What Do Words Do?
This article explores how words function as active forces that accomplish purposes beyond merely conveying information, drawing on speech-act theory and Scripture's description of God's word as inherently powerful and generative. We are challenged to reconsider their approach to biblical interpretation and preaching, recognizing that when we speak God's word, we participate in its transformative work rather than simply transferring content.
On Wolves and Sheep
This article explores how church leaders must distinguish between genuine believers (the sheep) and false teachers and prophets who infiltrate communities disguised as trustworthy members. We are challenged to examine our vigilance as leaders, understanding that protecting your flock requires discernment not just of obvious threats, but of those who hide destructive intentions beneath an appearance of belonging.
Jesus on Toxic Leadership
Jesus addressed toxic leadership in his own day, and Matthew 23 reveals patterns that remain strikingly relevant to contemporary church culture - hypocrisy, harshness toward followers, performative spirituality, and the pursuit of celebrity status. This exploration challenges us to examine whether their our leadership reflects Jesus' model of an easy yoke and light burden, or whether they've subtly adopted the very practices he condemned in the religious leaders around him.
Finding Your Voice Among Your Elders
This article explores how a young leader can develop an authentic voice within an established leadership structure, particularly when joining an elder team for the first time. You'll discover practical wisdom about balancing confidence in your calling with genuine respect for those with more experience, and be challenged to consider how your character and humility shape your influence among peers.
Finding Your Voice With the Core Team
To date as a result of this model of leadership development we’ve recognised three people and successfully invited them onto the team. Now we currently have five influencers we get together with as a group. This process has also lent itself to helping us diversify our level of input, with the voice of men and women, different cultures, and various ages being listened to. Giving us that broader understanding has helped filter that inclusion into our congregation.
Finding Your Voice For Your Congregation
To date as a result of this model of leadership development we’ve recognised three people and successfully invited them onto the team. Now we currently have five influencers we get together with as a group. This process has also lent itself to helping us diversify our level of input, with the voice of men and women, different cultures, and various ages being listened to. Giving us that broader understanding has helped filter that inclusion into our congregation.
Knowing My Limits
To date as a result of this model of leadership development we’ve recognised three people and successfully invited them onto the team. Now we currently have five influencers we get together with as a group. This process has also lent itself to helping us diversify our level of input, with the voice of men and women, different cultures, and various ages being listened to. Giving us that broader understanding has helped filter that inclusion into our congregation.
Establishing a Core Team – Part 3
To date as a result of this model of leadership development we’ve recognised three people and successfully invited them onto the team. Now we currently have five influencers we get together with as a group. This process has also lent itself to helping us diversify our level of input, with the voice of men and women, different cultures, and various ages being listened to. Giving us that broader understanding has helped filter that inclusion into our congregation.
How to Handle Theological Diversity In a Local Church
In today's fragmented information landscape, church members arrive with theological convictions shaped by countless sources beyond the pulpit - making doctrinal consensus nearly impossible and demanding something more than confrontational correction. This article explores how leaders can shepherd their congregations toward theological understanding through the principles Paul modelled with Timothy: prioritising patience and grace while addressing genuine doctrinal threats, recognising that faith formation is gradual, and remembering that the ultimate aim of correction is love, not uniformity.
Establishing a Core Team – Part 2
I found it important to not be controlling. Instead I wanted to cultivate a releasing attitude. We own no one. Loyalty is desirable, but control is destructive. I had to learn that the Lord’s call on people’s lives is not at my mercy. I don’t decide who stays or goes. Rather, I want to be a facilitator of God’s leading in people, and support them as they pursue that.
Establishing a Core Team
When establishing a core team…personal, clear and sensitive communication was vital.
Learning Lessons as a Congregation Leader
A lot has happened since I last wrote for Broadcast. In fact, my previous blog series, Learning Lessons as a Developing Leader, was almost two years ago. Since then the church I serve has gone through a lot of changes, and so have I. The biggest change being my transition to a congregation leader. So this next series is a brief reflection on that, which I hope will be encouraging.
The Lights Are Getting Switched On
This is part of a series on the Lord's prayer, culture and spiritual warfare in which we look at the subversive prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples and how that prayer engages in the war of ideas with the philosophies that pervade our age.
Part 5 - Consumerism and 'Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread'
Learning Lessons as a Developing Leader – Aspire Well
I have aspired to be a leader within God’s church since I was sixteen years old. Aspiration needs to be managed well. It can be something that is misinterpreted as cockiness or misunderstood as arrogance. In this post I share are a few tips I would like to share to help those of us who aspire to wider leadership do so well.
18 Dec 2020 · 12 min read Learning Lessons as a Developing Leader – Family First
Over the course of this short series I would like to share several lessons I have learnt, and even some I am presently learning, that I hope will encourage anyone who feels they have further development and aspires to serve Jesus’ Church in greater measures through leadership. Next in this series is recognising the importance of putting family first.
Learning Lessons as a Developing Leader
Over the course of this short series I would like to share several lessons I have learnt, and even some I am presently learning, that I hope will encourage anyone who feels they have further development and aspires to serve Jesus’ Church in greater measures through leadership. In this post, I look at some of the tools of becoming teachable.
Preaching In a Plant: Seven Areas to Focus On
Preaching is a critical area of church life, and one that it is important to be constantly growing in. We have identified seven areas of the preaching craft that we look to develop in our up and coming preachers.
13 Feb 2019 · 13 min read Principled, Contextual Leadership
One of the things that you learn before long in church leadership is that often decisions are made that affect people, and yet those people themselves had no say in the decision. Sometimes you will be the one tasked with representing that decision to them. Sometimes you will be the one who the decision affects. Walking these situations well requires deep convictions, pastoral skill and lots of humility.
Three Ways Our Identity In Christ Changes Us
It is through your identity that the world relates to you, and you to the world. The former through outward characteristics that set you apart from the multitude, the latter is entirely inward and relates to your experiences, choices and desires. This second aspect of identity is what this post is discussing. Who you are, your sense of self and value that impacts your daily choices and life trajectory.
Identity In God, Life In the World
Ever since humanity rebelled against God and sin entered creation, there have been two different kingdoms at work in the world. The weeds and the wheat have been growing together, and will continue to do so right until the end of the age, and so those who find their identity in God have been faced with the challenge of living out that identity in a world that has fundamentally different values.
23 Feb 2017 · 11 min read How to Influence Culture
This article explores what it means for Christians to live as "elect exiles" - citizens of heaven living faithfully within earthly cultures that are not truly home. It challenges us to consider how they we authentically influence their communities without being assimilated into worldly values, drawing insight from the Old Testament account of Jewish exiles in Babylon who faced the same tension between maintaining their identity and engaging their context.
7 Leadership Lessons From Jethro
In Exodus 18, we read an account of a conversation that Moses had with his father-in-law, Jethro, where Jethro gives Moses some important advice. This exchange holds some important leadership lessons for us all.
11 Jan 2017 · 13 min read How Did Jesus Develop His Leaders?
The approach that Jesus took to developing these leaders was very intentional, and it was rather different to the approach that many of us employ in our churches. Jesus did not enrol his followers in a Bible college, nor did he follow a guided reading plan with them. There is no record of weekly 'Bible study and accountability' meetings. Rather, Jesus drew these men into the things that he was doing. Most of the three years of Jesus' ministry were spent together. They saw first hand the things that he was doing. They had lots of unhurried behind-the-scenes time to ask their questions and understand what was really driving Jesus. They were given opportunities to go out themselves and do the same things that they had seen Jesus doing, and then were able to gather back and reflect on their experiences.
10 Reasons Church Planters Burn Out (& How to Avoid It)
Most of us who have been around the church scene for long enough have encountered more than a few former church planters who have hit the ministry scrap heap because of burnout. Sometimes this burnout takes the form of a spectacular explosion and other times it is the culmination of a gradual process, but either way it is destructive to the planter, to their family and to the whole church, and we should avoid it like the plague.
Here are 10 of the most common factors that lead to burnout:
Leadership Style of a Church Planter
The other day, someone asked me what my leadership style was. I drew a complete blank.
I do have a style. I am sure I do. I just cannot tell you what it is.
6 Ways Jesus Developed Leaders
For an organisation or church to have a noticeable impact and leave a lasting legacy, developing new leaders is crucial. It is not an option to rely on recruiting ready-made leaders. For some, leadership development can seem an intimidating task. The best place to begin is by looking at how Jesus developed leaders around him.
The Secret to Developing Leaders
In each of us is dirt and in each of us is gold. The first word God spoke over mankind is 'it is very good'. We have fallen and tarnished that goodness with sin. We are in God's image. The image is broken. There is gold. There is dirt. The bottom line is that whichever of these things we look for, we will find.
Why Do Some Churches Have All the Leaders?
Have you ever noticed that leaders are not evenly distributed across businesses and churches? Have you wondered why some organisations are full of leaders whilst others are struggling to find them? Have you ever heard a pastor or business executive say that what their church or business needs to succeed is for some established leaders to join them?
Embarrassed by Vision
Vision is a fascinating issue in church planting.
I have met people who think vision is ridiculous because the mission we have is laid out fairly clearly in the Bible. It's a hard argument to disagree with. Jesus was fairly clear with what he wanted his people to do (disciples, nations, etc.). It's a compelling call to action that, 2000 years later, is still astounding in its simplicity and magnificently difficult in application.