November 29, 2013 By Phil Maynard As Christ poured himself out for us, so we who follow him must pour ourselves out for others -- by being liberated to live on less . . . in order to bless others more. How does the church cultivate extravagant generosity? I’m borrowing from Andy Stanley, pastor of [...]
November 22, 2013 By Phil Maynard We continue thinking about extravagant generosity by looking at our culture from the vantage point of what Jesus hoped would be our relationship to money and things. Our culture, infected as it is by the disease of “affluenza,” might be characterized in three ways. Materialism: it is all about [...]
November 12, 2013 By Phil Maynard I know of few pastors who look forward to talking about money . . . and few lay persons who enjoy listening! Oddly, Jesus talked more about our relationship to money and things than faith, prayer or forgiveness. In fact, he spoke more about it than anything but the [...]
November 5, 2013 By Phil Maynard “We are a small church with a traditional worship service, not a passionate worship service,” said a pastor apologetically. The pastor seemed to assume that a traditional worship service couldn’t possibly be a passionate worship service. And that a small membership congregation couldn’t worship passionately. I don’t think either [...]
October 31, 2013 By Phil Maynard Weary Clergy and Idle Laity: What's Wrong With This Picture? One of the impressions I get is that many pastors are weary. They have been at this ministry thing 60 hours or more a week for some years and they are just tired. And no matter how hard they [...]
September 29, 2013 By Phil Maynard Have you ever tried to teach a child to tie their shoes? It’s something most of us do so naturally and automatically that breaking down the process into teachable steps is a challenge. According to a number of pastors I’ve spoken to recently, teaching people to extend Christ’s radical hospitality [...]
September 23, 2013 By Phil Maynard There seems recently to be an epidemic of people feeling that there is not enough. Not enough money. Not enough time. Not enough talent. Not enough power. Not enough creativity. Not enough me. Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Yet, often we focus [...]
September 16, 2013 By Phil Maynard You would think that church people would be good at funerals, but we aren’t. It seems instead that when it comes to programs and special events it’s, “Once done, always done,” or, as a staff member once quipped, “The show must go on!” But why? Why must the first [...]
September 9, 2013 By Phil Maynard He is a friendly sort and a fine neighbor, but he loves yard care by chemicals. When we first moved in he had quite a nice yard – recently sodded, I believe. Then some weeds began popping up here and there. He would go out and spray the weeds [...]
August 20, 2013 A guest post by Jeff Stiggins A missionally vital congregation is a fruitful congregation. Jesus in John 15 makes it clear that fruitfulness is expected. Unfruitful branches are cut off. Fruitful branches are pruned so that they will bear more fruit. Obviously, fruitfulness is important to Jesus. So, what does it mean to be a fruitful congregation? [...]