Resources (Page 13)
Women in the Kingdom Sermon Series Announcement
Dear church, This Sunday, March 20, I am excited to share that we will begin a new sermon series entitled, Women in the Kingdom. In this 6-10 week series we will study God’s perfect plan for men and women as experienced pre-fall and as will be experienced after the second coming, the post-fall (historical and current) condition of women in the church, and God’s heart towards women as seen through the arc of Scripture. We will also dive into several…
Pastor Sam Kim’s Paper on the Ordination of Women
Pastor Sam Kim of Intercultural Mission Church in North Andover wrote a paper on women in ministry, focusing specifically on pastoral ordination, which he has given us permission to share. In it he works to build a bridge between the complementarians and egalitarians. You can find that paper attached below. You can also click this link to hear Pastor Sam preach, or click this link if you’d like to read his testimony of healing from racial trauma. Thank you Pastor Sam…
A Nuanced Kind of Christianity – The Kingdom of God and Politics
It is clearly evident that we are living in polarized and polarizing times. Christians in America find themselves facing several converging issues at once: the fray of an election season, ongoing conversations about the need for racial justice, all while continuing to navigate a pandemic. What are disciples of Jesus to do in the face of polarization and contention? How does the Kingdom of God shape the way we live in such a context? In the face of such questions,…
One of Our Own (Sam Kim & Racial Trauma)
Every time Sam Kim sees something horrible happen to his African-American brothers and sisters, it immediately brings back the racial trauma he’s experienced. He’s transported to the first time he remembers being called by racial slurs, to being chased through the streets of Chicago, to hearing his parents laughed at and taunted. This trauma has continued, even after living and working in the United States for decades, even after serving as a U.S. soldier in a war. He can tell…
Can Whole-Life Discipleship Prevent Pastoral Burnout?
In a time when he was struggling personally, someone came up to Drew Thurman after his sermon and said, “I just wish I had your faith.” He says, “I was dying inside, but they equated the fact that I was on a platform, with theological training, presenting the Word in a way that stirred them with a certain spiritual status.” It became a paradigm he knew he had to shake, but not only because he wanted to embrace a vision…
How Do We Talk About Politics In Church? Political Discipleship
Does God care about our politics? How do we grapple with politics through a discipleship lens? And what role does a pastor play in this process? This is something Jonathan Romig has reflected on as a part of his pastoral ministry. The first need in connecting whole-life discipleship and politics, Jonathan says, is a self-awareness of how our politics shape us spiritually. “When you turn on cable news or that podcast, you are being discipled, even if you don’t realize…
Through the Valley: Whole-Life Discipleship in Suffering and Hardship
I whispered the words to myself in the dark: “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” They came easy and familiar to my mind, and I could feel my heart and breathing still as I repeated them. They were the reminder I needed. They were a prayer anchored in God’s character: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” What a promise—God’s abiding presence…
Frontline Stories From the Whole Body of Christ
It has been a privilege and delight to share the stories of Equippers and Frontliners with you over the last several weeks. As I’ve sat down (virtually) with each of these brothers and sisters to hear what faithful discipleship looks like in their own context, I’ve been repeatedly encouraged. This is part, I believe, of why we need to hear stories like the ones we’ve been sharing this summer. It’s not only about learning from each other, though this assuredly…
Matter-of-Fact Faithfulness & Whole-Life Discipleship (Donny Terenzoni)
Something I love about whole-life discipleship is how matter-of-fact it sometimes is. There’s no fanfare or fireworks for many of us, just simple day-in, day-out faithfulness in the spheres God has planted us. This faithful discipleship in the everyday makes me think of people like Donny Terenzoni. When Donny thinks about what ordinary faithfulness looks like lived out, he says, “The biggest thing for me is how you live and how you act.” Once, in the Navy Reserves, when a…
Follow God’s Nudge – Brooke Sulahian & Hope for Our Sisters (Fistula Prevention & Treatment)
One of the beautiful realities of whole-life discipleship is that you never know where it will take you. It may push you to have a brave conversation with a co-worker, to give sacrificially of your time or money, or to take a different outlook on your role in the Kingdom as a parent. Or it may motivate you to start a nonprofit. This is what happened to Brooke Sulahian. She says, “We are all designed for something bigger than ourselves,…