Articles
How to Pray for Refugees During Times of War and Crisis
Did you know that the number of refugees around the world has doubled in the past 10 years? In fact, there are more refugees in the world today than at any other point in history, surpassing the 100 million mark in 2022. The reasons these families have been driven...
Five Ways to Start Listening to God in Your Life
What if you could hear God speaking? What difference would that make in your life? I don’t mean hearing an audible voice. I wouldn’t need to write about hearing that. You would just listen. Instead, I mean receiving a message from Him as a thought in the mind. The...
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Overcoming Body Image Struggles in Marriage
My husband always tells me how beautiful I am and speaks kindly about my body. Why can’t I receive it? Sixteen years ago, my husband and I had a fight I will never forget. I rarely remember why we were fighting, but this memory is one that left a mark on my heart. I...
A Guide to Small Group Ministry
Compared to large church services, small group meetings are often more interactive, conversational, and close-knit, helping members make deep connections as they work towards spiritual growth. Follow these tips for starting a small group ministry, and you’ll give the...
Three Ways Pastors and Churches Can Care for Missionaries
This year, over 7,000 missionaries will be forced to leave their calling. That’s almost 20 missionaries a day, throwing in the towel. Over the years I’ve heard a lot of reasons why mission workers return home. Look at some of the reasons we lose valuable, qualified...
Twelve Ways to Get Started in Evangelism
I love the mountains and spend any time that I can hiking and climbing in them. I therefore own gargantuan quantities of hiking equipment, and one of my favourite pieces of kit is my ice axe. There is just one little problem. I’ve never used the thing. I certainly...
Eight Reasons We’re Afraid to Share Our Faith with Others
We live in a very fear-based culture. Our news media is full of endless stories about things we should be afraid of: climate change, pandemics, financial crashes, asteroid strikes, tortoises, shark attacks, coconuts falling on you, and so on. Whether irrational or...
Renewals need renewing.
Monasteries during the Dark Ages, the first Franciscans facing a church weakened by wealth and power, the Protestant Reformation alarmed by legalism and religious profiteering, the early Anabaptists disturbed by a cozy relationship between church and state, Methodism...
That Thing Called Courage
What is the most courageous thing you’ve done? I have read many stories of courage, but one comes immediately to mind. On March 7, 2022, the massive Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, Florida, was closed as part of a 10K race for the armed forces. Nearly seven...
Learning to Welcome the Questions
Each Thursday night for almost an entire year, about twenty-five young adults would arrive at my house at 7:00 p.m. We would gather each week to study something interesting about the Bible as it related to the world we were living in. The group was so fun, and I...
Radical Theology
My friend Annabelle grew up in Uganda in a Muslim home. One night, her stepbrother abused her, and to her horror, Annabelle realized her father would do nothing to protect her. Things only got worse as Annabelle (only thirteen at the time) discovered there was a plan...
Spiritual Stick-To-Itive-Ness
As any runner can tell you, no one starts off running by signing up for a marathon. First I learned to run a mile, and then I worked up to a 5K, and then I tackled numerous half-marathons and a lot of intense training before building up the endurance to run 26.2...
Biblical First Impressions
A popular maxim goes like this: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” First impressions are often etched into the mind and hard to overcome with later interactions. The whole field of marketing seeks to create positive first impressions of their...
God is Faithful…to Teach You Faithfulness
Begin with What You’ve Been Given A faithful person honors, cherishes, maintains, and guards the faith of those who put their trust in him by keeping his promises to them. God’s always like this. You and I, on the other hand . . . well, let’s just say this proverb was...
Hearing God’s Voice
Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to hear God’s voice: a loud, booming voice. Heavenly words that were clear and undeniable. Anytime I’d pray as a kid, I’d hope that voice would respond. But it never did. Another voice danced around inside of me, though. I’d try...
Cultures of Belonging
Organizational cultures are born in the intersections of shared relationships. If the quality of those relationships is healthy and constructive, that’s the kind of culture we’ll experience. If those relationships are toxic and fear-filled, well, that’s exactly the...
Spiritual Stick-To-Itive-Ness
As any runner can tell you, no one starts off running by signing up for a marathon. First I learned to run a mile, and then I worked up to a 5K, and then I tackled numerous half-marathons and a lot of intense training before building up the endurance to run 26.2...
Burnout: 3 Tips for Pursuing Renewal
Matthew is a stereotypical millennial evangelical worship pastor. He dressed the part with his oversized sweater, ripped jeans, and converse shoes. He was highly creative, passionate, and extremely extroverted. I could feel his energy even before he walked into the...
Not-So-Ordinary Discipleship
What does your congregation think when you encourage them to “go and make disciples” (nlt) like Jesus commissioned us in Matthew 28:16-20? If they are like most congregations, their thoughts are a mix of That sounds hard and I don’t know how to do that. Or I’ll bring...
