Jack Deere on Availability to God

When I look at the life of Jesus, I never really see him 'finding time for God'. Rather, I see a Son whose time belongs completely to the Father. Jesus was never in a hurry. He never needed more time. This is because he looked on his time as his Father's time. Also, he was completely available for his Father's desires. He only did what he saw his Father doing (john 5:19). And he was always in the right place at the right time in order to fulfill the desires of his heavenly Father. I am continually amazed at the spontaneity and informality of the ministry of the Lord... Yes, it is comical to imagine Jesus struggling for a sermon. His life is the sermon, and he ministered out of the daily overflow of his communion with his heavenly Father. He was able to do this because he was completely available to God.

Jack Deere on Bible Deism

One of the most serious flaws of Bible deism is the confidence the Bible deist places in his abilities to interpret the Bible. He assumes that the greater his knowledge of the Bible, the more accurate his interpretations are... But the Author of the Bible is the best interpreter of the Bible... How does one persuade God to illumine the Bible? Does God give illumination to the ones who know Hebrew and Greek the most? What if the condition of one's heart is more important for understanding the Bible than the abilities of one's mind? (1 Cor 1:26-30; 1 Cor 2:7-10; John 5:37-40)

Umberto Eco on Lists

We like lists because we don?t want to die.

Tim Chester Reviews "The Vine and the Trellis"

A summary of the book:

?Vine work is about the ministry of the Word of God, by the power of the Spirit. It is the ministry that sees people converted, changed, and made mature in Christ. Trellis work is all the other things we do in our churches that hopefully support that vine work, but which actually aren?t vine work in themselves.? The authors of this book don?t dismiss ?trellis work? ? all the institutional and structural stuff of church. But they argue we need a refocus onto ?vine work? ? making disciples.

There?s a lot of good stuff in this book. I particularly love the key principles elaborated of chapters 2 and 12:

Ministry mind-shifts

1. From running programs to building people

2. From running events to training people

3. From using people to growing people

4. From filling gaps to training new workers

5. From solving problems to helping people make progress

6. From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership

7. From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships

8. From relying on training institutions to establishing local training

9. From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming for long-term expansion

10. From engaging in management to engaging in ministry

11. From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth

Summary Propositions

1. Our goal is to make disciples

2. Churches tend towards institutionalism as sparks fly upwards

3. The heart of disciple-making is prayerful teaching

4. The goal of all ministry ? not just one-to-one work ? is to nurture disciples

5. To be a disciple is to be a disciple-maker

6. Disciple-makers need to be trained and equipped in conviction, character and competence

7. There is only one class of disciples, regardless of different roles or responsibilities

8. The Great Commission, and its disciple-making imperative, needs to drive fresh thinking about our Sunday meetings and the place of training in congregational life

9. Training almost always starts small and grows by multiplying workers

10. We need to challenge and recruit the next generation of pastors, teachers and evangelists

Making a start

Step 1: Set the agenda on Sundays

Step 2: Work closely with your elders or parish council

Step 3: Start building a new team of co-workers

Step 4: Work out with you co-workers how disciple-making is going to grow in your context

Step 5: Run some training programs

Step 6: Keep an eye out for ?people worth watching?