Testing the Glue that Binds Churches Together
Are denominations dying? That seems to be the common wisdom. Certainly the mainline denominations are bleeding out; people are leaving those churches en masse. But what about denominations of evangelical churches that are holding fast or growing?
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Book Review: Everyday Church
Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson“The culture has changed, therefore the church must change.” That refrain, whether expressed or assumed, is the dominant motif of much of today’s church literature. And almost always, I’m unconvinced. Too often evangelicals mistake superficial trends for tectonic shifts. And too often we simply mirror the culture, as if what the world really needed was for the church to be just like it.
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Book Review: Godly Conversation
Reviewed by Bobby JamiesonCaricatures of the Puritans are like social media platforms: they seem to multiply and spread so quickly that it’s hard to keep track of them all. One common slur on these seventeenth-century saints is that they were dour, hard-bitten individualists for whom the pinnacle of spiritual maturity was spending a week straight praying in private with no sleep, no food, and no human contact.
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How Can Pastors Raise Up Leaders?
Most pastors are all too familiar with the tyranny of the urgent. There are often so many leaks that need patching that it seems impossible to slow down and spend the time it takes to train a crew—that is, to raise up new church leaders.
Yet as a pastor, there are several reasons why you should be regularly discipling men who have the potential to serve as elders, whether in your church or another.
WHY PASTORS SHOULD RAISE UP LEADERS
1. Scripture commands it.
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The Heart of a Disciple-Making Pastor
What do you think is the essential quality of a disciple-making pastor? Here’s my best shot: rejoicing in others’ ministry.
FLY FISHING WITH THE APOSTLE PAUL
In his book The Art of Pastoring, David Hansen paints a striking picture of this when he describes the parallel between a great “spiritual director” and a great fly fishing guide:
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Book Review: Dallas and the Spitfire
Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson
It’s easy for “discipleship” and “discipling” to be mere buzzwords, labels we slap on things to make them sound spiritual. And if our churches move beyond buzzwords and try to create a culture of one-on-one discipling, it’s easy to turn even that into just one more program. Weekly meeting at Starbucks—check. Reading the Bible or a Christian book together—check. Talking about the same two or three struggles with sin every week—check.
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The Great Commission Is Bigger than Your Church
The great commission is bigger than your local church. How should that shape your priorities and posture as a pastor?
THE GREAT COMMISSION IS BIGGER THAN YOUR CHURCH
Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Trinity, and teaching them to obey everything he commanded (Matt. 28:19). And he promised to be with them to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). This charge is global in scope. Therefore, the great commission necessarily involves more than one local church.
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Wanted: Apostolic Pastors
Editor's Note: Bobby Jamieson9Marks is on the lookout for apostolic pastors. Know any?
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Book Review: Revival and Revivalism
Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson
“How did we get here?” is a question that is always relevant and often illuminating. Yet contemporary evangelicals don’t ask it as often as we should.
In his book Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750-1858, Iain Murray tells a story that helps explain how evangelicals—Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and more—got to where we are today.
FROM REVIVAL…
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Book Review: Being Conformed to Christ in Community
Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson
There aren’t many doctoral dissertations which are directly relevant to the work of pastoral ministry. This review, however, is about one of them: Jim Samra’s book Being Conformed to Christ in Community, which is the published version of his 2004 Oxford DPhil thesis.
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