Loving community begins with seeing the neighborhood through the eyes of Jesus. By pastor Sam Butler. After his resurrection, Jesus reached out to his followers with genuine love and concern. He met them in the midst of their brokenness, fear and longing. By looking at Jesus as our model we can learn a few things … Continue reading "Loving Your Community" Read the article
God has uniquely gifted you and your congregation for community involvement. By pastor Sam Butler. We have established in previous articles that the motivation behind community engagement is love. Love flows from God to us through Jesus Christ and now through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, love that flows from us out … Continue reading "Community Involvement" Read the article
Summer is a great time to plan an outreach event for your community and share the love of Christ with your church neighborhood. To assist you in preparing for your outreach event, we’ve prepared the infographic below (click on the image to download). Read the article
Identifying your congregation’s gifts and talents This article was written by Randy Bloom, US Regional Director, East. Many years ago, at the end of a planning meeting, our supervisor shocked us with the statement, “I’d advise you all update your resumes. Not that we expect anything; it would be good to be updated just in … Continue reading "Your Congregation’s Resume" Read the article
Engaging your community This article was written by Pastor Sam Butler. Healthy churches desire to make an impact in the church community. The question raised is often, “How do we start?” I suggest our starting point, the framework from which we engage, is not a how question, but a who question. In other words, our … Continue reading "God’s Love in Action" Read the article
The location for the Sermon on the Mount—the Beatitudes—is between the ancient cities of Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene and Capernaum, the fishing town on the northern shore of Lake Gennesaret. Magdala is a recent archeological find that has great significance. The population of the town was around 10,000 people and it was the … Continue reading "Magdala and Capernaum" Read the article
This article is written by GCI pastor Mark Mounts. My wife, Debra, and I recently had the opportunity to visit the “Holy Land” with a group of GCI church leaders. It was a life-changing journey we will never forget. The geography and the sites we visited gave us a new perspective into the ministry of … Continue reading "The Beatitudes" Read the article
Churches often use the terms mission, commission, missional and missionary. While the words are related, we need to know the difference between missional and missionary as we participate in the Great Commission. The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus commissioning the 11 disciples. Have you ever noticed that Matthew begins his Gospel in a similar … Continue reading "Missional or Missionary" Read the article
This article is written by Jeff Broadnax, Director of Generations Ministry and Assistant Regional Director. When someone becomes one of the answers to your online banking “security questions,” you know they have made an impact in your life. Hollis Dane Mitchell was such a person. For years he was an answer to the question, “Who … Continue reading "Engaging Leaders" Read the article
Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him (Acts 8:30-31 NLT). Whether it’s learning about Jesus or learning … Continue reading "Bringing Others in the Know" Read the article
