General

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• As leaders we are never responsible for filling anyone’s else cup. our responsibility is to empty ours. do whatever is necessary to ensure that i hand off the lg to the next lgl in better shape than when i found it. always have a group that i’m currently pouring my life into

• Lord, this was not my idea. you got me into this. i’m trusting you to see me through it. obey God and leave all the consequences to him.

• Church was a gloriously messy movement with a laser focused message and a global mission. it wasn’t the teaching of jesus that sent his followers into the streets, it was his resurrection. are we moving or simply meeting, making measurable diff in our local communities or simply conducting svc, organised ard a mission or organised ard an antiquated ministry model inherited from a previous gen? how much baggage does a person have to leave at the door before being admitted, can someone participate in church if he or she is still working things out

• We are not mistakers in need of correction but sinners in need of a saviour.

• Leaders need objective means to measure effectiveness of our ministry environments. Attendance is a measure but it is only one measure, and can be deceiving. It is important that environment are not only full but full of the right people.

• we need the faith relative to our life station to endure through it.

• i dw a church full of ppl who know the bible. but a church with ppl of great faith who are confident that God is who he says he is and will do what he promised to do. whose life and responses to life will cause the community to look up and take notice. the kind of faith that sustained and fueled the church through the trials of its first 3 centuries and the kind of faith that should characterise our churches today.

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Practical teaching

• Matthew 7:24 (teach for a response, teach for life change not dispense info. teach how to apply scriptures. ‘here’s the diff it will make’

• Harness the winds of culture to take ur audience where they need to go

• Content to be helpful not just true. truth with next steps grows their faith.

• Jeff henderson - climate change.

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Private disciplines

• Personal accountability to God.

• Giving and fasting (act of righteousness), praying

• God may lead us to go back before we can go forward (eg. owning up to certain sins)

• Develop a chart that reflected my spiritual history beginning with salvation. highs and lows and things that contributed to that

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Personal ministry

• common for ppl to be thrust into ministry almost against their will. bring us to the end of our adequacy and force us to be consciously dependent on God

• Stretch and grow their faith by stepping into an environment that they feel unprepared for. ( bible is full of such examples. moses joshua gideon saul. matthew 14:16- 18. jesus sending them into impossible situations. disciples realising their inadequacy, told Jesus things he already knows and make up excuses. but jesus response doesn’t change and tells them to bring those inadequacy to Him)

• Don’t wait till they feel prepared. fear is a good thing it keeps people teachable flexible and dependent. (beginning empty handed and alone frightens the best of men. it also speaks volumes of just how sure they are that God is with them. )

• Firstly we are confronted with what we dk and become extremely teachable

• Secondly, we recognise if we’ve chosen a suitable area to serve

• Thirdly, category of people becomes faces and names and storie. capture their hearts and we will capture their hands and feet.

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Providential rs
- ppl god put in our paths. when we hear from god through someone or when we see god in someone. when we see god’s faithfulness in someone else life, it is easier to trust him with ours
- get ppl connected quickly and longer
- does my ministry make it easy for relational connections?

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Pivotal circumstances
- defining moments that can be good or pain and disappointments
- we dk how they will impact our faith until we are in the middle of them.
- it’s not the event itself that grow or erode faith. but our interpretation of the events. the conclusions we draw abt God in the midst of them
- our worldviews and who we are doing life with at that time determines how we interpret our circumstances
- worldview shapes by scripture. ppl who can put our circumstances back in proper context.
- when john was imprisoned his faith was shaken and he asked ppl to check with Jesus to interpret what’s going on. jesus responded by drawing Johns attention away from his immediate circumstances back to God’s broader activity in the world to help john rightly interpret what’s happening to his. jesus acknowledges that his activity or lack of activity has the potential to undermine our faith.

philippians 3:12-14
even paul at this stage recognised he is a follower in progress. spiritual maturity is not passive, it’s an athletic event more than a bible study. phil 3:15

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Environment

• Embracing an agreed upon standard of excellence is how you create culture of excellence. When your leaders understand and own the standard by which environments are evaluated, they become sensitized to the things that don’t meet your standards. (cringe factor for everyone is same)

• From irrelevant to relevant to irresistible. Irresistible to a point where even  people who don’t buy our theology would want to come back and participate.

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Engaging presentations
- the church isn’t empty because the preachers are lying or abandoned the bible.
- the Gospels show how engaging Jesus was. he told them stories and parables. the kingdom of heaven is like... matthew 13
- jesus wasn’t content with just saying what was true. being right wasn’t enough and being biblical wasn’t enough. he came to seek the lost and he communicated that to the end. if u want to seek and save the lost, u got to get their attention.
- to present scripture to a child in an engaging manner is teaching them that the bible is boring, scripture is irrelevant and the church is irrelevant.
- assign responsibilities, not tasks.

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Helpful content
- we know it’s truth, but is it helpful (think biblically, behave biblically, contextualize biblical teaching)
- spend time to craft simple statements that lodge the truth into people’s hearts and mind.
- biblically speaking, to hear and not to do is not to hear at all.
1. is the content helpful
2. does this content offer potentially new and helpful perspective
3. does this content provide application and next steps
4. is the content age and stage of life specific

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Rules of engagement
- tailor the experience to pre believers but the content to believers (msg is for life change)
- new ppl don’t share our worldview or theology, if we want to lead them seomwhere we leverage on common experience and emotions. tension is okay to spark interest (jesus parables could bridge across the diverse crowd he spoke to)
- if we just want to get the truth out, we don’t need engagement and involvement. but real life change requires trust and relationships.
- whether or not ppl receive the msg is dependent on their heart, the soil. but soil changes, if the come back next week is another round of sowing.

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Preaching
- goal is for skeptics to doubt their disbelief and believers to believe deeper. inspire ppl to read the bible for themselves
- follow into one passage to answer a qs, solve a mystery or resolve a tension. go slowly, highlight words, leverage the drama. use one statement to summaries.
- begin with audience in mind, where u begin will determine who will follow (emotionally engage ppl with the problem)
- there’s no unique ‘christian’ problems. there are common grounds everywhere
- focus message ard one text. let scripture speak for itself, jumping ard give the wrong impression that we are supposed to read the bible like that.
- there’s a diff between being expected to do something and inviting to try something (convincing ppl that i want something for them and not from them)
- ppl don’t have to believe that scripture is God breathed to be followers of christ. through acts 15, gentiles didn’t have to accept jewish scriptures, ppl were believing before the gospels were written.
- cite the author of that part of scripture rather than say ‘the bible said’
- continually drive to unbelievers who jesus was and close with ‘what are u goibg to do with the overwhelming evidence that he rose from the dead’. the way i reference scriptures is a constant apologetic for its reliability and trustworthy
- say what u suspect unbelievers are thinking. it gives u credibility because i’m a rational being like them.

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Blowing status quo
- as a leader ur responsibility is to make ppl discontent with where they are by painting a compelling picture of where they could be.
- a vision birthing from a burden from God what keeps u up at night, something u know is not a could be but a must be.