KINGDOM UPGROWTH

Women make up more than half the church, but in many congregations, the leadership is often entirely–if not almost entirely–male. Men and women have different needs and perspectives. How do we make sure that we are cultivating female spiritual growth?

Dr. Anessa Westbrook has done original research for her major project and dissertation at Fuller Theological Seminary about young women. Specifically, what factors help young women to grow spiritually and to find opportunities to use their gifts in the church?

How do we help our children’s faith become their own? Luke Dockery is our guest today. He shares about his Youth In Family Ministry model as a deliberate way to help young people find their place in the larger body of believers.

A great conversation with Bob Turner, Library Director at the Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tennessee. We discuss trends in books, exciting recent publications, keys to finding the best commentaries, the ups and downs of memoirs, and much more.

For this Research Spotlight, I had a rich conversation with Dr. Jason Bybee about discipleship, based on the research he completed for his Doctor of Ministry project at Abilene Christian University.

For the full post, click here.

These days, talking about important subjects online is a lot like walking through a minefield. Matt Dabbs provides tools to help us with online conversations–and any conversations–where both the people and the issues matter. I always enjoy any time I can spend with Matt, as he absolutely embodies the healthy principles shared here in this video. This is great advice for anyone to consider before you hit “post”, which is just as valuable to practice at your office, your church, and at home.

In this Research Spotlight, I am excited to share a conversation I had with Kevin Burr. Kevin is a Ph.D. student at Asbury Theological Seminary, having previously completed his M.Div. at the Harding School of Theology and a Masters in Education at Harding University. He is also one of the ministers at the Nicholasville Church of Christ in Kentucky.

Kevin had recently conducted a retreat for worship leaders on how worship functions as spiritual formation. I wanted to hear some of the ideas Kevin had been cultivating, and am glad to share them with you.

Here is the blog post with additional resources.

As the conclusion to the Questioning Forward series about the assumptions of Appreciative Inquiry, Dr. Mark Adams describes his use of the Appreciative Inquiry method at the Old Hickory Church of Christ to help him discern a path forward to renewal at the congregation that would not come at the cost of division, but would promote unity and ownership.

Dr. Mark Adams shares information about his original research into best practices for Short-Term Missions when he completed his Doctor of Ministry degree at Lipscomb University. How can a congregation’s involvement in short-term missions help the congregation to become more missional at home?