Goal for Weekly Once-Over

Weekly Once-Over is our weekly recap of some great blog posts that we've seen this past week that have been helpful. Our hope is that they would benefit you in someway. Each Thursday of every week you will see a post that has links to different blog posts. Enjoy!

Weekly Once-Over (08.08.13)

When to Multiply a Gospel Community: Last week we posted an article explaining why we should multiply Gospel Communities; now this week is the second blog post to that from Todd Engstrom. This blog will give GC's and GC Leaders a good understanding of when the right time is to multiply their groups and when not to multiply.

Redemption for the Scars: Here is a great blog post from Kendra Dahl, where she talks about the scars that have built up from her past and how the truth of the gospel is greater than those scars. Kendra shows us a great deal of how the gospel changes and transforms everything.

Are You a Part-Time Churchgoer? You May Be Surprised: Here is a blog post by Trevin Wax about how to desearn if you are a part-time churchgoer. You may be surprised at how Recent statistics show that an increasing number of evangelicals who are firm in their faith are flabby in their practice of actually gathering with their brothers and sisters in worship. It’s the part-time syndrome, and it can sneak up on any of us. Make sure you read to the end of the blog where Travin points us to the gospel even in the midst of these statistics.

Apologetic Sound Bites: 'How Can You Claim There's Only One True Religion?': "How can you claim there’s only one true religion?’ You may be asked this question as you’re at the photocopier at work or at the bar buying a round. Here’s the second part in the apologetics series that will give you some ideas of how to respond when you only have five minutes."

Living In Christ: “Be what we are, be what we are becoming, and be what we will be on the final day of Christ Jesus.” As a Christian our spiritual formation is grounded “in Christ.” This “in Christ” motif, especially in the Pauline letters, sets the spiritual trajectory for proper Christian growth. Yet, it might be the most overlooked aspect of our spiritual growth."

photo credit: d.a.n.n.y.c via photopin cc

Weekly Once-Over is our weekly recap of some great blog posts that we've seen this past week that have been helpful. Our hope is that they would benefit you in someway. Each Thursday of every week you will see a post that has links to different blog posts. 

Why Multiply a Gospel Community
If you have ever led a small community, regardless of what kind, then chances are good you have struggled with the reality of growing. Some communities close their doors and stick with the same people for years on end. Some groups burst at the seams.  Few groups tend to succeed when it comes time to multiply though. Here is some great insights on why the multiplication of our Gospel Communities is so important and needed.

 Outline of John Owen's Mortification of Sin 
This great blog post done by Bob Thune is his attempt to outline John Owen's book "Mortification of Sin." This is a great resource to read and know in regards to fighting sin that dwells deep within us.

 Is Your Child a Christian? 
As parents, we all wrestle with how to answer this question, and I've found there are usually two extremes that need to be avoided. This is a great blog post by Brian Croft on how to navigate this question as a parent.

 Raising Entrepreneurs 
Parents here is another blog about how to foster the entrepreneur spirit that is within your child.

 6 Ways Small Churches Can Love Their Communities 
Here is six tips given by Daniel Darling on how a small church can do outreach within their communities.

In Praise of the Low-Minded Christian 
Jared Wilson does a great job showing the pride of Christians when it comes to looking down on other Christians for what they do. Great blog post to bring conviction and heart change.

"In public and private, in sanctuary and home, may my life be steeped in prayer, filled with the spirit of grace and supplication" - Valley of Vision

Goal for Weekly Once-Over Weekly Once-Over is our weekly recap of some great blog posts that we've seen this past week that have been helpful. Our hope is that they would benefit you in someway. Each Thursday of every week you will see a post that has links to different blog posts. Enjoy!

Weekly Once-Over (7.25.13)

10 Basic Facts About the NT that Every Christian Should Memorize - Mike Kruger, author of Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012) and the forthcoming The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate (IVP, 2013), has a helpful series on the New Testament canon, linked below, “designed to help Christians understand ten basic facts about its origins.  This series is designed for a lay-level audience and hopefully could prove helpful in a conversation one might have with a skeptical friend.”

Should I Make My Child Apologize? - "Parents frequently ask me if it is wrong to require their children to apologize when they are disrespectful or disobedient. Usually, they're concerned that they might be training their child to lie. Wouldn't it be better to wait for the child to apologize on his own when he feels genuine remorse, rather than to just repeat an apology he has been taught?"

Giving Your Child a Cellphone - Here are three tips to consider as you navigate through the process for deciding to give your child a cellphone.

Community In Gospel-Centered Discipleship - "What does community look like? What prevents us from experiencing it? What role does community play in discipleship? What keeps us from authentic community? We went through our archives and found these four articles that use scripture and the lense of the gospel to answer these questions."

Disciple-Making is Ordinary Christianity - "What is your job as a Christian? If God gave you a job description for the Christian life, what would he put on it? At the core of the Christian’s job is the task of discipleship." Eric Raymond gives helpful scenarios and examples of different opportunities to make disciples.

Goal for Weekly Once-Over Weekly Once-Over is our weekly recap of some great blog posts that we've seen this past week that have been helpful. Our hope is that they would benefit you in someway. Each Thursday of every week you will see a post that has links to different blog posts. Enjoy!

Weekly Once-Over (7.03.13)

Jesus Cancelled Your Mommy Guild Trip - I've noticed a common thread that threatens to unravel us all. Moms live with a sense of guilt that we'll never be or do enough. Here is a great post for them guilt creeps up on mom's and how to see God's grace in the midst of it all.

Fourth of July Reflection on a Changing America - For Christians, the issue of patriotism is always complicated by our citizenship in two realms, one earthly and one heavenly.  This blog posts give many great suggestions on how Christians are to live in this work but remember they are not of this world.

Family Ministry: How a Biblical Worldview Shapes the Way We Teach Our Children- "To have a biblical worldview is to interpret every aspect of our lives—including our relationships with children—within the framework of God’s story. At the center of God’s story stands this singular act: In Jesus Christ, God personally intersected human history and redeemed humanity at a particular time in a particular place. Yet this central act of redemption does not stand alone. It is bordered by God’s good creation and humanity’s fall into sin on the one hand and by the consummation of God’s kingdom on the other. This story of creation, fall and law, redemption, and consummation is the story that Christians have repeated to one another and to the world ever since Jesus ascended into the sky and sent his Spirit to dwell in his first followers’ lives. This age-old plot-line should frame every aspect of our lives—including how we treat and train children."

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Blog post by Kati Berreth How can I be a missional mom?

So moms how are you doing? Almost 2 full weeks of kids being home from school or taking a break from formal schooling with little to no routine. It is freeing and also can be exhausting as most kids are used to a schedule and the change and inconsistencies in their day can throw them off. And if you are anything like me, you are spending a lot of time and energy trying to do activities to make the summer super fun. And this is as it should be when we do this out of love for our children since we are called to love them in Titus 2.4.

And yet ladies, I believe that there is and can be more to our summers than simply taking our kids to the dollar movies, driving them to this camp or that VBS, or even sitting by the pool while our kids have swim lessons texting our friends. We get the opportunity to instead do all of the above things but with Gospel intentionality.

Deuteronomy 6.4-7 says:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

And Mark 12:38 adds:

“The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Turning our everyday life experiences into missional moments

What if the day you plan to take your kids to the dollar movies you invite one of your or your child’s non-Christian friends to come along and simply do life with you? Simply inviting others into the normal rhythms of your life is one of the best ways to introduce them to Jesus. They get to see real life Christians, which makes caricatures so much harder to embrace. They get to see you love and forgive and fight and mess up and all the while point to Jesus who never messed up.

And in order to help your kids see this as a missional opportunity, plan on spending time in prayer for those friends before you go for boldness and openness in conversations to discuss how amazing Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is and how it is impacting your life. Not only does this show your kids how to “love your neighbor as yourself” but it is also “teaching them diligently” to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

You can also do this by inviting friends to VBS with your kids or to the Firs or other camps and especially as you sit by the pool or the soccer field or the basketball court at camps. Sports are an amazing way to get to know other parents and families. There are not many other opportunities in life that give you a minimum of a solid hour to engage with strangers. And although it is tempting to take these “break times” where your child is engaged and use them to run errands or read a good book, these times can also be well spent engaging the lost. Now, don't get me wrong, take breaks times too. That's good and right and Godly. But also, see these as missional opportunities as that's good and right and Godly too.

Over the years at swim lessons and soccer and basketball practice, Rob and I have met some great friends as well as had the opportunity to share the gospel – all because we were given hours each week to spend time with the same people getting to know them and share our lives with each other. It has been a great chance to be intentional with our time as well as a chance to disciple our kids by teaching them to be missionaries, which is an essential part of who we are as ambassadors for Jesus. They need to see mom and dad experiencing life with people that don't know Jesus so they know how to do life with people that don't know Jesus.

How the Gospel applies to our attempts, efforts, and ineptness at being missional.

And yet ladies, as I write these things, my fear is that you, like me, will say, “Sure, Kati, I can do this.” And it will become just one more thing to add onto an already busy day or be a burden to you as you think about the fact that during swim lessons is the only chance you get to sit in peace for an hour during the day.

Please take these suggestions and pray over them. Pray for the Holy Spirit to move you to have a heart for the lost and have words to share when you get the opportunity to. Pray and ask for wisdom for where you do need a break and trust that Jesus' work for you is enough. Pray and ask for confidence that you are accepted because Jesus is the perfect missionary, not you. Pray every morning for your love of the Lord to grow so that you might love Him with all your heart, soul, and might desiring to teach this love to your children and share it with your neighbors. And pray for God to control your days – your summer and that you might use it to be missionally intentional because Jesus is amazing and we want the world to know Him.

grace and peace,

Kati

photo credit: Rifat Attamimi via photopin cc

Goal for Weekly Once-Over Weekly Once-Over is our weekly recap of some great blog posts that we've seen this past week that have been helpful. Our hope is that they would benefit you in someway. Each Thursday of every week you will see a post that has links to different blog posts. Enjoy!

Weekly Once-Over (6.27.13)

The Gospel Coalition asked three moms of school-age children to share their families' perspectives on education. Jen Wilkin, Jenni Hamm, and Amanda Allen are three friends who attend the same church and raise families in the same geographic area. All three share mutual respect for each other as parents trying to raise children with intentionality, in the fear and admonition of the Lord. In this series, you will see their perspectives on how and why they chose to educate their children through public school, private school, or homeschooling.

• Going Public
• Homeward Bound
• A Private Enterprise

When Sin Is Grievous and Grace is Stunning - Tim Keller writes, "If we are going to grow in grace, we must stay aware of being both sinners and also loved children in Christ. We need a high and due sense of our sin before God and a deep and profound sense of our union with and acceptance in Christ. In the end, it's the joy and wonder of the gospel that will change you permanently."

The Most Compelling Reason to Read Your Bible - Often when we're asked about why we should read the Bible, we appeal to personal fulfillment, the exciting stories, the grand drama of redemption within its pages... Certainly all this is good and right and true. But there's a better reason, a more compelling reason for the Christian to read the Bible than any other.

6 Lessons from Everyday Discipleship - "Here are six lessons I’m learning as I lead my family to live in community with other people while making disciples of believers and unbelievers in the every day of life." - Josh McPherson

The Beauty of Church Membership - "Once each quarter I teach a new members class for people interested in joining our church. It's become one of my favorite responsibilities as a pastor. I'm a believer in church membership, no question. But I'll be honest: every time I teach the class I cringe a bit along with my audience at some of the things we discuss." - Matt McCullough

photo credit: Jon Winters via photopin cc