Worthless Servants

The Worthless Servants came together (but stayed 6-feet apart) to record a special episode in the new age of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Although scientists and doctors have spoken out on the subject (and we urge everyone to keep listening to them), we have heard few voices from the church that have talked about ministry and missions implications. What is a biblical response to a spreading disease? How can we as Christians avoid the extremes? What advice would we give Christian leaders, especially those in impoverished or cross-cultural contexts?

In this episode, we talk about an article - written by Dan Reiland - and the need for a routine check-up, even in ministry. What are the common mistakes that we all make even though they hinder the growth of the Church and her ministries? We invite you to read the article and respond to our conversation about the first seven points.

One year ago, the Church of the Nazarene redefined some terms of who is a missionary and how we do missions in our denomination. Although we couldn’t get to everything, in this episode we present much of what we understand and hopefully help you understand the changes as well. There’s a lot to talk about and we try to hit the major points, but we want to hear from you. What questions do you have? How can we help explain it better in a future episode?

In this episode, we take another look at what it means to be a relevant church. The basis of our conversation is an article by Dan Reiland in which he outlines a few things to avoid while trying to be relevant. We try to answer some hard questions such as: “Are we making a difference?” “How do we communicate effectively?” “What can we do to stay relevant and reach younger generations?”

This week we look at a very popular verse. In Acts 1:8 we read about Jesus’ words to his disciples just before he leaves them. We try to put ourselves in this situation. What is the context? How does this effect our ministry and our walk with Christ? Listen as we tell personal stories and try to debunk poor theology.

One of the first missionaries to serve with the Genesis initiative was Alejandra Garcia. She’s been planting churches, building up the Church, and learning English. Now’s she’s back to help raise up the next missionaries with the Church of the Nazarene serving with Genesis. Hear her story, what she’s been doing after her time in Genesis, and what could be next for her.

We have a special treat and special visitors on the program the week: Gary and Naomi Faucett. They are the “Genesis Parents” who help take care of the missionaries who are a part of the Genesis ministry. For the last five years, the Faucetts have taken care of, encouraged, and even thrown parties for dozens of missionaries during their training, while they have been on the field, and after they return. Listen as they tell us their story, how they got involved, and what they love most about their ministry.

As we come to the end of our series, the final two steps in the process of planting a congregation refer to organizing the church and looking to the harvest. Why is it important to formally organize a church? Where should our focus as a church be at this point? Don’t miss the epic conclusion to this 5-part series!

Steps 7 and 8 in our series on planting churches are leadership development and corporate worship. The Worthless Servants ask the question: how do we develop integrated leaders? Do we need a building to be the Church? Also, What is “Model 222”? Where does corporate worship fit into all of this, and why is it mentioned so late in the process?

Our conversation continues as we offer more suggestions of how to plant a church based on the article by Manuel Molina. This week we talk about discipleship and beginning to form a spiritual community. How do we know somebody is a disciple? How do we integrate new believers into Christian community?