This term, used by a friend, conveys a powerful message about tragic consequences for some ministries when they do not receive needed support. For a pastor or any other full-time servant of God, where should they go to request and receive adequate assistance? Who should they contact? When can such a need be merely a […]
When I was a student at the Canadian Theological Seminary in the early 1980’s, my missiology professor talked about CDC or Closed Door Countries and CAN or Creative Access Nations. Thirty years later, we [now] talk about globalization, rapid mobility, mass migration/diasporas, labor/economic re-alignments, and communication connectedness. Three decades ago we debated how to penetrate […]
Paul’s Perspective on Discipleship and the Kingdom Paul taught that the Kingdom of God was not in food or drink, as seen with outward signs like that of Solomon or David, when they celebrated their inaugurations with great feast and festivities. Rather, Paul said that the signs of God’s spiritual Kingdom are manifested by “…righteousness, […]
After taking care of the physical needs of Elijah by providing food and rest, the Lord led his servant in a long journey that led him to Horeb “the mountain of God”. For forty days and forty nights he was sustained by the “cake” prepared for him by the angel of God. This is a […]
In the previous article, we left the prophet Elijah during a significant time in his ministry, that of discouragement and depression. Yet he was on the verge of the most decisive moment of his life: an encounter with God. It is sometimes in our darkest hour that the Lord likes to meet our needs; when […]
Seek First the Kingdom Of God Matthew 6:33 (The Message) “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Matthew 6:33 (New American Standard Bible) “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” […]
Authors Kretzmann and McKnight of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute have created a great resource guide for community builders with the book entitled, Building Communities from the Inside Out (1993). The subtitle, “a path toward finding and mobilizing a community’s assets,” already gives away a number of characteristics about this resource. First of all, the […]
Elijah’s burnout: Lessons to learn for ourselves Let’s look at the life of one of the most beloved and frequently cited figures from the Old Testament: The prophet Elijah. If we follow the events that occurred in his life, 1 Kings, 18:4 to 19:18, we could summarize the highlights as follows: First, he faced the […]
Ponderings on Discipleship Mat 4:19 And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. The Message Bible puts it this way: Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of […]
Seasonal Migrants: Temporary Contract Workers Sadiri Joy Tira (D.Min., D.Miss.) Today I went to a quiet park (in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) to observe and take pictures of migratory birds. This park is a nesting and breeding ground for birds coming from south of the Canadian border, as far away as Central America. They fly thousands […]