A disciples growth in Christ doesn’t happen by accident. We don’t coast into Christlikeness. Our sanctification results from a partnership with the Holy Spirit that began on Day One of our walk with the Lord. Every Christian who reads that first paragraph probably agrees. But in practice, the vast majority of those who call themselves Christian do very little to live out their faith. We’ve all read Jesus’ words in Mark 8:34: If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up...
about 1 year ago • 7 min read
7 Essential Qualities of a Healthy Church (Part Three) Healthy churches don’t happen by accident. Members and leaders of healthy churches know that there is a level of intentionality in prayer, in the Word, in spiritual disciplines, and in “one anothering” that must be present. In this series of posts, we are taking a look at the Jerusalem church in Acts 6:1-7. There, we can see an intentionality on the part of the apostles and the whole company of the disciples to repair the rift that could...
over 1 year ago • 5 min read
As promised, here's my article on the next two essential qualities of a healthy church. You can read part one here. The final article will be published at nathancreitz.net on Thursday. 7 Essential Qualities of a Healthy Church (Part Two) Throughout the New Testament we find descriptions and prescriptions of a healthy church. Acts 6:1-7 describes at least seven qualities of a healthy church. In part one, we saw the first three qualities of the church in Jerusalem. They were growing, serving,...
over 1 year ago • 4 min read