Gospel-centred counselling / How People Change

Two practical seminars to help you and help others in your ministry develop a biblical understanding of how the gospel can transform us from within and affect our communication and relationships with each other.

The first day will focus on gospel-centred counselling, and is aimed primarily at pastors, elders and church leaders although anyone is welcome. We will think about how whether such a model is possible in the local church, how it influences other areas of church life, and how a church can facilitate such counselling.

The second day will reflect extensively on the question of how people change, and is for everyone. This is especially if we feel stagnant, or tired of the same old problems. This seminar will refocus us back on the gospel, and how the gospel enables us to meet everyday relational challenges such as family conflicts, exasperation with children, past hurts, loneliness and singleness, anger, co-dependency and so on.

These will be led by Timothy Lane, president of the Christian Counselling and Education Foundation in the United States, and Janet Nygren, who also works for CCEF.

You can register here (for one or both days). We look forward to seeing you!

What we should do with our money

Give to relieve the suffering of others, especially of fellow Christians (1 Cor 16:1–4). This “collection” was a special offering in addition to regular giving.

Give to support the work of the gospel (1 Cor 16:5–11).

To unpack these statements more, and to find further resources, go here

Longing for the return of the king

We may laugh at Harold Camping, but do we long for the return of the King?

Not Lords, stewards

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (1 Corinthians 4:1)

The apostle Paul was neither afflicted with false modesty nor with any sort of apostolic pomposity. He understood his role and his office in the household of God. At times we find him needing to assert his apostolic office to the end that his readers would heed him as they would the Lord. On other occasions we find him passionately putting himself in place. He strove valiantly with the Corinthians to maintain their firm grasp of his apostolicity that they might obey his charge to regard him rightly as a man, a servant, and a steward, and most certainly not a king, a deity, or a little messiah.

As we read between the lines of Paul’s letters, attempting to become more intimately acquainted with our beloved older brother in the faith, we come away with the impression that he hated the celebrity that seemed so often to accompany his office, and one thing is abundantly clear from what we read here in chapter four, considering the Corinthians’ borderline deification of the apostles, Paul saw himself as nothing more, and nothing less, than a steward.

Read on

Solomon on social media

If Solomon were alive today and we were to ask him how we are to relate to one another in this digital world, if we were to ask him how we can honor God in our use of all these social media available to us today, here is how he might respond...

Making the most of Sunday mornings

...There is absolutely nothing like the local church. The church universal is God’s global display of his life transforming grace. The church local is one of the most profound experiences of that grace this side of eternity.

Hebrews 10 informs us of the value of the local church–it is the training ground for the age to come. In the local church, God’s people are to “stir one another up to love and good works . . . all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (vv24-25).

If the local church is the believer’s training ground in which to prepare for the Lord’s return, we ought to think very carefully about how we "do life" together in the church.

How might we do that? 4 suggestions:
1. Come to church
2. Sing, and sing loudly!
3. Talk to people
4. Let your fellowship extend beyong your corporate gatherings

For an expansion of these 4 points, you can read the whole thing here.

The power of example

Timothy and Epaphroditus. 2 names, 2 different kind of people. But both commended as examples by Paul to us, encouraging us to live for Christ, and to serve one another. (Phil. 2:19-30)

Peter Sholl, via the Mexican president Avila Camacho, reminds us that the Apostle Paul himself too is commended to us. In him, we see the value of personal example.

One more contemporary example are the Littles. Libby Little reflects on suffering for the sake of the kingdom, an article made more poignant by the fact that her husband, Tom was murdered shortly afterwards, along with 9 others, in Afghanistan.

May we, like them, keep on striving for Christ and his kingdom.

The Nowism of the Gospel

...Jason's problem was that he was lost in the middle of his own faith. It had become harder and harder for him to connect the beauty of what he believed to the gritty and often difficulty realities of his daily life. Jason's problem was that he carried a gospel around with him that had a great big hole in the middle of it.

Jason could explain to you what it meant to say that he had been "saved by grace," and he knew that he was going to spend eternity with his Savior. His problem was in the here and now. Day after day, in situation after situation and relationship after relationship, Jason didn't carry with him a vibrant and practical sense of the nowism of the grace of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jason believed in life after death, but he desperately needed to understand life before death; the kind of radical life you will live when you understand what Christ has given you for the life he has called you to right here, right now....

Read the whole thing.

Checklist for the day

See how many of these things you have already completed (or can still do later today)...

1.  Have you read your Bible and prayed?
2. Have you given God thanks for something?
3.  Have you encouraged someone?
4.  Have you considered your sin? (and have you repented of it?)
5.  Have you told the gospel to anyone?
6.  Have you given God praise for his character?
7.  Can you think of a way to serve someone you love?
8.  Can you write someone a (brief) note/email that might help them through a struggle?
9.  Can you protect your eyes and heart from lusting on your way home?
10.  Can you remind yourself of the gospel?  (it is never a bad time to recount this glorious truth!)

Please don't make this a list for the super-spiritual (if you did a lot of these things) or the spiritually poor (if you didn't do any of these things).  Why not simply pick one or two new ones and incorporate them into your day tomorrow?

Deepak Raju, 9Marks