In the Western-Christian tradition, Advent and Christmas celebrate the coming (advent) of Jesus Christ into the world. Advent-themed worship services are held on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas (in 2017 the first Sunday of Advent is November 27). Advent celebrations often follow the progressive themes of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace (sometimes in … Continue reading "Advent-Christmas celebration resources" Read the article
As we participate with Christ in developing leaders in our congregations, it’s important that we give attention to their character, calling and competencies—all centered on Christ. In his article, A New Paradigm, Malcolm Webber points out how Jesus went about developing leaders in all three areas: He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they … Continue reading "Building the leaders around you" Read the article
Heber Ticas, GCI’s national coordinator of Church Multiplication Ministries, offers advice on using ministry (job) descriptions in developing the ministry leaders within your congregation. As Greg mentions in his letter this month, a “best practice” in developing each ministry leader in your congregation is to utilize a “Ministry Description” (or call it a “Job Description”) … Continue reading "Using ministry descriptions in developing your ministry leaders" Read the article
Regional pastor Paul David (PD) Kurts tells the story of his experience in developing a new, young pastor. Some of the most important things in life begin with a question, like, “Are we there yet?” “Who shot J.R.?” “How many licks to the center of a tootsie pop?” Kidding aside, questions do have great power, and … Continue reading "Developing a new pastor: It began with a question" Read the article
Regional pastor Michael Rasmussen draws from his personal experience to share an effective approach for developing young leaders. I remember when I first started pastoring. I had a deep desire to help mentor the next generation of young leaders. Many people had invested in my life when I was young, and I wanted to do … Continue reading "Mentoring young leaders" Read the article
Lee Berger, pastor of GCI’s Longview, TX, congregation, shares what he has learned about facilitating fellowship group discussions. We can all learn much by sharing in the experiences and thoughts of other people. When a group of folks gets together, we hope for a profitable, open, positive discussion—but this result does not automatically happen. I’ll … Continue reading "Tips for facilitating discussions in fellowship groups" Read the article
Equipper editor Ted Johnston shares a video that demonstrates a discussion-based Fellowship Group worship service. He then offers some observations. As Greg mentions in his cover letter, at the 2016 GCI-USA Regional Conferences we addressed the whys and hows of fellowship groups. In one workshop we held a foreshortened fellowship group worship service to show … Continue reading "Here’s what it looks like: Fellowship group worship" Read the article
This article is from GCI Pastor David Howe, an experienced life coach. What do you do when you come face-to-face with an obstacle you can’t get around? I don’t mean a rock in the road or something like that. What do you do when you’ve encountered something that causes you to keep falling or no … Continue reading "Thoughts from an experienced coach" Read the article
GCI provides its interns with a ministry coach. We asked three of them to comment on what they’ve experienced. If you have a testimony of your own about coaching, please share it using the “leave a reply” feature below. Jillian Caranto During the 2014 intern orientation, Anthony Mullins eagerly asked me to tell him my … Continue reading "Coaching testimonies" Read the article
by Pastor Tim Sitterley You’ve probably had occasions when you answered a knock on your front door to find standing there a couple of well-dressed people holding religious literature in their hands. Through experiences like those you’ve probably learned that cold-call evangelism doesn’t work too well. Perhaps you’ve had similar bad experiences with cold-call fundraisers. … Continue reading "Fundraising through networking" Read the article
