10 Reasons You Need to Grow Your Church in 2016

The grace people in the UK (indeed many people in the UK) are still too small minded, looking at maintaining house groups and sustaining groups of 20 people.  I am not against small groups – we all started small, and I still regularly preach to crowds of people under 10 as we are starting newContinue reading “10 Reasons You Need to Grow Your Church in 2016”

The Danger of Jealousy and Selfish Ambition in Ministry

It’s a bit of a long winded title this evening, but I can’t think of a pithy way of saying this: a lot of pastors are jealous of other pastors.  They struggle with jealous and envy towards other pastors they perceive to be more successful than themselves.  Then other pastors struggle because people that theyContinue reading “The Danger of Jealousy and Selfish Ambition in Ministry”

Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work (And What to Do About It!)

I am preparing for Sunday this morning, writing a church bulletin, reviewing my sermon, making sure people are in place to do what needs to be done.  And I thought this preview from this Sunday morning’s message might really help some people: You see, New Year’s Resolutions don’t work.  You know it and I know it.Continue reading “Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work (And What to Do About It!)”

Accusation 04:Dealing with It

Ok, so accusations are powerful.  They hurt, they cause trouble, they can de-rail your entire ministry.  So what do you as a leader and pastor do about them? Pray! Praying for someone to experience the blessings of Christ is the exact opposite to accusing.  Pray for who?  Those who persecute you! Pray for all theContinue reading “Accusation 04:Dealing with It”

Accusation 03: The Kinds of Accusations

What are the different ways in which the devil uses people to accuse you.  Some are blindingly obvious – like a direct allegation, others are a lot more subtle and you may not even realize that they are an accusation. Here are seven ways in which the devil manipulates people to accuse you: A DirectContinue reading “Accusation 03: The Kinds of Accusations”

Accusation 01: Why the devil accuses

The devil is called the accuser of the brethren.  That sums him up perfectly, always accusing.  And if he can’t do it directly, he will inspire other people to accuse you.  I have been accused with the best of them, but recently I have been asking this question: why does the devil accuse?  Why doContinue reading “Accusation 01: Why the devil accuses”

The Power-Destroying Danger of Familiarity

There is only one place where we find Jesus cannot do miracles, and that is his home town.  Why?  Because the people were over familiar with him – they saw him as the carpenter’s boy, not as the son of God. One of the things that will outright stop the flow of the power ofContinue reading “The Power-Destroying Danger of Familiarity”