Making Disciples: Purposing Reproduction and Practicing Replication
Pastor Bob Selph of Grace Baptist Church in Taylors SC gave two lectures on the subject of “making disciples” for our course on Church Ministry. In the first lecture entitled “Purposing Reproduction,” Bob discusses the biblical basis and importance of discipleship as a vital facet of the church’s ministry. He focuses on the practical ways in which the pastor and church members may disciple one another in his second lecture entitled ”Practicing Replication.” If you’re a church leader and are seeking to equip the saints for works of ministry as well as training future gospel laborers, I heartily commend these lectures. Read more 
Communication That Connects: Our Preaching, Bible Version, Confession, Branding, and Songs
In the previous installments of this series, I’ve addressed the importance, definition, and biblical support for accommodating our gospel communication to make it intelligible to the people we’re trying to reach.1 Below I’d like to highlight five different areas in which we should seek to apply this principle of accommodation to the way we communicate biblical truth in church ministry. Read more
What If Your Church Isn’t Big?
Christians should not despise quantitative church growth. Quite the opposite. We should desire it. Part of our commission as a church is to “make disciples.” And it normally takes disciples to make disciples. In other words, we cannot view human resources and financial resources as totally irrelevant. If our church is to impact our community for the gospel, to minister to the poor, to train gospel laborers, to see new churches planted, and to send out missionaries, we should long and labor for healthy church growth of the numerical kind.1 Read more
- See my articles “Who’s Afraid of Church Growth?” and “Contextualization & Church Ministry: Does It Matter?“ [↩]
Communication That Connects: God Accommodates and So Must We
Why should we endeavor to communicate gospel truth in a way that’s clear and intelligible to our target audience? Below I’d like to provide two biblical arguments to support the idea of contextualized communication. The first highlights God’s own manner of communicating to humans. The second underscores the biblical mandate that obligates us to follow our heavenly Father’s example.1 Read more
- Further support is offered in my series “Contextualization & Church Ministry.” [↩]
Our Church’s Journey in Evangelism – Gary Hendrix
Our recent module on church ministry included an emphasis on evangelistic outreach. We invited Pastor Gary Hendrix, who has over 30 years of pastoral experience, to address the topic and to share with our students his church’s journey in evangelism. In this lecture Pastor Hendrix emphasizes the importance of pastors training and mobilizing their people to engage the lost with the gospel in ways that are appropriate to their gifts, maturity, and the providential opportunities God has placed before them. If you want your church ministry to cultivate an outward focus, I highly recommend the free video message below. Read more
Communication That Connects: Defined and Described
In an earlier post, I stressed the importance of presenting the truth gospel to our target audience in a way that’s clear and intelligible. I referred to this as “communication that connects.” But what precisely do I mean by that phrase? Below I’ll attempt to offer a definition and a description of what such accommodated communication looks like. In subsequent posts, I’ll adduce some biblical arguments and suggest some practical applications for church ministry. Read more
The Three Dimensional Church – Ted Christman
Reformed Baptist Seminary invited Pastor Ted Christian to serve as one of five lecturers for its recent module on Church Ministry. In the lecture below Ted explains how the church’s vision, mission, and strategy are grounded in its identity. Moreover, he argues that the church’s identity also constrains a three dimensional focus that is upward (worshiping God), inward (building up one another), and outward (ministering to the lost). Read more
2013 Summer Module: Doctrine of the Church
Grace Baptist Church of Taylors, South Carolina will host RBS’s 2013 summer module on The Doctrine of the Church on the week of August 24 thru 30. Pastor Gregory Nichols (M.Div.), who serves as a professor of systematic theology for RBS, will deliver 30 lectures in which he will expound universal church principles as well as local church polity. Read more
Is God’s Love Like a Hurricane?
The first line of John Mark McMillan’s song “How He Loves” compares God’s love to “a hurricane” and the believer as “bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.” But hurricanes are overpowering forces that bring destruction, suffering, and, in some cases, death. Not surprisingly, the apparent dissonance of the metaphor and the glorious truth it’s meant to portray has left some people wondering whether a hurricane is an appropriate metaphor for God’s love. Read more
Communication That Connects: Making the Gospel Intelligible
A few years ago I had the opportunity to present the ministry of Reformed Baptist Seminary to a local church. I opened up for questions at the end of the presentation, and one brother asked how the seminary assesses a man’s preaching and teaching ability. I told him that we require our divinity students to preach and/or teach at least four times in the presence of one or more of their pastors, and we ask their pastor(s) to give them constructive feedback on the content, structure, and presentation of the message. Read more
