My Favorite Books on the Church / Ministry

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american culture, church, church planting, discipleship, new testament, real life church, small groups

As a follow-up to yesterday’s list of my favorite books on Jesus, here are my favorites on the church and ministry. Once again, I very much welcome your thoughts and especially your own favorites. These are the ones that have shaped me and that keep me on my toes.

1.  Jesus and Community by Gerhard Lohfink. I talked about this book in the Jesus list, but I wanted to include it here as well, mainly because (as I mentioned) it confirmed my conviction that the church was not an afterthought to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. On the contrary, core to Jesus’ ministry was the gathering of a body of people to continue God’s mission in the world. This book provides an excellent exegetically based theology of the church as just this very thing. Given that the church is full of sinful people (including me!) and can therefore be pretty frustrating at times, it has proved invaluable for me to remember that you can’t have Jesus without it. Or as William Willimon puts it, “The church may be a whore but she’s also your mother.” (Joey says Lohfink’s Does God Need the Church? is rockin too, and it’ll probably supplant this one when I do read it.)

My Top 5 Small Groups Insights

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Life Groups, ministry, small groups

Last week I posted my fave 5 small group resources. Here is a follow-up of my top 5 insights about leading small groups or a “small group ministry.” Let me start by saying that there is no way to grow a faithful small groups ministry in a hurry. Choosing a model and sticking with it will produce more fruit than constantly changing. This must also be balanced with the general ministry principle of embracing change as a way of life. Here are my five. Feel free to add (!) or disagree.

1. Small groups are not great places for Bible study; in any small group the emphasis should be on application rather than gaining new information. I highly recommend the “flow questions” model of writing the small group discussion. It works.
2. Groups must engage in the following activities together: eat, pray, serve, play. Of course groups will also study, which is important, but the groups must be multi-dimensional. (Don’t underestimate eating together!)

My Fave 5 Small Groups Resources

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church, community, john ortberg, larry crabb, Life Groups, ministry, randy frazee, Resources, small groups

A while back Tyler sent out a survey email asking for our top five resources on small groups as well as our top five insights. It was fun to think through some of the things I’ve learned in working with Life Groups here at Real Life. I’ve worked with some wise people, which has made up for my own natural incompetence in this area! Below are the resources I offered.

1. “Flow questions” – Mariners Church in Orange County has put together a model for small groups discussions that I think is the best out there. I think you can get it emailed to you here.

2. Making Room for Life and The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee. These are indispensible, in my opinion. They make the case for actual community (not just group success), and for diverse geography-based groups as the path to get there. (Not as necessary or even helpful in some urban contexts.)

One-liners of the Week

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basketball, jesus, NBA, obedience, one-liners, small groups, Sports

“Besides the obvious scariness of being in a confined space with church people, the whole thing seemed like a blind date that everyone expected to be a marriage.”

“The man saved the NBA, and there’s a good chance you didn’t even know who he was.”

“Obedience separates those who build from those who splat.”

“She hopes one day to become a neurosurgeon but said that nothing would ever replace spelling.”

“This grumpy old man is sticking with face time!”

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