Should one ever go against principle? When it comes to baptizing people, I believe there are times when it is right to go against principle. Two of the principles I have mentioned in the last few blog posts are The person who leads someone to the Lord baptizes them Baptism is immediate Whenever baptism is… Read More
Tag: discipleship
You can! If you lead someone to Christ, you baptize them. In most legacy churches, only the trained professional baptizes new believers. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that only a trained professional or a leader can baptize. John 4:1-2 says this: Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more… Read More
I have led many workshops on the Great Commission, but one in particular stands out in my memory. As the group of twenty or so, many of whom had been believers for a long time, went through the passage (Matthew 28:18-20), the focus of the very interactive discussion kept returning to baptism. By the end,… Read More
After the last post I wrote on the Roman Road pattern of leading someone to Christ, Jared commented: "I wonder if we should be encouraging people to confess the "Romans Road", or focus more on following Jesus. Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but which ever we lead with will (purposefully on inadvertently) be… Read More
"Tell me how to become a Christian!" Would everyone in your simple/organic church know how to lead someone to Christ using the Scriptures? If we want to see a multiplication of new disciples and therefore new churches, it is essential that ordinary believers know how to make a disciple, how to lead someone to Christ.… Read More
I became a Christian at the age of 11 through reading a book from my school library (Treasures of the Snow by Patricia StJohn). I had no direct contact with any Christians that I remember. I understood an absolute minimum, but when I finished the book, I went down to a shady grove at the… Read More
In his book, Church Planting Movements, David Garrison tells the story of "John," who taught a group of thirty farmworkers how to tell their stories and encouraged them to tell their story to five people. After the first week, seventeen of the thirty had shared their story, but one farmer had shared with eleven people.… Read More
Our friends in India, who are seeing hundreds of thousands of new believers each year, have various training topics with which they equip people, the majority of whom are oral learners. Everyone is equipped, and those who are in any kind of leadership are trained not only in the concepts, but also in how to… Read More
We are currently part of a fairly new simple church with about 30% new believers. The other evening, one of them mentioned that a friend had approached him to find out more about his faith. As we discussed how he might handle the situation, it became apparent that only a few of those present had… Read More
My last few posts on non-religious Christianity (starting here) provoked a couple of people to question, "How do you get from shame-based Christianity to living the abundant life Jesus talked about?" Knowing I was going to blog about it, Tony (my husband) and I had a lengthy early morning conversation on the subject today. "How would… Read More