What is your passion in life?   Ask anybody and you get a myriad of answers.   You might passionate about history since you think it is important to remember where we have been.  Or adoption!  You think there is nothing better than finding a child who needs a home and family, and giving it to them.  You might have an artsy bent so you are passionate about creating things.   Welding, wood-working, cooking, writing -- or just creating anything!  Heaps of people are passionate about music evidenced by the number of song downloads each and every minute.   I know of someone who has...

Leadership is all about empowering people.   Effective leaders move people from where they are to where God would have them be, in life and in ministry.   Moving people from "I can't do this" to "I can do this".  You might to check out what I had to say about 'Empower' is my recent article.  One of the best ways to help people become empowered for ministry is to guide them along a journey of discovery. Here in Australia we hear a lot about discovery.   This land was discovered originally by Aboriginal peoples many thousand years ago.  The first Europeans who discovered...

In my study I have small brass bugle draped with a towel.  For years this has been a symbol to me of my role as a leader in the church.  On the one hand, the bugle reminds me that an important part of my role as a leader is to call people to action.  Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Corinthians 14:8).   As a Christian leader I am to sound a clear call to Christian obedience and discipleship.   As good soldiers of Jesus Christ we...

If you want to see growth you need to do some pruning!  You know that if you have ever worked in a garden.   You might have some roses, some perennials, or some fruit trees.   If you want to see more flowers and fruit you need to get out your pruning shears. In our backyard we have several fruit trees, including bananas, lemons, oranges, mango, and apricot, to name a few.   Every year after the fruit harvest I take out my secateurs and give the trees a good prune.   The same goes for the passion fruit vines.   Dead wood is cut out. ...

Partnerships are important!   So said the Teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes:  "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.   If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the person who falls and has no one to help him up.... A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."  (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)   In life we see that working in partnerships can lead to better outcomes than working alone.  When you have effective partnerships, you will strengthen the capacity of what you are trying to achieve, engage more people, and will have a...

"Get up and pray" were Jesus' words to his followers just prior to his death on the cross (see Luke 22:39-46).  Earlier that night he had urged his disciples to pray.   But while Jesus earnestly prayed to our Father in heaven, even to the point that his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground, he found his disciples fast asleep, exhausted from sorrow.  It was then he commanded them to "get up and pray". This command of our Lord Jesus is one that we as churches and church leaders need to heed.   We need to get up and...

The power of an example cannot be understated.   All of us have been influenced in life by others.   If I were ask you to think about those people who have influenced your life, undoubtedly some names would crop up in your mind.   As a believer it might be the powerful life of some pastor, a youth worker, a friend, or some other Christian in the formative years of your life.   As a business person it could be some mentor or former employer.   As a student it might be a teacher or fellow student.   Personally I could give you a list of...

Today we live in a global village.   Because of the internet, mobile phones, (pre-COVID) international travel, and the speed of how fast news spreads around the world, the distances between nations is shrinking.  With the increasing ease of doing business internationally, Western countries are becoming multi-cultural.   At the turn of the 20th century, cross-cultural ministry meant going overseas.   Today cross-cultural ministry is as easy as crossing one's street.   The nations have moved into our neighbourhoods. The CRCA 's vision to be "a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ" takes its impetus from Jesus' words to his followers.   For example,...

Growth is an essential part of what it means to be human, to be created in the image of God.   The Bible records the blessing that God pronounced on humanity at creation.   God said, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth...." (Genesis 1:28)   As a parent and grandparent I can testify to this blessing in life -- seeing children grow up, mature, and increase in number as one's own children have children.    We love to see our children grow and increase in number.   The same is true in the CRCA with our churches.   We love to see our...

How healthy is your church?   Do you know?  What would you look at to determine church health?  Well let me tell you.  It is like going to your local GP.   Let's say that you want to know about your own physical health.  You see your doctor who most likely will do a battery of tests.   She checks your blood pressure.  Puts a stethoscope to your chest and listens to your heart.  To your back and listens to your lungs.   Your ears and eyes will be carefully inspected.   She will ask you a number of questions.   She might even ask you to...

It has been said that the road to anywhere is a road to nowhere.  This is another way of saying that one should be certain about the path they take in life.   Think about going on a holiday.  Now I know there are those who simply hop in their car and head down the road seeing where the road might lead.  The problem is that they are unsure of where they are heading.   At the end of the day they might have simply driven around in a circle.   A much better approach is to take the road that leads to somewhere. ...

We looking for leaders.   Future leaders.   And we are not alone.   For years people across the globe have been saying that the world is facing a leadership crisis.  Many are saying that we need more and better leaders to tackle the pressing issues of our times.  This is particularly true with all the economic and political uncertainty in the world coupled with the increasing erosion of moral certitude.   We are looking for leaders.   This is true also in the local church.    We are looking for leaders.  I like how John Maxwell defines leadership: “A leader is one who knows the...

Effective ministry begins when you as a church, or when you as a church leader, can give definition to the "how" of ministry.  You need to have some strategies.   It is one thing to understand who you are as a church and the God-given purposes that He has called to do live out in and through your church.   When you as a church know your mission, vision, and core-biblical-values you can answer the 'who' and 'what' questions, 'who' you are and 'what' God has called you to do.   But in order to live out your mission, vision, and core values you...

How do you train people and churches to become strategic and effective in evangelism?   As a denomination, evangelism is one of key core Biblical values.   Our mission is to be a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.   How do help one another achieve this outcome?   What is our strategy in the CRCA? In this current series of blogs I am unpacking the nine specific strategies of how we will accomplish what God has called us to be and to do.  Each of these strategies is critical to the accomplishment of our mission and vision.  Last week we looked at the...

How are you at making disciples?   What about your church?  Perhaps you have not given this much thought as of late,   But it is a very important question to consider.   That is, if you are a follower of Jesus.   If you are a Christian church.   For Jesus himself told us that this is what we as Christians and churches are to be all about.   Before he ascended into heaven Jesus commanded us to "go and make disciples of all nations...." (Matthew 28:19)   From this command, often called 'the great commission',  it is clear that disciples are not born;  disciples are made. ...

On our lounge table there sits a chess board.  But I seldom take out the chess pieces out of their drawers.   Why?  Because I have not yet mastered strategy in chess.   I am told that great chess players can glance at a position and quickly assess which side is winning.  Not only that, but they can also determine the best moves and ideas for each side.   Chess strategy is the purposeful attempt to gain an advantage over your opponent.   Chess is more than just having the right tactics to take shots at your opponent's chess pieces.   As the renowned Chinese general...

How would you describe your prayer life?   For many of us, we might find it hard to pray.   Perhaps you do not know how to pray.  You might have learned how to pray as a child, or recite the Lord's prayer, but with the passing of years you find praying not a delight, but a struggle.  Besides, the pace of our modern life leaves little time to pray.   And then there is the doubt.   You wonder whether or not prayer really makes a difference at all.   As churches we might state that our number one task is prayer, but as the NCD...

How important is prayer in your life?   In your marriage?  In your family?   What about in the life of your church?  If people were to meet you, or drop into your church on a Sunday, would they notice a prayerful urgency in your life and that of your church?  In our missional strategy to reach the lost for Christ we maintain that prayer is our first task.  So it is no wonder, then, as we consider the core Biblical values that shape the culture of the CRCA, that prayerful urgency rounds out our five core values.   By prayerful urgency we are saying that...

How does one keep going in life and in ministry?   Both personally and as congregations?   If only it was as easy as putting an Energizer battery into our ministry or church sockets!   Perhaps you have seen (or remember) those images of the Energizer bunny.  While others quickly run out of steam, the Energizer bunny just keeps going and going and going .... The tasks of church ministry are not easy!   Church life is not always a walk in the park.   It has been said, "in choosing ministry one chooses to command an outpost of unequalled danger which threatens from without and...

Who has your back?  Is there someone in your life who takes responsibility to make sure that you are living your life in obedience to Christ and to the glory of God?  What about your church?   Are you just doing your own thing, or are there others who watch over you and hold you accountable?  Personally?   As a church leader?  As a church? For some, being answerable to another for who you are and what you do is unheard of.   In the first pages of the Bible we read about Cain, who was asked by God:   "Where is your brother Abel?" ...