by Pastor Ron Mcconnell
It is impossible to share Christ with a hungry man or child until we have fed him. It is also impossible to share Christ with a dead man. Some people feel that simply a program to feed the hungry without gospel witness is not “evangelical Christianity” but it is! Evangelical Christianity is Matthew 25 as well as Matthew 28. In Matthew 25 Jesus said, “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these (feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, care for the sick, and visit those in prison) you did not do it to me.’ (Matt. 25:45). In Matthew 28, Jesus said “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
The question of good deeds versus good beliefs, or physical versus spiritual, or the social versus the evangelical, is not an either/or issue. One without the other is incomplete, inadequate, and therefore un-Biblical and un-Christian. It is both/and. We cannot have evangelical Christianity without a social consciousness any more than we can have evangelical Christianity without evangelism. We are called to follow Christ! He will always lead us to human need, whether physical or spiritual.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Prayer
Intercession literally means to stand between two parties and plead the case of one to the other. It means that we must take into account the mandate for world evangelization.
Systematically pray around the world:
Sunday – Latin America
Monday – Central America
Tuesday – North America
Wednesday – Europe
Thursday – Africa
Friday – Asia
Saturday – nations of the Pacific
Intercede for the national church and missionaries in these areas, and for the suffering and poor.
Systematically pray around the world:
Sunday – Latin America
Monday – Central America
Tuesday – North America
Wednesday – Europe
Thursday – Africa
Friday – Asia
Saturday – nations of the Pacific
Intercede for the national church and missionaries in these areas, and for the suffering and poor.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Pastors in the Philippines: How do you define "servant leadership"?
How do you define “servant leadership”?
ACTION missionary Steve Read in the Philippines reports: "Great mentoring group this week! Five pastors cram into my office. Worship. Praise. Prayer. Open
hearts. Electric.".
We wrestle with the idea of “servant leadership.” Luke 22:24-26 (NIV) describes an interesting
interaction among the disciples and Jesus’ response: Also a dispute arose among them as to which of
them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them;
and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.
Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who
serves.” Like many things, Jesus turns the idea of leadership upside down.
After each has a chance write a personal definition of servant leadership, personal opinions,
explanations, beg-to-differs begin to pop up. Smiling as I leave the room, I ask them to put their heads
together and come up with a definition they can all agree on. One guideline: “No blood on the floor,
boys!” One replies, “But bruises are OK, right?”
The results are informative, enlightening. “Servant leadership is struggling by His grace to empty oneself
as Christ emptied Himself out. Servant leadership is being Christ-like.” The definition carries us for nearly
two more hours of interaction and application.
“Struggling.” Servant leadership definitely is not easy. That seems especially true when it comes
to serving those church leaders that always seem to oppose you. One pastor laments, “Moses had
only one Pharaoh. I have three!” It is not easy to serve self-motivated power-grabbers. “Struggling.”
“By His grace.” Unmerited favor. The gift of character, strength, graciousness that flows from God’s
heart. It is God at work, not the pastor when servant leadership is in operation.
“To empty oneself as Christ emptied Himself.” Philippians 2:6, 7 (NIV) talks about Jesus’ servant-
spirit: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. “Made himself nothing,” literally to empty
himself, to give up his power position (Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic
Domains : Greek (New Testament)).
Wow! How do we do that? Stories are shared. Pain is felt. Tears are shed. Love is expressed.
Jesus’ command to love one another, even our enemies, rings in our ears. That’s the Christ-likeness of
servant leadership. How did Jesus love his enemies? He did it on the cross even as we our very selves, in
our sin, hammered the nails into his hands. He served us laying down his life, emptying himself. We hear
Jesus’ cry on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Love.
Jesus continues to speak: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me (Luke 9:23). Daily love. Daily denial of self. Daily servant-leadership. Daily the
cross. Daily Christ-like. By your grace, Lord.
We continue to struggle in the mentoring group to understand, to apply. Yes, Lord, sometimes those we
serve do not know what they are doing. Forgive. Love. Christ-like. Yes, Lord, sometimes it’s what you
Learn more at Steve Reads Blog: warriorshepherd.blogspot.com
ACTION missionary Steve Read in the Philippines reports: "Great mentoring group this week! Five pastors cram into my office. Worship. Praise. Prayer. Open
hearts. Electric.".
We wrestle with the idea of “servant leadership.” Luke 22:24-26 (NIV) describes an interesting
interaction among the disciples and Jesus’ response: Also a dispute arose among them as to which of
them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them;
and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.
Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who
serves.” Like many things, Jesus turns the idea of leadership upside down.
After each has a chance write a personal definition of servant leadership, personal opinions,
explanations, beg-to-differs begin to pop up. Smiling as I leave the room, I ask them to put their heads
together and come up with a definition they can all agree on. One guideline: “No blood on the floor,
boys!” One replies, “But bruises are OK, right?”
The results are informative, enlightening. “Servant leadership is struggling by His grace to empty oneself
as Christ emptied Himself out. Servant leadership is being Christ-like.” The definition carries us for nearly
two more hours of interaction and application.
“Struggling.” Servant leadership definitely is not easy. That seems especially true when it comes
to serving those church leaders that always seem to oppose you. One pastor laments, “Moses had
only one Pharaoh. I have three!” It is not easy to serve self-motivated power-grabbers. “Struggling.”
“By His grace.” Unmerited favor. The gift of character, strength, graciousness that flows from God’s
heart. It is God at work, not the pastor when servant leadership is in operation.
“To empty oneself as Christ emptied Himself.” Philippians 2:6, 7 (NIV) talks about Jesus’ servant-
spirit: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. “Made himself nothing,” literally to empty
himself, to give up his power position (Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic
Domains : Greek (New Testament)).
Wow! How do we do that? Stories are shared. Pain is felt. Tears are shed. Love is expressed.
Jesus’ command to love one another, even our enemies, rings in our ears. That’s the Christ-likeness of
servant leadership. How did Jesus love his enemies? He did it on the cross even as we our very selves, in
our sin, hammered the nails into his hands. He served us laying down his life, emptying himself. We hear
Jesus’ cry on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Love.
Jesus continues to speak: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me (Luke 9:23). Daily love. Daily denial of self. Daily servant-leadership. Daily the
cross. Daily Christ-like. By your grace, Lord.
We continue to struggle in the mentoring group to understand, to apply. Yes, Lord, sometimes those we
serve do not know what they are doing. Forgive. Love. Christ-like. Yes, Lord, sometimes it’s what you
Learn more at Steve Reads Blog: warriorshepherd.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Guidelines for Giving
By Pastor Valmike Apuzen
1 Corinthians 16:1-4
1. Punctual. Give on the First Day of the week. This speaks of regularity and habit. First Day – regular (Acts 20:7).
2. Personal. “Everyone” set aside.
3. Provisional. Set aside some amount of your funds! Abound preparation – give some thought.
4. Proportional – “As God has prepared you”
(Deut. 16:17) (16:16 not empty handed).
5. Practical – that there be no gathering when I come. No need for extra special offering.
Why give? Because we are stewards. God owns it.
1 Corinthians 16:1-4
1. Punctual. Give on the First Day of the week. This speaks of regularity and habit. First Day – regular (Acts 20:7).
2. Personal. “Everyone” set aside.
3. Provisional. Set aside some amount of your funds! Abound preparation – give some thought.
4. Proportional – “As God has prepared you”
(Deut. 16:17) (16:16 not empty handed).
5. Practical – that there be no gathering when I come. No need for extra special offering.
Why give? Because we are stewards. God owns it.
Monday, March 14, 2011
TOPIC (Trainers of Pastors International Coalition) Philippines Consultaion
Christian Community Development Centre, Tagaytay, Cavite, Philippines
March 8-11, 2011
TOPIC (Trainers of Pastors International Coalition) is a coalition of primarily non formal education ministries with the common goal of equipping undertrained pastors for the burgeoning worldwide church. In the Philippines, TOPIC is a commission of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC). The vision of TOPIC Philippines is “Every church with equipped and maturing pastoral leadership teams.”
TOPIC Philippines has 200 trained pastor equippers in all sixteen regions of the country. March 8-11, 2011, thirty-three regional leaders from fourteen regions gathered at the Christian Development Centre in Tagaytay, Cavite. The purpose of the consultation was to (1) equip and encourage the pastors and to (2) plan and coordinate regional plans for 2011.
Equip and encourage
With the vision of equipped and maturing pastoral leadership teams in every church, the consultation delegates explored the scriptural roots of multiplication. The group noted, along with other insights, that multiplication is God’s will with roots in the creation account and the Abrahamic covenant. Multiplication is natural in creation with creatures procreating after their own kind. Spiritually, God connected obedience and blessing with multiplication. Considering the scope of all Scripture, multiplication not only has to do with quantity but quality as well, multiplying character through discipling and mentoring.
The delegates also discussed “Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction” (Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima, Sr.). The pastors offered heartfelt sharing, support and prayer with each other as they confessed their dark sides to each other. The “dark side” is the dysfunctional stuff we carry with us that must be brought under the healing hand of God. Everyone has a dark side but in leadership, especially Christian leadership with its pressures and unwritten expectations, sinful stuff can come out in unexpected ways and times. We hear of pastors falling into sin, immorality, anger issues, lack of integrity, and the like. As we face these issues God can bring healing and transformation. Like Paul, weakness can become the springboard for the grace of God to be displayed, victory experienced, growth realized.
Group devotionals also encouraged and inspired, offering much appreciated feeding to pastors who usually feeding others on a weekly basis. Executive committee member Pastor Roli Manuel shared that true success in God’s eyes is through a life of FAITH: faithfulness, availability, integrity, and humility. Ex com member Pastor Gil Balignasay led the pastors to the life of King Josiah. In Josiah’s devotion to God, he was a seeker of God, loyalist to God, promoter of God, and a revivalist in passion for God.
Plan and coordinate
In addition to coordinating schedules for ongoing regional training in 2011, long term goals were established called CORE 10K. CORE stands for Community of Regional Equippers. 10K expresses the goal to raise up 10,000 trained pastoral equippers by 2020. This goal will be fulfilled through widespread recruitment, mentoring, and training. Each of the 200 current trained TOPIC pastors will recruit and mentor four new potential pastors. The new recruits will be mentored and trained for three years, after which they in turn will each mentor four more for three years. The numbers crunch to well over 10,000 by 2020, leaving a buffer for attrition.
A role-up-our-sleeves spirit infects the TOPIC regional leadership team in anticipation of all that God will do in the coming years. In a land with a rapidly multiplying church, there is a critical need for multiplying leadership as well. By God’s grace, TOPIC Philippines will continue to fulfill the scriptural multiplying mandate as it seeks to establish equipped and maturing pastoral leadership teams in every church.
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