acts?   Here is one approach, below.  (notes adapted from missiologist Ed Stetzer)

Planting a new church by going to unreached areas

Teams were gathered and sent:

- Paul, Barnabas, John Mark (Acts 13-14), first missionary journey

- Paul, Silas, and Timothy (Acts 16), second missionary journey

- Paul, Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18) to Ephesus

- Paul and several co-workers (Acts 20), third missionary journey

Example from Paul’s first missionary journey:

1.  They went out to the communities and preached the Gospel

- They preached the Gospel first in synagogues (13:5, 14; 14:1) but also expanded their ministry to Gentiles (13:46)

- They preached the Gospel boldly and publicly (13:44, 14:3, 6-7, 21)

- They discussed the Gospel (public / personal): “many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” (13:43)

2.  God gave the increase

- “And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” (13:48)

- The Lord was bearing witness, “granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (14:3)

3.  They trained these disciples and appointed elders in every church (14:21-23)

Acts 14:23 mentions for the first time these groups as churches. When did these groups become a church?  Previously, Acts 2:42 mentions the basic functions of the sending church in Jerusalem, which would have served as a pattern: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”  With the appointment of qualified leaders, these churches were born and established.

The church’s growth in Acts was historically unusual (ie, God-given signs and wonders; conversions from synagogues).  But even today, when God gives the increase from the bold, faithful proclamation of the Gospel, new churches will arise.

What do you think?

John Piper defines the local church at its minimum as “a group of baptized believers who meet regularly to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper under the guidance of duly appointed leaders.”  Is this a good standard for a new church?

You should consider telling someone else…

1. When you haven’t told anyone.

You need to have at least one other person who knows your deepest struggles/secrets and can advise you with the whole picture in mind. “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

2. When not telling would break either God’s law or man’s law.

When you know something that you are legally or ethically obligated to tell, there is no virtue in holding back. Attempts to protect others only keep them imprisoned in their own guilt and can cause additional damage.

You are not responsible for how the information may affect another person in this case. You are responsible to do your duty before God and man.

3. When the person you are telling is either part of the problem or part of the solution.

It is crucial that you make wise decisions about who you will open up to. Generally, you need to go to someone that you trust and someone who will know what is the next right step. That means they need to be someone who knows and lives God’s Word. Often, the best person to go to will be an authority figure in your life.

4. When telling will help either you or the person you are telling.

It can be dangerous to tell just anything to anyone. To spread sensitive concerns gratuitously can lead to unnecessary temptation and burden. If telling will benefit you in some specific way, then it is legitimate to tell. If telling will help the other person in their own lives, then it is legitimate to tell. If telling does not serve one of these purposes, we need to be cautious.

5. When you need to tell.

When you get to the point where a particular matter is a burden too heavy to bear, then it is time to take it to someone else who can help you bear the burden. “Bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). You were never meant to go it alone.

Telling the right person, under the right circumstances, may be the most helpful thing you will ever do.

Life on planet blog

• I recently asked the members of Sharper Iron forums for their philosophy of sermon handouts. The results were helpful.
• Fun little bit of satire… I’m giving up sports.
• Mark Minnick on danger signs of ministerial professionalism.

And I’ll leave you with another mindless, but amusing clip…

At best, Jackson was an immensely gifted entertainer who had admirers (even followers) worldwide. At worst, his behaviour off stage bordered on the bizarre, perhaps even criminal.

His life demonstrated the enormous power of one person’s influence, but also the way that fame promises more than it can really deliver.

For all of the money, adulation and status that his many talents brought him, Jackson was seemingly unable to live with himself.

The sad end of Michael Jackson should give us a wake up call to these truths:-

1. Only God can give a person power to enjoy their wealth, possessions and relationships;
2. Godliness with contentment is great gain;
3. Happiness is to know the Saviour, Living a life within His favour; Having a change in my behaviour, Happiness is the Lord.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Years ago these verses became very meaningful to me after my Dad’s unexpected death.  The grief and heartache I felt during those weeks and months and years after his death sometimes felt like I was going to be consumed – that it was all just too much and I couldn’t cope with it another day.  But God’s Word gives us a tremendous promise – because of His mercies we are not consumed.   Each day His compassions are there to give us strength for another day.  He is faithful.  He will never leave or forsake us.  He is always there.  When I go to bed at night, I can rest in Him knowing that the same mercy that He provided today will be there tomorrow.

Even when we are struggling with the ordinary trials of daily life, we can rest in God’s faithfulness to us and know that there is nothing that He will let into our lives that will consume us.  These past two weeks, my husband has been away on a mission’s trip, and there have been days as I’ve been home alone with three young children that I have felt like I might be consumed – that I couldn’t possibly go another day in these circumstances.   I have had to stop and remind myself again of God’s promise of mercy and faithfulness to me.  His grace is sufficient, and He gives strength to meet the challenges each day holds.  We all go through difficult times.  Yes, some are more trying than others.  But there is no circumstance where God’s mercy is not enough!

By the way, there is much rejoicing in our home today because we are off to the airport this morning to pick Daddy up!

Yet , there is a very sad part to FB. You read “christian” posts and comments , and I mean Christians that you taught in Sunday School , Christians that are “faithful” in attending church meetings , that do not have the Lord on their minds. Not to forget mentioning the poses in photos that are taken….

Do right till the stars fall

Do right till the last call

Do right though no one else will stand by you

Do right when you are alone

Do right though its never known

Do right since you love the Lord

Do right (Ron Hamilton?)

Having just returned from a week of teen camp, I feel things have turned full circle.

Let me explain.

The camp preacher for the week and I go back some years. We met at a youth camp when I was 12 and he must have been about 6 or 7.

Over 20 years later we were back at camp, this time in very different capacities.

It was encouraging to see him (and others over the years) move from being ‘the ministered’ to to those who truly minister.

Have you ever gone back and read a post from a few months ago and thought “what was I thinking!?!” If you have, just think of what you’ll say when you read your posts twenty years from now. Sure, there will be evidence of growth over those years, but will there be tears because of how you treated someone who is now in eternity? … Don’t sow the seeds that will harvest waves of regret someday.

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.   Philippians 2:14-15

We must be diligent and zealous to pursue purity.  Great discernment is needed to be pure in an impure world.   We cannot walk through life willy-nilly, living on impulses and doing whatever we deem best.   We must carefully line up our thoughts and actions according to God’s standard, not our own.

You might find the following questions helpful as you seek to discern whether your thoughts and actions are pure.

• Is it evil/bad?  1 Corinthians 10:6; Romans 12:9, 21
• Is it expedient/best?  1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 10:23
• Is it enslaving/binding?  1 Corinthians 6:12, 2 Peter 2:19, Romans 14:19
• Is it edifying/building?  Romans 14:19; 1 Corinthians 10:23

God has granted us forgiveness of sin and has also provided us with the power we need to overcome sin – to be pure “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation”.   May He help us each day to set our minds on things above!

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:1-5

 For the last few weeks , our pastor has been taking us through prayer in the Old testament during our mid week meetings.

These are some of the things that I learned:

1-Moses’ tireless intercessory prayers were a dialogue not a monologue.

2-Willful prayer is getting our own way in prayer as a judgement from God . We saw that in the life of Balaam .

3-Grief and prayer are , or should be , profoundly linked .Grief that does not find its way to God in prayer cannot be addressed and healed .

Yes, this we learned from the prayer life of Job as well as
” I would not suggest that believers aught to “model” their grief after the pattern of Job or anyone else .I would insist , however , that when believers find themselves grieving like Job , they are in good and godly company.

Grief is a highly individual thing . It differs just as persons differ-in temperament , experience , dependency , spiritual condition. For some there comes instantly a peace and a reigning calm. For others this peace is hard-won. Before calm may be emotional collapse, a response perfectly natural and not to be condemned. Whichever occurs, God Has a way of making Himself especially read to us in our times of acute emotional need (Ron Horton; see Mood Tides).

Last year Lily showed a lack of desire in praying her night time prayers. After some probing this was her answer :

” What if He says no “!