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DOUG CLAY
DEPARTMENTS
Your End of the Earth
Good-news witnesses
CHRISTINA QUICK
Leading From the Second Chair
STEPHEN
Through the Fire
How losing a building ignited spiritual growth
GREG TEMKE
Co-pastoring an Urban Church
David and Randall Araujo have a heart for L.A.
J OHN W. KENNEDY
Pastoral Resilience
Persevering through difficult times
JOHN W. UTLEY
Beauty From Brokenness
Mental health issues affect ministry families, too
KATHY CANNON
Investing in Your Team’s Growth
Six areas ministry leaders should not overlook
STEPHANIE NANCE
Thieves in the Church Best practices for preventing fraud and embezzlement
ROLLIE DIMOS
‘Preparing to Do a Mighty Work’
Alice Wood and the foundations of Pentecostalism in Argentina
RUTHIE EDGERLY OBERG
• Developing Egalitarian Women Leaders • AG Origins, Revised
GEORGE P. WOOD
Revive Us Again!
MINIS TRY
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
George A. Rafidi and Michael Calise agree Jesus is the answer
JOHN W. KENNEDY
When Preaching Offends
Stewarding hard truths for the sake of the gospel
CHASE REPLOGLE
Hitting the Right Notes
Choose songs that resonate with your congregation
ALEX DE JESÚS GOMEZ
No Place Like Home
How to help families disciple children
BRIAN DEMBOWCZYK
Disciples Who Make Disciples
Equipping teens to reach their friends for Christ
JESSICA RINER
When a Congregant Comes Out
Engaging LGBTQ issues with Christlike compassion
LINDA SEILER
How are you called to serve Christ in this season?
Your End of the Earth
By CHRISTINA QUICK
Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Greek word translated “witnesses” has several meanings in Scripture. Among other things, it can refer to presenters of legal testimony, eyewitnesses of events, or bearers of God’s truth.
Jesus’ disciples were eyewitnesses to the greatest story ever told. As such, their testimony was reliable in every sense.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it” (Acts 2:32).
An eyewitness who had been part of Jesus’ inner circle, Peter was empowered to serve as a gospel witness — just as the Lord had promised.
Later, Peter told the Sanhedrin, “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32).
Peter’s testimony was in agreement with the Spirit’s testimony, which was in perfect harmony with the testimony of Jesus and the Father (John 8:18; 15:26; 1 John 5:9). All aligned with the Old Testament witness.
Paul told King Agrippa, “I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen — that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of
light to his own people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22–23).
The apostles recognized they were part of a redemptive story the Lord had been writing from the beginning. They joined the testimony of God and His Word in proclaiming the good news everywhere they went.
Testifying was not just for the first-century Church, however. It is for all believers, of all times.
The power Jesus promised for witnessing was “for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).
God’s story of redemption is still unfolding. As you preach the gospel and make disciples who testify of Christ’s goodness in their spheres of influence, you participate in this ongoing narrative.
Wherever your community and mission field — your end of the earth — may be, you are a witness of what Jesus has done and is doing.
May the Spirit empower you, the Word equip you, and the good news encourage you in your ministry calling.
CHRISTINA QUICK is lead editor of Influence magazine.
Co-pastoring an Urban Church
David and Randall Araujo have a heart for L.A.
By JOHN W. KENNEDY
When David Araujo and his wife, Ran-
dall Victory Araujo, embarked on their first lead co-pastorate three years ago at The Heart LA Church, they had to work out the details of what that ministry would look like.
“We had been on staffs together before, but we had never been in charge together,” Randall says. “We’ve always been on the same page with our goals, but we didn’t know how to achieve them.”
They started by assessing their ministry strengths and weaknesses. David says that meant setting aside his ego.
“It makes sense for Randall to preach more because she’s good at it,” he says. “I’m confident in my wife’s giftings and abilities.”
Randall has taken the reins in determining the preaching schedule, managing meetings, and
casting vision. David oversees volunteer team leaders, finances, marketing, and design. Randall is a full-time pastor, while David works outside the church as a graphic designer.
The Araujos have been married for 12 years and have three children: Ryan, 10; Rose, 8; and Raegan, 5. David and Randall met during a summer mission trip to a Mexican orphanage across the border from San Diego. The trip’s sponsor was The Champion Center of Las Vegas Church (formerly Mountain View Assembly of God), where Randall’s parents, Tom and Robin Van Kempen, were serving as pastors.
Then a student at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, Randall was home for the summer. David attended the church and had accepted Christ there.
David (left) and Randall Araujo (right) celebrate baptisms at The Heart L.A. Church.
Randall is a fourth-generation Assemblies of God pastor. Her grandparents, Robert and Helen Goree, led Mountain View AG before the Van Kempens did.
When Randall’s parents left the Las Vegas church to pastor elsewhere, the Araujos stepped in as interim pastors for a year before moving to Modesto, California.
David and Randall served on staff at One Church Modesto (AG), initially as children’s pastors. Randall eventually became the church’s executive pastor, while David handled marketing.
After three years in Modesto, the couple sensed God leading them to a more urban ministry setting. They visited San Francisco, Las Vegas, and San Diego before determining Los Angeles was the right place.
“Randall prayed for the Lord to send us to a difficult city, a place where people are not in the habit of going to church,” David says. “My wife has always been an achiever, with a grittiness to stay the course.”
The couple went through Church Multiplication Network training, and The Heart LA received CMN
matching funds. A half dozen adherents of One Church Modesto moved to Los Angeles and became part of the new church plant.
Finding an affordable site proved difficult. Amid COVID-19 restrictions, the Araujos were unable to rent a school or movie theater for services, often the first choice of metro church planters.
The Araujos eventually connected with the owner of a nightclub that had closed because of the pandemic. Remarkably, the owner agreed to lease them a spacious ballroom for one-fifth of the original asking price.
The Heart LA is in the city’s mid-Wilshire district, west of Koreatown, east of Beverly Hills, and south of Hollywood. There are a number of Jewish synagogues in the area, but few churches. Where churches do exist, it’s not uncommon to see a gay pride flag flying out front.
Despite launching during a time when restaurants were shuttered and schools met online, The Heart LA has managed to grow in part because of its high visibility on busy Wilshire Boulevard.
Some people started attending the church after walking in out of curiosity. Word of mouth along
Randall prayed for the Lord to send us to a difficult city, a place where people are not in the habit of going to church. — David Araujo
with an online presence also played a role in growing the congregation to about 100 regulars.
To help pay the bills, the church subleases space during the week for private events.
Situated in one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the U.S., The Heart LA draws attendees from 20 nations. David, who grew up on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, says he fits in well. His Black-Portuguese father, while an American soldier, married his Vietnamese mother in her native land.
We want to make disciples beyond Sunday morning, so that they minister in their spheres of influence. Our desire is to see the heart of God in every part of society.” — Randall Araujo
The Heart LA is demographically unique in other ways as well. Most congregants are in their 20s or 30s — and single. In addition to college students, the church attracts schoolteachers, musicians, actors, and artists, many of whom live in nearby apartment complexes. The Araujos hope churchgoers will take Jesus with them to their workplaces and residences.
“We want to make disciples beyond Sunday morning, so that they minister in their spheres of influence,” Randall says. “Our desire is to see the heart of God in every part of society.”
Considering their context, the Araujos say it doesn’t make sense to follow traditional ministry models, such as targeting married couples with children.
“Today’s church planters must think differently and make adjustments in terms of reaching people,” David says.
Randall adds, “The Lord has shown us we need to love those He sends to us.”
Marcia Bethke, who planted One Church Modesto in 2011 with her husband, Kyle, says the central California congregation gladly invested in The Heart LA.
“We believe in David and Randall, and we believe in church planting,” Bethke says. “So sending people to help launch a new church was a joy.”
Bethke believes the Araujos will thrive because of their tenacity, creativity, resourcefulness, and giftedness.
“They are hard workers with incredible grit, and they have a vision and passion for the city,” Bethke says. “They aren’t stuck to traditions or systems, but they utilize them to benefit people and the church. They can do it all: preach, lead worship, marketing, discipleship, evangelism, team building, and leadership development.”
According to Frank Wooden, plant director for the Assemblies of God SoCal Network, a key is that the Araujos minister well together.
“They view themselves as co-planters, not as one of them being the planter,” Wooden says. “They are faith-filled, unafraid of bringing a family into a big city. They both preach, so it is not the same person preparing a message every week. This creates time to utilize their other skills.”
Wooden says the couple’s ministry approach is a good fit for the city.
“For years, L.A. was a black hole when it came to church planting,” Wooden says. “The Araujos are the first of several church planters who have come into the city with a mindset to love it, know the people, and persevere.”
JOHN W. KENNEDY is a freelance journalist in Springfield, Missouri. He previously worked as news editor of Christianity Today, the Pentecostal Evangel, and AG News.
Pastoral Resilience Persevering through difficult times
By JOHN W. UTLEY
Iwas at the title company with my board members, ready to sign paperwork on our new church facility. After six years of moving between temporary sites, we were buying a seven-acre campus and building with a stunning interior.
Members had already gathered at our mobile location to celebrate with pizza. Afterward, we were planning to worship together while walking to our new campus.
Earlier that day, another congregation had signed a lease on the space we were vacating. Everything seemed to be falling into place.
However, our jubilant mood changed when the title agent entered the room and explained that an IRS tax lien on the property prevented its sale. Just like that, our church had no new location — and no old one.
Driving to the pizza party to deliver this news in person felt like the longest 15 minutes of my life.
I clung to the apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:8–9: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Little did I know my pastoral resilience was about to be tested and stretched like never before. Over the next four years, our church met in nearly a dozen different locations, some of them more than 10 miles apart. We adopted the tongue-in-cheek motto, “Come if you can find us.”
Heart Attitude
Throughout this time, I had to guard my heart against unhealthy attitudes.
In Learned Optimism, author Martin E.P. Seligman describes the three P’s that undermine resilience: personalization, pervasiveness, and permanence.
I reminded myself and others that problems are temporary, but our hope in Christ is eternal.
Personalization threatened to make the situation all about me, as if I should have seen it coming. I had to release my feelings of guilt, accept that sometimes bad things happen, and keep trusting the Lord. This shifted the focus from myself to God.
I also had to guard against letting the crisis dominate my thoughts to the point of pervasiveness. Dwelling on the loss was counterproductive. Breaking the cycle of negative thinking and engaging with supportive, encouraging family and friends was the most beneficial starting point.
Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Finally, I had to counteract permanence, the feeling that the current situation will never change. A sense of permanence leads to discouragement and depression.
Paul told the Corinthians to keep their eyes on Jesus amid their “light and momentary troubles” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). Similarly, I reminded myself and others that problems are temporary, but our hope in Christ is eternal.
Healthy Habits
I’m not alone in my pastoral struggles. One-third of U.S. Protestant senior pastors contemplated quitting during 2023, according to Barna Group.
Ministry isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile. That’s why resilience is crucial. The following five habits have helped me stay the course through trying times.
1. Maintain spiritual disciplines. Psalm 1 likens the person who delights in God’s Word to “a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither” (verse 3). That’s a picture of resilience.
Prayer, fasting, worship, and Bible study are powerful insulators against discouragement.
Even when ministry demands felt overwhelming, I was careful not to let these spiritual disciplines slide. They were a lifeline for me, just as they have been for other believers through the ages.
2. Rely on support systems. As Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 says, “Two are better than one. … If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” Such helpers may include family members, friends, mentors, and fellow pastors.
Effective support systems provide emotional and practical assistance, encouragement, and accountability.
Although some people genuinely lightened my load and strengthened my faith, others were reminiscent of Job’s unhelpful friends. I relied on the helpers, while taking the latter group’s advice with a grain of salt.
3. Pursue professional development. Personal growth often precedes a shift in circumstances. Continuing education, workshops, and conferences provide opportunities for learning.
Working toward an advanced ministry degree gave me new perspective, fresh insights, and a
needed diversion. I felt a sense of progress, even when the church’s situation remained unchanged.
4. Practice self-care. This includes physical exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and leisure time. It can also include counseling.
Jesus taught His disciples not to neglect their needs amid the busyness of ministry (Mark 6:31).
During a monthlong sabbatical, I discovered the value of slowing down and taking inventory of my physical, emotional, and spiritual condition.
While such an extended break isn’t always possible, even a day away from the office pursuing a hobby helps build resilience.
5. Establish boundaries. To ensure time for rest and relationships, pastors must define their work hours and personal time.
During our church’s mobile years, I felt compelled to address every need that came to my attention, even when it meant working into the evening and never taking a day off.
As I reached the point of exhaustion, I realized the problem wasn’t people’s expectations but my lack of boundaries. To maintain my well-being, I had to establish — and maintain — some clear limits, including time off.
Persevering Faith
The year following the failed property purchase was discouraging. Some well-meaning ministry colleagues advised me to quit, echoing my doubts about whether anything good could come from such a chaotic journey.
Nevertheless, on a cold, rainy Sunday in late September, I learned a great lesson in resilience. We were setting up for a worship service in an elementary school cafeteria, one of several places our congregation met.
I told our seating crew to plan for 40 attendees, thinking we probably wouldn’t have more than 20. After the worship team completed its sound check, we all went to the gym to pray. I confessed my discouragement, and volunteers prayed for me and the service.
When we returned to the cafeteria, fewer than 20 people were present, confirming my fears. We started the service with prayer and asked the
Some well-meaning ministry colleagues advised me to quit, echoing my doubts about whether anything good could come from such a chaotic journey.
congregation to spend five minutes greeting one another while we addressed a sound issue.
Suddenly, another setup crew member ran to me, breathless, saying, “Pastor, we need more chairs!”
I looked up to see a large crowd entering the room. As it turned out, we had more attendees that day than on Easter and Mother’s Day combined.
Excusing myself for a moment of personal prayer, I repented for my unbelief. Then I returned to a memorable service.
That day, I realized trust and resilience are closely linked. Proverbs 3:5–6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
During late 2019, after years of moving from place to place, our congregation purchased a building and finally enjoyed the blessing of a permanent location.
Facing a pandemic the following year, we remembered the lessons we’d learned and kept our eyes on God rather than circumstances. Resilience had become a way of life for us.
Resilience is essential for ministry. By avoiding defeatist attitudes and embracing healthy practices, pastors can navigate challenges with strength and vitality — and lead their congregations to do the same.
JOHN W. UTLEY, D.Min., is a church consultant and an ordained AG minister.
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Beauty From Brokenness
Mental health issues affect ministry families, too
By KATHY CANNON
In 2017, I was diagnosed with complex posttraumatic stress disorder. It wasn’t a single event that triggered symptoms, but the ongoing trauma of my daily existence.
As a lead pastor, wife, and mother, I tried to hold it together, but the strain became too great.
Retreating to a quiet place at home after a stressful day of ministry was not an option.
Each of our five adopted children experienced extreme early childhood trauma before entering foster care and becoming part of our family.
As the children grew, their emotional wounds spilled over into every aspect of our family life, creating secondary traumas. They lashed out verbally and physically, battled depression and anxiety, and sometimes expressed suicidal ideations.
Calls to 911, emergency room visits, and psychiatric hospitalizations became as routine for us as soccer practice and piano recitals are for more typical families.
Our young daughter, Asja, feared parental figures and often attacked me physically. Yet in the evening, when nightmares threatened to overtake her, Asja needed my reassuring embrace to fall asleep.
So, I covered my arms to hide the bites and bruises my daughter had inflicted on me. And every night, I cuddled Asja, rocking her to sleep. This continued for four years, from age 7 to 11.
Like many pastors, I spent years pursuing ministry goals and serving others at the expense of my health.
Coupled with my own genetic predisposition for anxiety and depression, the tension pushed me to a breaking point.
My family is not alone in struggling with mental health. Such issues are a fact of life for many American households, affecting millions of adults and children annually.
Unfortunately, people are often afraid to talk about mental illness openly — especially in church.
Pastors in particular feel intense pressure to model a perfect life and family. Admitting we live with mental health problems takes courage.
Over the years, my family has worked hard and made progress. We’ve sought professional help from doctors and therapists. And we have learned to seek the support, prayers, and encouragement of our church family.
Still, these challenges aren’t like a head cold that runs its course after a few days. Although some people do experience mental health issues that are situational and temporary, my children and I are dealing with systemic, chronic conditions.
My kids still have bad days, times when those early memories of abuse and neglect haunt them. But they are moving forward, changing generational patterns, and writing inspiring new chapters in their life stories.
As for me, I still take five pills every morning, one in the afternoon, and another five each night.
Acknowledging mental illness as a chronic condition — rather than something a person can just
get over — is one of the first steps toward better health. I may never find complete healing this side of eternity, but Christ’s grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9).
I have wondered at times whether my personal challenges disqualified me from ministry. However, I now realize these experiences uniquely equip me for talking about mental health, empathizing with congregants, and showcasing God’s faithfulness.
My story has also encouraged fellow ministers to open up about their personal and family challenges. When pastors come to me for advice, there are three things I tell them.
Slow Down
Like many pastors, I spent years pursuing ministry goals and serving others at the expense of my health. Whatever the task, giving less than 100% was unacceptable.
Thinking such a mindset was high-achieving, I discovered instead it was self-defeating. Over time, I became physically, emotionally, and spiritually depleted.
I have learned that it’s OK to lower the bar and slow down. And when I am in a particularly low season, I drop the bar entirely, taking the time I need to regain my strength.
Rather than cooking dinner from scratch every night, I keep ready-made meal options on hand. Things I would normally handle myself, I delegate to team members when I need a break.
My friends understand that if I don’t answer their text messages, emails, or phone calls right away, it’s because I’ve dropped the bar and am just holding onto Jesus — the only One who is perfect.
Find Support
I have a small group of friends with whom I share all the messy details of my life. They are people of faith and prayer who have always listened without judging me or my family members.
This is a carefully curated circle. I am open about our journey, but I don’t share everything with just anyone.
It’s also reciprocal. I am not just taking from these friends; I offer them support in return.
This group provides a safe place for opening up about doubts, anger, and fears. My friends help me laugh, remind me to rest, and extend grace and compassion.
Trust God’s Process
When my anxieties turn into intrusive thoughts, I think of the biblical metaphor of the potter’s house.
Jeremiah 18:4 says, “The pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”
I return to that verse often. It reminds me that God is still at work. My family is in the Potter’s skillful hands.
When there are struggles, it is not because I haven’t prayed, read the Bible, or believed enough. God can heal instantly, or He can work through therapy and medication.
Either way, I choose to view God’s process as a blessing, trusting Him to reveal His handiwork in time.
If you or a loved one is dealing with mental health issues, seek professional help from a physician or therapist. And trust God to work in the situation as only He can.
Each of these things is easier said than done, and certainly more complex than the simple headings imply. But as I work them into my daily routine and give every concern to God, I find peace and joy returning to my life and home.
Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Even when life is difficult, Romans 8:28 assures me, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
All the things we experience — the bad days, tears,
and triumphs — come together in God’s hands for His kingdom purpose.
I’m a fourth-generation pastor and fourth-generation anxiety sufferer. And I am raising the fifth generation.
God is still at work. My family is in the Potter’s skillful hands.
Asja is now 16 and, like her siblings, wants to share her story for God’s glory. Recently, Asja told my husband and me that she is called to pastoral ministry.
God knows what He is doing when holding us and our families in His hands. He is working through brokenness to create something beautiful.
KATHY CANNON is executive director of Thriving in Ministry in Sacramento, California, and an ordained Assemblies of God minister.
•BachelorofArtsinBiblicalStudies
•MasterofDivinity
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•MasterofArtsinPastoralCounseling
Investing in Your Team’s Growth
Six areas ministry leaders should not overlook
By STEPHANIE NANCE
Pastors want to see every congregant growing spiritually. However, we sometimes overlook those who assist us in ministry.
Whether leading a team of staff members or volunteers, we should invest in their spiritual health and development.
As a lead pastor, I oversee six staff pastors, ranging in age from 26 to 68. We recently went through a church crisis that affected each person differently.
Additionally, these team members have experienced a variety of life events over the past year, including getting married, having a baby, receiving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, grieving the loss of a parent, and buying a first home.
To lead my team toward spiritual health and growth amid these ups and downs, I have focused on six specific areas.
1. Personal Authenticity
Before we can lead team members toward transformation, we need to prioritize and experience it.
As I study Scripture in preparation for sermons, I often share what I am learning with my team.
I also discuss my personal devotional life, opening up about how the Holy Spirit is shaping my heart. I talk about my spiritual practices, such as prayer and
Bible reading, while encouraging team members to ask questions and talk about their habits.
People appreciate vulnerability, accessibility and authenticity from their leaders. These traits are especially important to younger leaders.
With today’s pastors experiencing burnout and leaving ministry at an alarming rate, developing a network of support is essential.
Team members are not looking for superheroes, but sincere followers of Jesus who are transparent about their spiritual formation.
2. Faith Crises
All believers experience events that shake their faith at times.
It might be the death of a loved one, a medical diagnosis, a church wound, or simply the state of the world that leads people to question what they believe about God.
A crisis of faith can be devastating, but it can also become a catalyst for renewal and growth.
In addition to offering prayer, emotional support, and work flexibility, I try to connect those who are struggling with someone in whom they can safely confide. Christian counselors, mentors, and friends can become lifelines during faith crises.
3. Home Life
Every staff member has a life outside of ministry. I am single and childless, but I recognize and acknowledge the family obligations of staff members.
Last year, I made the mistake of hosting a staff prayer event on the first day of school. Some team members were unavailable because they needed
to accompany young children to their classrooms. I’m learning to pay better attention to family life rhythms.
During staff prayer times, we intercede for our families. We plan fun activities that include spouses and children of team members.
These gestures foster a sense of community and support. They give staff pastors a chance to share their wisdom and experiences with one another on everything from parenting to caring for aging family members.
4.
Supportive Friendships
God created us for community. Ministry leaders are often so busy cultivating community for everyone else that they miss living in the reality of it themselves.
Friends help us survive in ministry and thrive in life. With today’s pastors experiencing burnout and leaving ministry at an alarming rate, developing a network of support is essential.
Lead pastors can teach the value of relationships by prioritizing them in their own lives. My team members can name my closest friends and mentors, and they know how to contact them.
I talk with team members about their friendships as well. I listen to their stories and ask whether they are meeting regularly with mentors and experiencing life-giving friendships.
Scripture highlights the importance of friends. For example, Ruth helped Naomi overcome bitterness and experience life again (Ruth 1:16; 4:15).
Jonathan and David developed a close bond amid difficult circumstances (1 Samuel 18:1–4). Jesus referred to His disciples as friends (John 15:14–15).
5. Mundane Moments
Too often in ministry, we focus on events and weekend services as the places where God shows up.
It’s easy to forget that the Lord is with His people even in life’s ordinary moments — while grocery shopping, paying bills, helping kids with homework, mowing the lawn, and caring for sick family members.
Scripture is replete with instances of people encountering God while doing ordinary things in ordinary places, like Moses tending sheep in the wilderness (Exodus 3) and two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35).
I frequently remind team members to focus on God’s presence throughout the day. Each day is an opportunity to encounter and grow in Christ.
There are numerous books that reinforce this truth, such as The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence and Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren.
Rest reminds us that ministry does not depend solely on our efforts. We partner with God to advance His kingdom, but we also rest as a reflection of Him.
I provide opportunities during staff meetings for team members to talk about how they are interacting with God in their daily lives. They have talked about experiencing God’s presence and help in the context of everything from family dinners to remodeling projects.
Listening to stories and testimonies changes how we think about God’s involvement in the lives of His people.
I often send team members prayers from Every Moment Holy by Douglas Kaine McKelvey. This book encourages readers to focus on God during everyday routines, like coffee drinking.
When one team member became a new mom, I gave her a printed copy of McKelvey’s “A Liturgy for Changing Diapers” to hang above the changing table.
These are simple ways to turn people toward God in spaces where we often overlook His abiding presence.
6. Sabbath Rest
In my experience, few things are more vital — or difficult — for ministry leaders than intentionally stopping to rest and delight in God.
Rest acknowledges our human limitations and God’s ability to work in and through us. It reminds us that ministry does not depend solely on our efforts. We partner with God to advance His kingdom, but we also rest as a reflection of Him (Genesis 2:1–3).
Even in the church world, many view success as a measure of worth and promote work as the means to achievement. To counter this philosophy, I encourage team members to set aside time regularly for slowing down and focusing on God.
I am mindful of people’s schedules, ensuring they have adequate down time built into each week. I often ask about their plans for days off and vacations.
During our disorienting church crisis last year, I maintained a text group with team members. We talked about how they were prioritizing rest and self-care, which created an environment of accountability and health.
Since that time, talking about what rest and delight look like for us on any given week has become part of our team culture. Staff members even volunteer to cover for one another so everyone can find time to rest.
To promote resilience and health in ministry, we need to care for those we serve alongside. Having a pastoral title or holding ministry credentials does not guarantee a person is maturing spiritually.
Jesus strategically invested in the development of twelve disciples in His inner circle. Let’s follow His lead and purposefully support the work God is doing in our team members.
STEPHANIE
NANCE is lead pastor at Chapel Springs Church (AG) in Bristow, Virginia.
Thieves in the Church
Best practices for preventing fraud and embezzlement
By ROLLIE DIMOS
Earlier this year, a pastor in Oklahoma was charged with embezzling more than $350,000 from his congregation over a fiveyear period.
In another recent case, a U.S. district court found a California church administrator guilty of stealing from her congregation’s food pantry and youth ministry.
Meanwhile, a Texas pastor received a prison sentence of 35 years in a deed fraud scheme involving stolen church properties.
Sadly, such stories are becoming all too common. Many congregations overlook their vulnerabilities — until it’s too late.
In a survey from Church Law & Tax, 3 in 10 church leaders said their congregations had experienced financial misconduct. Of those, 14% reported losses exceeding $100,000. Perpetrators included pastors, board members, and treasurers.
Half of respondents who had experienced financial misconduct said they previously believed it could never happen in their church.
No one should assume their ministry is immune. After all, dishonesty and greed are part of the fallen human condition.
The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimates embezzlement will cost Christian organizations $70 billion in 2025. By comparison, the center projects churches around the globe will receive $60 billion in foreign missions funds during that same period.
Imagine how much more the Church could accomplish by staunching losses to fraud and embezzlement. Not only would the gospel’s reach grow, but so would trust and generosity.
The top five ways fraud occurs in congregations are through inappropriate expenses or reimbursement; stolen contributions; theft of church property; check forgery; and payroll fraud.
As an auditor who has investigated fraud in churches and nonprofits for more than 30 years, I’ve seen firsthand how these issues impact all areas of ministry.
Damage from financial scandals typically extends far beyond the immediate loss. Donor confidence also takes a hit, along with the church’s reputation in the community.
Church leaders have a responsibility to steward well the resources with which God entrusts them. Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 16:10–12: Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly
wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
Preventing Fraud
According to the Church Law & Tax survey, the top five ways fraud occurs in congregations are through inappropriate expenses or reimbursement; stolen contributions; theft of church property; check forgery; and payroll fraud.
Using a corporate credit card for personal purchases is a common fraud scheme I see, particularly in churches. The administrator in California secretly opened five credit cards in the church’s name and used them for personal purchases. She then paid off the monthly statements using church funds.
In this case, one person performed the bookkeeping with little oversight or accountability from leadership. The theft went undetected for years, with the church’s losses exceeding $300,000.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) conducts a biennial study of global fraud and has repeatedly found that nonprofits, including churches, have fewer internal controls and less fraud awareness training than for-profit corporations.
Training and prevention make a significant difference. In fact, the ACFE found that fraud detection occurs 2.5 times faster with training than without it. Additionally, anti-fraud controls lead to faster detection and lower losses.
Regardless of size or budget, every church should provide fraud-awareness training and implement internal controls.
Five Safeguards
There are five practical steps church leaders can take to safeguard their ministry resources.
1. Provide ethical oversight. Create a culture of accountability in your organization. When senior pastors, board members, and staff model integrity and accountability, it sets the tone for the entire organization.
Think strategically about the church board. Consider recruiting one or two board members with financial knowledge to help guide these processes.
2. Establish clear policies and procedures. Document your policies, and communicate expectations for all staff members and volunteers who handle church finances.
Put together a plan for managing financial resources. Minimize exceptions, requiring everyone to follow the rules, including those in leadership.
Every church should have a code of conduct policy, as well as protocols regarding conflicts of interest, whistleblower protection, and cooperation with internal investigations.
Require all staff members to participate in fraud-awareness training. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability offers a free ChurchExcel program, which includes training videos and examples of policies to implement.
3. Separate financial duties. Divide responsibilities for key financial tasks among different individuals. This prevents any one person from controlling all aspects of a transaction.
Hiring additional employees is not necessary for separating duties. Board members or trusted volunteers can perform some of these tasks.
For example, be sure at least two people are handling donations and making deposits.
When issuing payments, have one person write the check and a different individual sign it after verifying the invoice.
Require employees to submit credit card statements and receipts to a supervisor or board member for review and approval before paying monthly charges.
Assign a board member to review and approve the lead pastor’s expense reimbursements.
Standardize these and similar practices, creating appropriate oversight at every level.
4. Provide transparent reporting. Prepare regular reports of the church’s financial position (balance sheet) and activities (income statement). Include budgetary comparisons, showing how actual income and expense figures may differ from
expectations. Be willing to make course corrections if the income is trending lower than expected or expenses exceed budgeted amounts.
Transparent reporting promotes accountability and allows church leaders to see how resources are utilized.
5. Conduct regular audits. Scheduling routine internal and external audits helps detect irregularities. It also ensures financial practices align with the church’s policies and procedures.
Perform regular tests and reviews to confirm expectations. For example, identify expense lines that exceed budgeted amounts, and investigate the reasons.
Test various financial processes — such as donation collection, check writing, or credit card use — to ensure compliance with stated policies.
Use CPA audits to verify the accuracy of your church’s financial statements, and internal audits to measure the strength of financial controls and processes.
Biblical Stewardship
Biblical principles of stewardship provide the foundation for how we should manage church resources.
By taking proactive steps and implementing key controls, church leaders can create a culture of accountability, reduce the risk of fraud, and manage resources with integrity and accountability.
This issue is about more than money management. Biblical stewardship honors God, reflecting His values and prioritizing His mission.
Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
ROLLIE DIMOS
is a certified fraud examiner and internal auditor, and the former director of Internal Audit for the Assemblies of God USA.
The State of the Great Commission
A Q&A with Matthew Niermann
Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus gave the Church a command: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
The other gospels and Acts echo this mandate in various forms (Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47,49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8).
How well are Christians fulfilling the Great Commission today? What challenges and opportunities do we face in the near future?
The Lausanne Movement, founded by Billy Graham in 1974, sought to answer such questions in its 2024 State of the Great Commission report.
Matthew Niermann, the report’s director, recently spoke with Influence about his findings.
INFLUENCE: When Jesus gave the Great Commission, the Church was small and localized in Roman Judea. Today, Christianity is the world’s largest religion. What is the state of Christianity globally?
NIERMANN: Christians currently represent about one-third of the world population.
Within that, evangelicals hold about 5% of the world population, while Pentecostals and charismatics are 7–8%. (This report treats Pente costals/charismatics and evangelicals as separate demographics.)
Combined, evangelicals and Pentecostals account for 33–34% of all Christians.
When you look across time, the per centage of the global population that is Christian is flat. In 1910, we were 33–34% of the global population, and we’re projected to be the same in 2050.
It is important to note that Christians have kept up with population growth since 1910, and we want to honor all the Christian
workers who have dedicated their lives to spreading the gospel. Their efforts were valuable and worthwhile.
But it’s a gut-check moment for the Christian world when we say the percentage of Christianity hasn’t grown globally.
That’s a hard reality, but there’s a really dynamic reality that needs to be noticed too. Christianity in 1910 looked very different than it will in 2050.
In 1910, the majority of Christianity existed in Europe and North America — what we might call the Global West. About 80–85% of Christians were in the Global West.
Fast-forward to 2050 — or even look at 2020 — and the situation is inverted. Christianity is about
Out of 450,000 missionaries, we’re sending 435,000 to the evangelized and 15,000 to the unreached. This is massively disproportionate.
25% of Europe and North America, with the rest of Christianity being in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
A word picture may help the average Christian understand the demographic shift. A representative Christian in 1910 would be a European male. Today, the representative Christian is a Nigerian female.
What share of the global population is unreached, and what progress is the Church making toward taking the gospel to these populations?
Let’s talk about the measures we have.
The evangelized is the percentage of the world that has heard the gospel and had an opportunity to respond.
Unreached people are a different category. They don’t even have access to the gospel, let alone having ever heard it.
The story about the evangelized mirrors the rise of the Global South. In 1910, 97–98% of Latin America, North America, and Europe were evangelized. That has continued until now.
Contrast that with Asia and Africa. In 1910, 10% or less were evangelized. In 2020, Africa was about 75% evangelized, and Asia was about 55% evangelized.
Between now and 2050 may be the first time the percentage of Christians in the West no longer keeps up with population growth. So, the percent-
If we look at Western missionary activity, we can take heart. North America is still by far the highest missionary sending region.
The number of missionaries coming out of Europe and Oceania has dropped significantly, but that is replaced by a massive rise of missionaries coming out of Asia, somewhat out of Latin America, and a little bit less out of Africa.
Now let’s talk about unreached people. This is a hard story about resource allocation.
There are roughly 450,000 (primarily Protestant) missionaries in the Christian world.
If you look at the percentage of the world that’s reached and unreached, it’s about 4.5 billion people reached and 3.3 billion unreached.
But out of 450,000 missionaries, we’re sending 435,000 to the evangelized and 15,000 to the unreached. This is massively disproportionate.
What role do legal restrictions and cultural barriers play in this?
If a particular people group is unreached at this point, it’s because it’s not easy to reach them. That’s why few missionaries are headed that way. Regardless, we should continue to consider how to take the gospel to them.
Christianity is not the only religion or ideol ogy appealing to the masses. The report mentions secularism and Islam, the world’s second-largest religion. How are these competing for people’s affections?
Let’s start with Islam. Christianity is the world’s largest religion, and its percentage of the global population has stayed relatively flat. It was about 34.5% in 1900 and is projected to be about 34.3% in 2050.
We need to focus on discipleship, which is the Great Commission, to close the back door of the Church, because so many people are leaving.
Hinduism and Buddhism also sit on a flat line. Hinduism was 12% in 1912 and will be about 12% in 2050. Buddhism was 7% in 1906 and will be 6% in 2050.
Islam is the one religion whose growth is not a straight line. It’s an aggressive line upward on a graph. In 1900, Islam represented about 12% of the global population. By 2050, it’s projected to more than double to around 29%.
So, Islam is a religion many are turning toward. We see this not only in adherence, but also in interest. You can map digital interests on Google and other search engines. Interest in Christianity is flat, but interest in Islam continues to grow.
It’s the same kind of thing when you look at print publications. In the English world, you have a declining number of Christian publications and a huge rise in Islamic publications.
Now let’s look at secularism. The Great Commission focuses on inviting people through the front door. How can we share the gospel with people?
With secularism, people are saying, “I don’t want to come in the front door. I’d rather have a secular lifestyle.”
Secularism is a story about people leaving out the church’s back door. Most won’t go to Islam or other religions. Their focus is on getting ahead materially.
We need to focus on discipleship, which is the Great Commission, to close the back door of the Church, because so many people are leaving.
State of the Great Commission examines 10 questions Christians around the world will need to answer in the coming decades. One of those questions is, “What does it mean to be human?” The report considers how artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and sexuality and gender are changing that discussion. What challenges do these issues pose to Christians carrying out the Great Commission?
As director of the State of the Great Commission report, I firmly believe “What does it mean to be human?” is the preeminent question of our age.
We must be able to provide a Christian answer to this question to help shape the conversation and direct these trends within our world.
Of course, one might ask how this question affects the Great Commission in the first place. It has to do with the plausibility and desirability of the gospel itself.
Today, talk about artificial intelligence or transhumanism or transgenderism expresses a deep hope that we can overcome our limitations through technology. If that’s possible, we no longer need God or the gospel.
Sure, there are moral, ethical, and civic considerations that need to be talked about, and Christians can participate in those conversations. But if we believe we can save ourselves through technology, that’s a real challenge to the gospel.
Technological developments pose challenges, but they also offer opportunities. Another question State of the Great Commission asks is, “What is ministry in a digital age?” How is digital technology changing the way Christians think about evangelism?
There are amazing opportunities to use technology for the Great Commission.
Technology reduces geographical distance. It provides personalized and direct content to people when they need it. It allows people to interact with Scripture and Christian doctrine in personal ways.
The way Christian ministries are using artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and even Web3 and other parts of the digital sphere is fascinating and fantastic. Wonderful things are happening.
We’re very intentional about crossing physical borders, but we need to begin thinking about how to cross digital borders as well.
Let’s tie this question back to the issue of unreached people. “Unreached people” is a very helpful category. We need it because ethnicity is part of identity.
But what’s happening in our digital age is that digital identity is becoming another layer. A young lady in Moscow may have more in common with someone in New York than with another person from her ethnicity in a rural part of Russia.
We need to understand ethnic identity and reach people groups, but we also have to understand digital identity. Are we doing contextualized missions to these digital identities?
Missions-minded Christians have done great work crossing geographical, cultural, and linguistic borders for hundreds of years. We’ve changed our appearance, learned new languages, and eaten different foods so we can speak contextually to people who need the gospel.
Unfortunately, too often we produce digital content for people like us. Algorithmic programming sends our messages to people with our digital identity.
If we only stay with people like us, we miss the sanctification opportunity of sitting next to people who are different, and even difficult.
We’re very intentional about crossing physical borders, but we need to begin thinking about how to cross digital borders as well.
The digital world offers a wonderful opportunity to gather outside the physical church, to connect and learn.
But one of the things we’ve learned in reflecting on the digital age is that we cannot give up completely on embodiment. There’s something beautiful, necessary, and mandatory about physically coming together as a congregation.
Certainly, physical church can be partnered with digital ministry, but coming together physically as a church is unique, necessary, and even sanctifying.
The digital world allows us to get together with people who are like-minded from around the world. We are able to share, think, collaborate, and grow in
particular areas of life or ministry. That’s incredibly valuable.
But if we only stay with people like us, we miss the sanctification opportunity of sitting next to people who are different, and even difficult.
And that’s the beauty of embodied Church. It puts us all together to make us more effective in ministry and to sanctify us personally.
This interview, originally featured on the Influence Podcast, has been edited for clarity and concision. For more information about the State of the Great Commission report, visit Lausanne.org/report.
LEADERSHIP | HISTORY
‘Preparing to Do a Mighty Work’
Alice Wood and the foundations of Pentecostalism in Argentina
By RUTHIE EDGERLY OBERG
Alice Wood (1870–1961), the first Pentecostal missionary to Argentina, served more than 60 years on the mission field — the last 50 without a furlough.
Upon her retirement at age 90, Wood left behind a thriving church pastored by Argentinians who had come to Christ through her ministry.
As a single, 44-year-old Canadian Pentecostal missionary in Gualeguaychú, Argentina, Wood became an Assemblies of God missionary just months after the Fellowship’s founding in 1914. She had already been a missionary for 16 years.
Raised in a devout Christian home, Wood’s upbringing helped shape her theology. Her father was a Methodist minister, and her mother had a Friends (Quaker) background.
Wood attended Holiness camp meetings and conventions that were a feature of Methodism during her childhood. Through Friends, she learned that all have a place in the Church’s work, including women.
When Wood was 14, her father died. Just two years later, her mother died. At 16, Wood went to live with another family who encouraged her
religious involvement and provided her with quality reading material.
Wood briefly attended the Friends Training School in Pickering, Ontario, before leaving Canada to begin a brief pastorate in Beloit, Ohio.
Around this time, Wood began attending a Christian Missionary Alliance (CMA) Bible study. She was baptized in water during an Alliance meeting in 1894.
Wood soon felt an intense longing “to go where Christ had never been preached.” In 1898, the CMA commissioned her to work with other missionaries in Venezuela.
After experiencing health problems on the mission field, however, Wood returned to the U.S. during 1900. She later spent a brief time in Puerto Rico, but infirmity again plagued Wood and prompted her return.
Wood prayed for strength and healing so she could serve long-term and not continue to break up her work with returns for convalescence.
Hearing of a great revival in Wales and another at a small mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, Wood also asked God for a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit’s work in her life.
Wood, 89, receives a new washing machine, her first.
Below, Wood is honored for 50 years of ministry in Argentina.
I learned to take Christ as my life. Jesus healed me of cancer, nervousness, and many other ailments. Let His name be praised. — Alice Wood
Wood received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues during a camp meeting in Alliance, Ohio. She immediately sensed the Lord directing her return to South America.
Upon receiving the news of Wood’s Pentecostal experience, the Christian and Missionary Alliance broke ties with her and withdrew its sponsorship.
In 1910, Wood sailed for Argentina as the first Pentecostal missionary to that nation. With no organizational backing or tangible support, she simply trusted God to provide. Amid crop failures and devastating floods, Wood ministered to the needy out of her own poverty. She felt a renewed sense of dependance on Christ alone.
A few years after returning to Argentina, Wood’s health issues resurfaced. This time, she relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to help her persevere.
Wood later wrote, “I learned to take Christ as my life. Jesus healed me of cancer, nervousness, and many other ailments. Let His name be praised.”
During those years, the Roman Catholic church wielded considerable influence in Argentina’s government. Consequently, Spanish-speaking Protestant services were outlawed.
Wood worked around this restriction by offering English classes. Using the Bible for lessons, she led many to Christ.
Despite the language barrier, Wood understood poverty and loneliness. She provided meals for children, helped abused women, and offered friendship to the marginalized. Wood gave people opportunities not only to receive assistance but also to give back by participating in her ministry.
As her Bible studies grew to become churches, Wood trained local workers to lead those
congregations. She provided ongoing mentorship and supervision, particularly around her home base of Veinticinco de Mayo.
Along with the churches, Wood opened a day school that provided education for more than 75 children.
When Wood joined the newly formed Assemblies of God, the veteran missionary’s experience lent credibility and stability to the organization. She wrote many articles for the Pentecostal Evangel and kept up a lively correspondence with those interested in her work.
Wood was instrumental in the 1917 foundation of the Argentinian Assemblies of God, La Unión de las Asambleas de Dios.
However, Wood never attended a district or General Council meeting, nor did she travel to raise support and share her needs. From the time she arrived in Argentina in 1910 until her retirement in 1960 at age 90, Wood never took a furlough.
Explaining this decision, Wood said she understood her ministry in Argentina as a lifetime calling. As a single woman with no family to visit, she wanted to use available funds helping the Argentinian people she had come to love rather than traveling to the U.S.
In Wood’s later years, a national worker became concerned about her physical strain and told AG Field Secretary Melvin Hodges a washing machine would help. Wood was still using a washboard to do laundry for the entire missions compound.
Since Wood’s missionary assignment predated the founding of district councils, she had no home district. As a result, her needs were often overlooked.
At age 89, Wood became the proud owner of a 1958 washing machine, provided by the newly formed Etta Calhoun Fund of the Women’s Missionary Council.
Writing to express her gratitude, Wood said, “You have greatly lightened the work. … I have never seen anything like it. It is ornamental as well as useful.”
Wood went on to explain that the reduced workload gave her time to undertake a 10-day evangelistic tour.
My last days, it seems, are my best!
— Alice Wood
“I preached six times in and around Buenos Aires,” Wood reported. “Many were at the altars seeking God. My last days, it seems, are my best!”
Wood finally returned to the U.S. in 1960, a year before her death at age 91. She left her ministry in the capable hands of people she had led to Christ years earlier.
Her travel companion, Lillian Stokes, wrote of Wood’s departure from Argentina, saying, “As I saw her few little ragged belongings I thought, ‘the earthly treasures of a missionary,’ but the Word of God says, ‘great is her reward in heaven.’”
Wood spent her last year at the Assemblies of God retirement home in Lakeland, Florida. The home’s superintendent wrote in her file, “Miss Wood is a lively little soul. ... She seems to be of the kind that can eventually adapt herself to any situation. We thank God for her.”
This single, female missionary laid the groundwork for a flourishing Pentecostal movement that continues in Argentina to this day.
In 1912, Wood wrote, “Ours is largely foundation work … but we believe our Father is preparing to do a mighty work and pour out the ‘latter rain’ upon the Argentine in copious showers before Jesus comes.”
The sweeping revival in that nation under evangelists Carlos Annacondia and Claudio Freidzon during the 1980s and ’90s traced its beginnings to Wood.
Pentecostals and Charismatics now make up the largest Protestant group in Argentina.
RUTHIE EDGERLY OBERG is a conference speaker for the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center of the Assemblies of God and an ordained AG minister.
Reviewed by GEORGE P. WOOD
Developing Egalitarian Women Leaders
The Assemblies of God is egalitarian. Recognizing God calls and empowers women for ministry, the AG credentials them on an equal footing with men.
Even so, male credential holders outnumber females by a ratio of 2.4-to-1. The ratio of male to female lead pastors is even higher: 13.4-to-1.
One reason for this discrepancy is residual discomfort with women ministers at a congregational level, resulting in disparate treatment. While inconsistent with AG theology, disparity persists because of local church autonomy.
Another reason is that men have access to leadership development opportunities, such as one-on-one mentoring, which are often unavailable to women because of practices like the Billy Graham Rule.
Further, men and women follow different leadership development pathways. This seems counterintuitive in egalitarian contexts, but egalitarianism does not mean men and women are the same. It means differences are not disqualifying for leadership.
Morgan argues that leadership development for women ministers consists of seven processes — three internal, two external, and two resulting in lifelong influence.
The three internal processes are calling and spiritual formation, cognitive development, and emotional intelligence. They act as counterweights to cultural assumptions about church leadership being male, which places women leaders at a disadvantage.
So, what would a differentiated leadership development process for women look like among egalitarians?
Anna R. Morgan answers that question in Growing Women in Ministry, which is based on her doctoral research. Morgan is ordained with the Australian Christian Churches (an affiliate of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship). She is vice president of academics at Ascent College and co-pastor with her husband, John, of Word of Life (AG), both institutions in the metro Washington, D.C., area.
Through these processes, women recognize the spiritual authenticity of their ministry, form an identity as a leader, and lead with confidence and empathy.
The two external processes are home life and ministry empowerment. The crucial question in both is whether a woman receives support from her husband (if married) and church.
Especially if she is a mother, a woman’s career path may look different from that of male colleagues.
“The most supportive ministry leadership environments have a female-affirming culture, offer flexibility, and allow a nonlinear leadership journey,” Morgan writes.
Finally, the two processes that result in lifelong influence are relationship development and communication development. Both processes present unique challenges.
Male-female working relationships in egalitarian churches are fraught. Those ministries have a twofold goal: to safeguard the integrity of male-female working relationships and to develop male and female ministers equally.
This precludes policies like the Billy Graham Rule, which segregates the sexes. Instead, Morgan urges churches to clearly define boundaries and cultivate heightened emotional intelligence.
According to Deborah Tannen, men and women are socialized to practice different communication styles. Male “report-talk” emphasizes information, while female “rapport-talk” focuses on relational bonding. In practice, leaders need the ability to navigate between these styles.
Leadership is not a zero-sum game. The rising leadership of women is not a threat to men. — Anna R. Morgan
Conversations about male and female roles among Christians can become contentious. They needn’t be.
“Leadership is not a zero-sum game,” Morgan writes. “The rising leadership of women is not a threat to men.”
My father used to say no coach would play a game with half the eligible players benched. Unfortunately, that’s what many churches have done with women for too long.
Growing Women in Ministry offers researchbased advice about how to move called and empowered women toward lifelong influence. Women ministers are likely to read it for obvious reasons, but male church leaders should do so too.
In a nation experiencing declining church attendance and increasing secularization, we need every eligible player in the game to win.
Book Reviewed
Anna R. Morgan, Growing Women in Ministry: Seven Aspects of Leadership Development (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2024).
AG Origins, Revised
History is, paradoxically, both unalterable and in constant need of revision. The past does not change, but we can change our understanding of it based on new facts or better interpretive frameworks.
In Aspects of Assemblies of God Origins, Daniel D. Isgrigg carefully examines narratives, theologies, and issues that shaped the Fellowship in its early years, providing the kind of revision AG history needs today.
Isgrigg is an associate professor of Pentecostal history at Oral Roberts University and an ordained AG minister.
The book addresses aspects of AG origins related to historiography; race; sanctification; evangelical identity; eschatology; education and theology; and social engagement. It concludes with suggestions for further research.
Although Isgrigg writes primarily to academics, he offers a wealth of insights that may appeal to anyone with an interest in AG history.
For example, the opening chapter examines the changing ways successive generations of historians have told the AG’s history.
Daniel D. Isgrigg carefully examines narratives, theologies, and issues that shaped the Fellowship in its early years.
Early historians interpreted the Movement’s origins providentially as the end-times fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
The next generation of scholarly Pentecostals shifted focus from divine intervention to historical events and theological developments.
More recently, historians have incorporated elements earlier generations overlooked. The multicultural approach examines how the Fellowship related to people on its racial and ethnic margins.
A functional approach focuses on how sociological developments — such as institutionalization and social acceptance — changed AG thought and practices.
In isolation, each framework can become reductionistic, excluding important parts of the narrative. Together, however, these frameworks contribute to a well-rounded history.
This is important when examining a revival movement that claims divine origins. If historians exclude providence entirely, they fail to capture the story’s essence. On the other hand, if they focus only on the supernatural, they miss the human elements.
Chapter 2 touches on the subject of race. Some historians claim white ministers split from Charles H. Mason’s Black-majority Church of God in Christ to form the Assemblies of God. They see this as evidence that racism played a role in the AG’s origins — which is concerning, if true.
Tomlinson (Church of God) regarding the use of the Church of God name.
Furthermore, it is unlikely that Mason’s COGIC and Goss’ COGIC were ever organizationally related, considering their doctrinal division over sanctification. Mason advocated a WesleyanHoliness understanding, while Goss was an advocate of the “finished work” view.
Isgrigg denies this origin story, however. At issue is a 1949 statement by J. Roswell Flower that Howard Goss (like Flower, an AG founder) gained permission from Mason to use the COGIC name. Over the decades, this gave rise to the notion that Goss formed a white branch of COGIC.
The problem is that Flower’s statement is almost certainly incorrect. Goss’ papers do not report such an agreement. His contemporaries, in both the AG and COGIC, were unfamiliar with it. Isgrigg suggests Flower may have conflated a supposed Goss-Mason arrangement with a collaboration between M.M. Pinson (Apostolic Faith) and A.J.
The debate over this doctrine deeply divided Pentecostals at the same time Goss was allegedly part of Mason’s organization.
So why did Goss adopt the COGIC name? He was a leader in Charles F. Parham’s Apostolic Faith movement until Parham’s downfall in 1907. Thereafter, remnants of the Parham group used several names before landing first on “Church of God,” then “Church of God in Christ,” and finally “Assemblies of God” after 1914.
Isgrigg argues that the first two were chosen because of biblical precedent (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:4, KJV), and the last because AG founders considered “assembly” a more literal translation of the Greek word ekklēsia. Space does not permit even a cursory engagement with the remaining chapters in Isgrigg’s book, which are similarly informative. I enthusiastically recommend it to interested readers.
Isgrigg is also writing a popular history of the denomination. I look forward to seeing how he incorporates themes of his current work into that volume, which is forthcoming in 2025.
Book Reviewed
Daniel D. Isgrigg, Aspects of Assemblies of God Origins: Exploring Narratives, Theologies, and Issues from the Early Years (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2024).
Revive Us Again!
In 2022, Pew Research Center published a report on the future of religion in America. The results were not encouraging.
The share of Americans who identified as Christian fell from 90% in 1972 to 64% in 2020, while the share who claimed no religious affiliation whatsoever — the so-called “nones” — rose from 5% to 30% during the same period.
Projecting current trends into the future, Pew modeled various scenarios for religious identification by 2070. The most optimistic scenario from a Christian point of view predicted 54% of Americans identifying with the faith, while the least optimistic predicted 52% as nones.
Reading statistical projections like this can be depressing. Christianity seems to be ceding ground to nonbelievers. As a minister, it’s hard to play for the team that appears to be losing.
What statistical projections don’t account for is the possibility of revival, the history and theology of which Ian R. Hall takes up in Times of Renewal.
Based on the history of revivals, Hall discerns a four-stage pattern to spiritual awakening: a period of spiritual decline leads a concerned group of believers to personal repentance and intercession for their community, which then leads to a prophetic ministry to that community.
The resulting spiritual awakening is characterized by “the renewal of the spiritual life” and “a recovery of spiritual truth.” These affective and cognitive dimensions work in tandem, and they also produce changed behavior in revived people.
The author is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and a veteran educator, missionary, and evangelist. Hall’s personal testimony of conversion, healing, and experience of revival — recounted in the book’s introduction — alerts readers that the topic is of personal, not merely academic, interest to him.
In general terms, a revival is “a spiritual awakening affecting a whole community,” Hall writes. Americans further understand it as “a type of evangelistic crusade,” a means toward an end. In that sense, an evangelist holds a revival to have a revival.
Hall focuses on the general sense of the term rather than the “peculiarly American sense.”
A genuine revival, one might say, renews heart, head, and hands.
This pattern is visible both in the Bible and across two millennia of church history.
After offering chapterlength treatments of revival in the Old and New Testaments, respectively, Hall devotes the majority of the book to narrating incidences of spiritual awakening from early Christianity to the present.
In many ways, the history of revival is simply the history of Christian missionary expansion across time and space.
This contrasts with the way some early Pentecostals understood church history. They framed the course of Christendom after the apostles but before Azusa Street in terms of “fall” and “restoration,” as if little of spiritual significance had happened between the two periods. They made allowances for the Protestant Reformation and subsequent evangelical awakenings, however.
Hall documents the ways God has renewed the Church in every age. He sees continuity across time rather than discontinuity, even while recognizing that the Reformation recovered doctrinal truths long occluded by ecclesial traditions.
Specifically, Hall writes, “Every evangelical awakening from the Reformation onward has focused upon one or another particular truth,” such as justification by faith, congregational holiness, personal holiness, missions, the Second Coming, baptism in the Spirit, healing, and the like.
Hall’s approach is both ecumenical and evangelical. It takes church history seriously, affirming that God “left not himself without witness” in any Christian age, to borrow the language of Acts 14:17 (KJV).
Yet it also recognizes the limits of revival experience in the absence of doctrinal reformation. Heart and head must move in the same direction for Christianity to be healthy.
Such a historical perspective weakens the pessimism that can arise from contemplating the kind of statistical trends Pew reports. Christians have witnessed the spiritual decline of churches across the ages, but they also witnessed their revival. The possibility of a new awakening should fill us with hope.
Hope is not a plan, however. Times of Renewal concludes with a practical theology of revival that emphasizes the sovereign move of the Holy Spirit,
even as it recognizes what we must do to prepare for that move.
“We may assuredly recognize that if we pray and earnestly seek God, as so many have done through history, laying aside everything that would distract us from our main purpose, God will answer our prayers and meet us in our quest for him,” Hall concludes.
Why not here? Why not now? Lord, revive us again!
Book Reviewed
Ian R. Hall, Times of Renewal: A History and Theology of Revival and Spiritual Awakenings, 2nd ed. (New Albany, IN: Encourage Publishing, 2024).
GEORGE P. WOOD is executive editor of Influence magazine.
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THE KINGDOM, YOUR CALLING , OUR DEMOCRACY
Spiritual leadership for the health of the nation
WBY DOUG CLAY
HATEVER THE
OUTCOME
of the 2024 presidential race, Americans will be talking about it for quite a while. This election season has been a source of anxiety for many, including pastors.
Political disagreements add stress to pastoral work. Yet church leaders have a responsibility to help congregants navigate the times with a Christian mindset.
When tensions rise, we can point people to God’s kingdom priorities, helping them grow in faith rather than cynicism.
In a divided and often combative culture, the Church should model unity and moral clarity, upholding faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Even as we encourage people to engage as citizens, we must maintain our Christian witness and stay laser focused on the Great Commission.
REMEMBER YOUR CALLING
As pastors, God calls us to shepherd Christian communities. That includes maintaining a Kingdom perspective, speaking clearly on moral issues, and teaching believers to exercise their citizenship in heaven and on earth.
The New Testament Church — which operated faithfully under a harsh, undemocratic government — provided an example for Christians through the ages.
The Early Church was Christ centered, Spirit dependent, people oriented, love driven, and Kingdom focused.
The apostles understood their calling as Spirit-empowered witnesses to the reign of Christ (Acts 1:8). Jesus sent them into all the world to make disciples of all peoples (Matthew 28:19–20). Ultimately, the mark of discipleship was the Christian community’s love (John 13:34–35).
Jesus taught His followers to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
The Christian’s first allegiance is to God’s kingdom. As Peter told the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29).
Our calling as pastors includes speaking out on ethical and moral issues. Congregants often look to church leaders for guidance on a range of topics.
While we need to practice wisdom in addressing politics, we should be bold and forthright about what Scripture teaches on issues such as neighbor love, divine intention for gender, integrity of the family, and care for the poor.
For example, one moral issue that has political implications, yet transcends politics, is abortion.
The Bible teaches that God is the Author of life. Passages like Psalm 139:13–16 emphasize God’s intimate involvement in the creation of life.
Genesis 1:27 reveals all humanity is created in God’s image, while Genesis 9:6 commands respect for human life because of its status. This explains the prohibition against murder in Exodus 20:13. Together, these passages indicate human life uniquely reflects God’s image and must be protected accordingly.
Christ’s teachings often emphasized the value and dignity of every person. Jesus said in Mathew 25:40, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
The commandment in both testaments to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31) reflects a deep respect for the lives of others, promoting a culture of care, compassion and protection.
This biblical grid can be applied to many of the political issues that bring about division. We cannot sacrifice biblical principles for the sake of partisanship.
REMEMBER YOUR CITIZENSHIP
The Bible teaches that we are dual citizens of God’s kingdom and our current cultural realities (John 17:11–18; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:2).
Believers should engage in the democratic process. But above all, we must speak and act as citizens of heaven, throwing off whatever hinders our witness and fixing our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1–2).
Christ followers should view exercising influence in democracy through voting as an act of loving our neighbor, good stewardship, pursuing justice, and investing in the next generation.
Discipling congregants in a biblical worldview and an understanding of their heavenly citizenship equips them with the tools to make God-honoring decisions in their daily lives, including at the polls.
The apostles taught that believers were to be responsible citizens. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority
ABOVE ALL, WE MUST SPEAK AND ACT AS CITIZENS OF HEAVEN, THROWING OFF WHATEVER HINDERS OUR WITNESS AND FIXING OUR EYES ON JESUS (HEBREWS 12:1–2).
OUR HOPE IS NOT IN A POLITICAL PARTY,CANDIDATE,PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENTOR LEADER.
except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1).
Similarly, Peter wrote, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right” (1 Peter 2:13–14).
Yet allegiance to Christ was the primary commitment of New Testament believers — and it should be ours as well.
Jesus said to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25). The government receives our taxes, but God alone deserves our worship and unswerving loyalty.
As citizens of a democracy, we have the privilege of choosing leaders and playing a role in government. We should encourage believers to exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations as citizens, so long as those things do not hinder obedience to God (Acts 5:29).
There are five things we can encourage believers to do during this election season and beyond:
1. Stay well-informed. As citizens with a voice and vote, we have a responsibility to know what is happening in our country. That means seeking trustworthy sources of information, exercising critical thinking skills, and taking the time to separate truth from falsehoods.
Like the men of Issachar during the time of David, we can understand the times and proceed with wisdom (1 Chronicles 12:32).
2. Respect governing authorities. The government is responsible for maintaining order, supporting the common good, and enacting justice.
We do not have to agree with every government decision to respect the authority of those in charge.
Paul said, “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone” (Titus 3:1–2).
3. Accept civic responsibilities. Christians may participate in government through a number of ways, including voting, running for office, performing jury duty, enlisting in the military, or working in civil service.
Churches can partner with government authorities by serving as voting centers or providing shelter during times of crisis.
Titus 3:14 says, “Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good.” That includes being a good neighbor and citizen.
4. Maintain peace. Paul told the Colossians, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace” (Colossians 3:15). This applies to political differences as well.
Whether interacting in person or online, Christians should “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19).
5. Protect religious freedom. No platform is worthy of the prioritization we should give to the advancement of Kingdom principles. When Paul said “give to everyone what you owe them,” he mentioned taxes, revenue, respect, and honor, but not worship (Romans 13:7). Obeying God first is the line in the sand for believers (Luke 4:8).
Good citizenship on earth matters. However, the much greater priority is our citizenship in heaven — which is not just a future reality, but a present one as well.
This is not to minimize the importance of earthly government, but to maximize what matters most, both now and for eternity.
Our earthly citizenship is secondary and temporary. However, that does not make it inconsequential. While Paul knew his citizenship was in heaven, he also acknowledged and claimed his Roman citizenship (Acts 16:37–40; 22:25).
The Bible doesn’t ask us to choose between evangelism and civic engagement. Jesus calls us to follow Him in a life of discipleship, obedience, and service. That calling affects everything we do as believers, from witnessing to voting.
PRIORITIZE RELATIONSHIPS
As we navigate a highly charged political climate, safeguarding relationships might be our single greatest challenge.
The Early Church included all kinds of people. Rich and poor believers, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, and slaves and free persons all came together as one Body (Acts 2:44–45; Romans 15:26; 16:1–17; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:11–22; 6:8; Colossians 3:11; 1 Timothy 6:17–19).
Jesus’ brother James, leader of the church in Jerusalem, specifically forbade seating arrangements that distinguished between different classes of people, and warned that showing favoritism is a grievous sin (James 2:2–4,9).
Across the U.S., Assemblies of God congregations are increasingly multicultural and multigenerational. Racial and ethnic minorities and young people account for much of the growth in our Movement today.
The more diverse we become, the more our church membership will include a wide range of perspectives. This can present challenges in a politically charged and divided society. But for the sake of the Kingdom, we must make it our highest priority to safeguard relationships.
In the secular world, “diversity” is a lightning-rod word with political implications. But in the Church, diversity relates to God’s desire to redeem people from “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9).
Certainly, no one in the Early Church more boldly declared the truth than the apostle Paul. But he always did so in a way that prioritized people and relationships.
Paul exhorted the Ephesians, “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1–3).
In addition to seeking church unity, we must also maintain our testimony with nonbelievers. In their teaching on this topic, Paul and Peter both emphasized gracious communication.
Paul told the Colossians, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:5–6).
Peter gave a similar charge: “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15–16).
Imagine the power of our witness if every Christian related to nonbelievers with grace, gentleness and respect. Rather than seeing partisanship, people would see our good deeds and glorify God (Matthew 5:16).
STAY CHRIST-CENTERED
Church leaders should regularly ask themselves two questions: Are we maintaining unity in the body of believers? Are we remaining effective in our testimony to nonbelievers in the love and Spirit of Christ?
Pastors are responsible to God for the welfare of the congregations they lead. Therefore, we must remain biblically grounded, people conscious, mission focused, and hope driven. Some families in your congregation are likely divided over political issues. They need a pastor — not a political ally or opponent.
Align your words and actions with Christ, keeping your speech bathed in biblical truth instead of political rhetoric.
Fostering respectful and constructive dialogue within the body of Christ requires active listening, empathy, and intentional love — even amid disagreements.
Political conversations become more sensitive during an election year. Stay mindful of your timing and context when engaging in such dialogue, always seasoning these conversations with scriptural truths.
Our hope is not in a political party, presidential candidate, or government leader. The hope we have is eternal, while the things of this world are temporary.
It is easy to develop tunnel vision during an election season, but keeping our eyes on Christ allows us to maintain hope even in difficult circumstances. And sharing this message of hope is a pastor’s job.
People do not need more loud, angry voices. They need the good news of Jesus.
One day, Christ will return to reign over a new earth. He will cast out all sin, sickness, hatred, rancor and violence. Focusing on this Kingdom to come helps us prioritize eternal values over political agendas.
OUR NATION DESPERATELY NEEDS A SOVEREIGN MOVE OF GOD TO TURN PEOPLE TO JESUS.
Christ’s plans transcend any human political system, and He will continue to be God no matter what this election brings. My rallying cry this political season is, “Jesus Christ is King!”
Following are seven ways to keep this truth at the center of your ministry and lead with wisdom, compassion and faithfulness:
THE LORD CAN CHANGE OUR NATION BY TRANSFORMING HEARTS.
1. Stay uncompromisingly grounded in Scripture. Offer biblical principles and teachings rather than political opinions. Don’t shy away from topics of concern to your congregation, but always use these conversations in pointing people to God’s Word.
2. Promote love and unity. Emphasize what binds you together as a church family, regardless of political differences.
Encourage congregants to showcase Christ’s character in the community by modeling kindness, humility, and active listening. They don’t have to agree with their neighbors to practice neighborliness.
3. Focus on the mission. Remind your church of its primary reasons for being — worshipping God, spreading the gospel, making disciples, and serving others. Keep activities and messages aligned with these core purposes.
4. Model civility. Demonstrate grace and respect in your preaching and conversations. Christlike behavior and tone set a powerful example for your congregation.
5. Offer pastoral care. Be available to shepherd individuals struggling with anxiety or division caused by political tensions.
6. Cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. Especially in the arena of social media, make sure each post demonstrates love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
7. Pray for leaders and the nation. Lead your congregation in praying for the nation and its leaders, regardless of party affiliation. This fosters a spirit of humility and trust in God’s sovereignty.
LEAD PRAYERFULLY
If every person you vote for in November wins and every ballot initiative goes the way you hoped, it is not enough. Our nation desperately needs a sovereign move of God to turn people to Jesus. The Lord can change our nation by transforming hearts.
God is in control of governments, candidates and political parties. Nothing happens that can frustrate His plans (Genesis 50:20).
Amid a time of national distress for the people of Judah, the prophet Jeremiah sent this message to exiles living in Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper (Jeremiah 29:5–7).
God called His people to seek the common good of the place in which they found themselves. Even as strangers in a foreign land, they were to pursue peace and pray for the city. We do not know how the election will turn out. Nor do we know what direction America will take in the coming years, whether toward repentance or hardening of the heart. Whatever the future holds, we can rest in the assurance that God is in control.
Let us remember God’s promise to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
DOUG CLAY
is general superintendent of the Assemblies of God USA.
Since 1973
AG Leaders, Now Neighbors
Dr. George M. Flattery (far left), founded International Correspondence Institute (now Global University). Next sits Jerry Spain, missionary to Africa for 58 years. Center, Maranatha Village CEO Brian Miller. David Plymire (mid right), missionary to China—son of Victor and Ruth Plymire, pioneer missionaries to Tibet. Right, Terry Brown, former Nebraska AG District Secretary/Treasurer. All current residents of Maranatha Village.
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The Five People You Meet in Church
Relational insights from Romans 16
By GEORGE P. WOOD
This past summer, my wife and I led a tour that traced Paul’s journeys (recorded in Acts 13–28) through the Mediterranean region.
The tour ended where Paul’s travels did: Rome. Paul might have recognized a handful of extant sites, such as the Appian Way, Forum, and Mamertine Prison, where tradition says he was incarcerated prior to his execution.
What Paul would not have recognized — what would have astonished him, in fact — was the proliferation of Roman churches.
In Paul’s day, a pagan shrine or temple lurked around every corner.
Today, Rome has more churches than any other city in the world, with 930 actively in use, most of them Catholic.
Our group concluded its tour at St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest and arguably most beautiful church in the city, if not all of Christendom.
Good Protestant that I am, I reminded the tour group that the sale of indulgences helped finance St. Peter’s construction, which became a flash point for the Protestant Reformation.
More importantly, however, I reminded myself that the Church is not a building, no matter how reflexively we conflate the two.
People are the only church the New Testament knows. The Greek word we translate as “church” is ekklēsia, which denotes a “gathering” or “assembly.”
That is why our Fellowship is called the Assemblies of God, by the way. The name is a literal rendering of the Greek phrase, ekklēsia theou (Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 3:5).
Biblically, a church consists of the people who gather as disciples of Jesus Christ, not the gathering place.
In Rome, no church gathering places from Paul’s day are still standing. They were probably ordinary houses (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19), none of which survived the architectural churn of two millennia.
What remains are the names of people who gathered. In Romans 16:1–23, Paul mentions more than 30 people by name. Most were at Rome, though some were with Paul in Corinth, where he wrote the letter.
Paul didn’t merely list names, however. He described relationships. Those descriptions are important, highlighting five kinds of people we meet in church.
Patrons
The first kind of people are patrons, those who open doors of opportunity.
Leading Paul’s list is Phoebe, about whom he writes: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me” (16:1–2).
The Greek word the NIV translates as “benefactor” is prostatis, which is related to prostasian, the Greek word for patronage. A prostatis is a patron.
Patron-client relationships characterized most traditional societies, including the Greco-Roman culture of Paul’s day. E. Randolph Richards defines them as “asymmetrical, reciprocal relationships” through which “gifts and gratitude” are exchanged.
Biblically, a church consists of the people who gather as disciples of Jesus Christ, not the gathering place.
Basically, patrons were people of financial means and social connections who gave gifts to their clients.
Seneca, a contemporary of Paul, listed types of gifts when he advised a fellow patron, “Help one person with money, another with credit, another with influence, another with advice, another with sound precepts.”
In turn, clients offered their patrons gratitude, demonstrated by “respect,” “obedience,” and “constant attentions,” as a letter to the first-century B.C. Roman senator Cicero put it.
Patron-client relationships were mutually beneficial. They could become transactional and materialistic — with the patron and client using each other to get ahead — but that was not a Christian way of doing things.
What if a patron-client relationship advanced the gospel? What if it opened doors of ministry and helped support missionaries?
That’s precisely what Phoebe did.
Phoebe was a deacon in the church of Cenchreae, one of Corinth’s two port cities. It is likely that Paul mentioned her first because as his emissary, she carried his letter to Rome, read it to the Christians there, and answered their questions about it.
If so, Phoebe was history’s first commentator on Romans. So much for the notion that women can’t lead or speak publicly in ministry!
At some point, Phoebe served as a patron for Paul’s ministry. This probably entailed funding Paul’s missionary journeys, as well as church benevolence programs.
Paul also mentioned two other people who acted in patron-like ways toward him: Rufus’ mother, whom Paul called “a mother to me, too” (16:13), and Gaius, whose hospitality benefitted Paul and others (16:23).
Each of these relationships provided Paul something he needed: financial support (Phoebe); emotional warmth (Rufus’ mother); and a place to stay (Gaius).
I have been fortunate to have good patrons throughout my life, beginning with my parents, George and Jewel Wood, who led me to Christ, modeled a Christian home life, and demonstrated what it takes to pastor a church.
Doyle and Connie Surratt became my first employers in vocational ministry, showing me how to lead a church through planting, merging, and growing phases.
When my emotional immaturity cost me my job with the Surratts, Jim and Sandy Bradford offered a ministry position in their congregation, giving me a safe place to cool down and grow up.
(The Surratts led a church plant at the time, while the Bradfords had an established church. I was not ready for the unique pressures of church planting at that point in my life.)
I eventually went back to work with the Surratts, which turned out to be the longest and most
productive ministry assignment I’ve had, other than my current one.
When I became a senior pastor, Richard Thorne, the congregation’s chairman of the board, showed me everything I needed to know about church administration but never learned at seminary.
Gratitude is the natural response to such patronage. After all, when someone holds open a door, you thank that person and walk through it.
This nexus of gift and gratitude offers an important insight about Christian leadership. Too often, we think of leadership in terms of organizational charts or who makes final decisions.
However, simply giving orders rarely changes minds, let alone behaviors. The best leaders use their authority for the good of others.
That’s what Jesus did, and it’s our calling as well (Philippians 2:5–11).
Not all patrons are leaders, but all leaders should be patrons. After all, the task of spiritual leadership is helping others use their gifts and grow in Christ (Ephesians 4:11–13).
Peers
Peers are the second kind of people we meet in church. They share the burdens of life and ministry with us.
Paul described most of the people in Romans 16 in peer terms, placing himself on equal footing with others.
The first term is synergos, “co-worker,” which Paul applied to Priscilla and Aquila (16:3), Urbanus (16:9), and Timothy (16:21).
Paul also identified several individuals as working hard for the churches in their spheres of influence: Mary (16:6), Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis (16:12).
These passages translate the Greek verb kopiaō — which Paul elsewhere uses to describe his ministry as an apostle (1 Corinthians 15:10), as well as the ministry of elders (1 Timothy 5:17). The hard work to which Paul refers is advancing the gospel.
The third and fourth terms have less to do with work than the quality of relationship. Agapetos, “dear friend,” is how Paul described Epenetus
(Romans 16:5), Ampliatus (16:8), Stachys (16:9), and Persis (16:12).
Adelphos, a word for brothers and sisters, is how Paul described Phoebe (16:1), as well as Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, and Hermas, among others (16:14).
Notice something interesting about the names throughout Romans 16. Both Jews and Greeks made the list. Paul described both men and women as co-workers, friends, and siblings. And scholars indicate some of the names were common among slaves.
As believers, our status “in Christ Jesus” (16:3) makes us equal — in hard work, friendship, and familial love — regardless of sex, ethnicity, religious background, or socioeconomic status. As Paul said in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Many in the broader evangelical world acknowledge this equality in principle, but deny it in practice when it comes to women in ministry. Citing passages such as 1 Corinthians 11:2–16; 14:34–35; and 1 Timothy 2:11–15, they argue that women cannot exercise leadership over men.
I believe that’s a misinterpretation of those passages. First Corinthians 11:2–16 addresses how women minister in the church, not whether they can minister. In 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, Paul talks about how women should learn in the church, not whether they can teach. And 1 Timothy 2:11–15 prohibits assuming or usurping the authority to teach, not teaching per se.
The terms Paul uses in Romans 16 reinforce the equality of women and men in ministry and leadership. Both are Paul’s co-workers. Both work hard.
Notice also that Paul applies leadership terms to women. He describes Phoebe as a “deacon of the church in Cenchreae” (Romans 16:1), for example.
In the New Testament, the Greek word diakonos has a general and specific meaning. Generally, it means “servant” and applies to all Christians. Jesus said, “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matthew 23:11), a maxim for both “the crowd” and “his disciples” (23:1).
Specifically, the word denotes someone who has been commissioned for a task or holds a position of leadership. The state is the “servant” of divine justice (Romans 13:4). As missionaries, Paul and his companions are “ministers of a new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:6). And Paul describes the leaders of churches as “overseers and deacons” (Philippians 1:1).
When Paul calls Phoebe a diakonos “of the church in Cenchreae,” he has this more specific meaning in mind.
Consider also Andronicus and Junia. In Greek, Paul describes this married couple as ep stēmoi en tois apostolois. The NIV translates this phrase as “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7), noting the alternative translation “esteemed by the apostles” in the margin.
In the New Testament, the word “apostles” often refers to the Twelve (e.g., Matthew 10:2–4; Luke 6:12–16; Acts 1:2,12–26). It also includes Paul, Barnabas, and others who expanded the gospel’s reach (e.g., Acts 14:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5–6; 15:9).
We might call this expanded group “apostles of Christ,” using Paul’s own term (1 Thessalonians 2:6).
The NIV translates 2 Corinthians 8:23 as “representatives of the churches,” but the phrase is literally, “apostles of the churches.” This group did not have the authority of the previous group.
Interestingly, the earliest commentators on the New Testament universally counted Andronicus and Junia among the first group of apostles, based on Romans 16:7.
Origen (A.D. 185–253) theorized that Andronicus and Junia were members of the 72 Jesus sent out in Luke 10:1. The Greek verb Luke uses for “sent” in this verse is apostellō
John Chrysostom (A.D. 347–407) marveled at Paul’s description of Junia. “How great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of the appellation of apostle!”
If Paul considered a woman his patron, it should not surprise us that he considered women his peers, too. Phoebe was a deacon. Priscilla was a co-worker (who instructed Apollos, according to Acts 18:26).
Junia was an apostle. Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis worked hard for the gospel.
Christians should stop misinterpreting Paul to limit the ministry and leadership of women. We are peers in ministry.
Child rearing is a good metaphor for discipleship. First, we bring spiritual children into the world through evangelism, just as Paul converted Epenetus. Then, we raise them to work alongside us, as Paul did with Timothy.
Teams can only succeed when everyone comes together. In the local church, there’s plenty to do, and we all should work hard alongside one another.
What we owe one another is grit, respect, and commitment to the mission. Teams can only succeed when everyone comes together. In the local church, there’s plenty to do, and we all should work hard alongside one another.
Protégés
The third kind of people we meet in church are protégés, those we help along the way.
Paul named two in particular. Epenetus was Paul’s “dear friend” and “the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia” (Romans 16:5). Paul called Timothy his “co-worker” (16:21), but described him elsewhere as “my son whom I love” (1 Corinthians 4:17).
As a father, I can relate to Paul’s familial language. When our kids were babies, my wife and I did everything for them: feeding, changing, bathing, and dressing. Over and over.
As they grew, the children learned to do these things for themselves. Our son just turned 16, which means he’s getting a driver’s license and car. I used to drive him, but now he’s driving me. It is a nerve-wracking privilege helping him transition from driven to driver.
Kids typically grow up to have children of their own. Similarly, disciples become disciple makers. Paul describes this process in 2 Timothy 2:2: “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
There are four spiritual generations in this verse: Paul (parent), Timothy (son), reliable people (grandchildren), and others (great-grandchildren).
Patrons mentor protégés, who eventually become peers and patrons. The cycle continues until the gospel work is complete.
Although this process may look neat and clean, it is anything but. Both parenting and pastoring are messy.
I can only imagine the frustrations and heartaches my emotional immaturity caused the Surratts and Bradfords in that early stage of my ministry, but I know both couples offered me lots of grace.
Grace is what we owe our protégés.
In Paul’s writings, charis, the Greek word for grace, has two basic senses.
The first sense is unmerited favor, as in Romans 3:23–24: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
The second is spiritual power, as Romans 12:6 depicts: “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.”
Good patrons know their protégés will mess up on their spiritual journeys and in their ministries.
Encountering people who cause pain offers the possibility to grow in discernment.
At those moments, patrons should model God’s unmerited favor.
Patrons also know their protégés need to grow stronger in spiritual power. At times, protégés can benefit from a pep talk or loving constructive criticism.
Whatever the situation, we owe our protégés grace in both senses of the term.
Pained and Pains
Pain is common to the fourth and fifth kind of people we meet in church. Whereas the pained are those who are affected by pain, the pains are those who inflict pain.
Let’s start with the pained.
The theme of pain is one that many Pentecostals want to avoid. We believe in physical healing and spiritual victory, and pain seems like a defeat on both counts.
Prosperity gospel proponents make things worse when they measure faith in terms of healing and victory. If we’re still in pain, the argument goes, it’s because we lack faith.
As someone who experiences chronic pain due to an autoimmune disease, I want healing. For years, I’ve prayed and sought the prayers of others.
I resent hearing I don’t have faith. Didn’t Jesus say I only needed a mustard seed’s worth (Matthew 17:20)? I’m pretty sure I have that much faith.
Yet 35 years after my diagnosis, I remain in pain. I know I will be healed. I just don’t know whether it will be today, tomorrow, or in eternity, when there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
While waiting, I have learned that pain offers an occasion for growing in grace.
Consider the suffering people Paul mentions in his list. Andronicus and Junia had been “in prison” with him (Romans 16:7), and Apelles had “stood the test” (16:10). All were likely victims of persecution for their faith and work.
Throughout the world, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing those pains right now through no fault of their own.
Paul knew the sting of such persecution personally. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:23, “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.”
On top of Paul’s other troubles, he experienced what he called a “thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul pleaded with the Lord to take it away, but Jesus replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9).
We all want grace and power. Pain offers us an occasion to grow by asking, “Do you want God more? Or do you want Him only for what He can give you?”
While the personal experience of pain presents an opportunity to mature in grace, observing people in pain can help us grow in compassion. As Paul put it, we should “rejoice with those who rejoice” and “mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15).
Christian empathy is more than feeling bad for others, however. It moves us to take action to ease their pain.
One of Paul’s major fundraising projects was a collection from Gentile churches to relieve the economic distress of the Jerusalem church.
Here’s how Paul described the effect of meeting needs: “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12).
Sometimes, God remedies pain directly, but often He uses us to meet people at their point of need.
In Romans 16:17–18, Paul moves from people affected by pain to those who inflict pain:
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
People outside the church caused pain for Andronicus, Junia, Apelles, and Paul, but the troublemakers in verses 17–18 were inside the church.
Early in my ministry, I was adult Sunday School director for a church. I also taught a Sunday School class.
One day, a man in his mid-30s joined the class. For the first few weeks, he was silent. Then he began participating. Over the course of the next few weeks, I noticed that almost all his questions centered on the King James Version of the Bible.
I came to realize this man was a King James Only advocate. When his questions turned into arguments that derailed careful lesson plans and frustrated other members of the class, I began working with him privately, trying to answer his seemingly bottomless well of questions.
Finally, I realized no amount of patient rebuttal could move the man from his obsession. So I asked him to leave the class. This allowed the entire group to refocus on the Bible rather than one person’s peculiar interpretations of it.
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul wrote, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.”
Encountering people who cause pain offers the possibility to grow in discernment.
Sometimes it’s our protégés who cause us pains. (And sometimes we cause others pain.) These pains are typically short-lived and call for correction and encouragement.
But when causing pain becomes a long-term pattern that negatively affects others in the church, rebuke is in order.
We need the Spirit’s wisdom to know when to give grace and when to stop throwing pearls to pigs (Matthew 7:6).
The Most Beautiful Church
The most beautiful church, the one with everlasting splendor, consists of the Christ followers around you.
I close with an observation, a question, and a return to St. Peter’s.
The observation is that our relationships are dynamic. Everyone begins the spiritual journey as a protégé, but as we mature, we become peers and patrons. Unfortunately, pain sometimes enters the equation, too.
The question is this: Where are you in your relationships today?
Identify the people in your life who are patrons, peers, and protégés, as well as those who are experiencing or causing pain. Then consider what you can do to acknowledge, encourage, help, and instruct them.
St. Peter’s Basilica is magnificent architecturally. But Scripture reveals a church is not a building. It comprises people in relationship with God and one another.
Buildings eventually crumble, but Christ’s church is eternal and has a glorious future. According to 1 Corinthians 15:52, “The trumpet will sound, the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
In his sermon, “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis said the following:
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
The most beautiful church, the one with everlasting splendor, consists of the Christ followers around you.
Keep that in mind the next time you gather with them to worship Jesus!
GEORGE P. WOOD is executive editor of Influence magazine.
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What We Believe About ...
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
A SERIES ON THE AG Statement of Fundamental Truths
ARTICLE 8
The Initial Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
The baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance (Acts 2:4).
The speaking in tongues in this instance is the same in essence as the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:4–10,28), but different in purpose and use.
By ALLEN TENNISON
Only one time in my life have I understood a message in tongues without interpretation.
While visiting a church overseas, I heard a non-English speaker praying in English. It wasn’t contemporary English, but more like Middle English. Still, I followed enough to recognize the message as glorifying God.
On another occasion, a woman from Japan visiting my home church reported hearing a message in tongues in her native language. It was her first time attending a Pentecostal church, and she came desperate to hear from God.
The woman not only received the encouragement she needed, but she was also surprised to hear someone else translating the message into English.
When the service ended, she tried unsuccessfully to converse in Japanese with the two individuals who had delivered the message and interpretation. That was when she learned for the first time about speaking in tongues.
After that, the woman faithfully attended every service, hoping to hear another message in tongues for her.
Such stories have been told throughout the Pentecostal movement. They are far from the norm, however.
For
Pentecostals, speaking in tongues is communication first to God, who recognizes every kind of speech, and then to the community.
While tongues speech may sometimes be recognizable to listeners, it is usually unintelligible, especially to the speaker. In fact, Pentecostals can recognize tongues speech because of its unintelligibility.
For Pentecostals, speaking in tongues is communication first to God, who recognizes every kind of speech, and then to the community. Even if all it communicates is the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is enough reason for Pentecostals to value tongues.
The only thing many people know about Pentecostals is that we speak in tongues. From the beginning, this practice has distinguished Pentecostalism, sometimes leading to scorn from outsiders.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of tongues to the Pentecostal movement. However, it is possible to make too much of tongues theologically, particularly when the practice becomes the main point rather than a form of communication pointing to something greater.
In Scripture
The practice of speaking in “other tongues” or “other languages” appears in three New Testament books: the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Acts, and 1 Corinthians.
In Mark 16:17, “speaking in tongues” is listed among the signs that accompany believers, along with exorcisms, healing, and picking up snakes. (As the longer ending of Mark, this is possibly a reference to Acts 28:3.)
A handful of verses in Acts 2, 10, and 19 mention speaking in tongues. Each reference is part of a narrative about the Holy Spirit’s outpouring on believers for empowerment (Acts 1:8).
In Acts 2:4, 120 followers are filled with the Spirit and begin speaking in other tongues as the Spirit enables them.
The crowd in Jerusalem marvels that they can hear the praise of God in their own languages (2:7–12). Onlookers ask the relevant question: “What does this mean?” (verse 12).
In every place where disciples speak in tongues, there is an answer to this question.
Peter tells the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel” (2:16). He connects the experience of speaking in tongues to the promise of the Spirit poured out on all flesh.
In Acts 10:46, Peter, along with other Jewish believers, recognizes that Cornelius and his household are praising God in tongues after hearing the gospel. What does this mean now that Gentiles speak in tongues?
Peter answers by welcoming Cornelius as a Spirit-filled brother in Christ. If Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit in the same way as the apostles, there is no question of receiving them, through water baptism, as full members of the Church.
Finally, in Acts 19:6, a group of disciples in Ephesus speak in tongues and prophesy after Paul baptizes them in water. What does this mean?
The story has come full circle. The Spirit has been poured out on Jews in Acts 2, Samaritans in Acts 8, and Gentiles in Acts 10. Now 12 Ephesian disciples from the ministry of John the Baptist — who ministered at the beginning of every gospel — receive Spirit baptism.
With the Jews, Gentiles, and disciples of John, the appearance of “tongues” signifies to the reader
that this is the same reception of the Spirit that occurred on the Day of Pentecost.
The same spiritual manifestation signifies the same gift of the same Spirit given to those who belong to the same family of God.
Luke’s use of speaking in tongues throughout Acts points to a special relationship with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The first mention of speaking in tongues is on the Day of Pentecost. Every occurrence thereafter happens when someone is being filled with the Spirit.
While Luke does not mention speaking in tongues as accompanying the Spirit baptism of the Samaritans in Acts 8, something made the event obvious to everyone, including a former occultist.
Although Luke does not specify the reason for that recognition, an established pattern in Acts suggests they spoke in tongues.
In Acts 9, Ananias prays for Paul to be baptized in the Spirit. The only sign mentioned for Paul is the loss of scales from his eyes — a healing necessitated by his experience of Jesus. However, Paul later testified of speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:18).
The point is not that Luke mentions speaking in tongues in every occurrence of Spirit baptism in Acts (though no occurrence names other evidence without also naming tongues). Rather, every time Luke mentions speaking in tongues in Acts, someone is being filled with the Holy Spirit
Paul does not bring up Spirit baptism in 1 Corinthians 12–14, which contains the greatest number of references to the practice of speaking in tongues. Paul is not writing about the recognition of the gift of the Spirit, but about the recognition of all spiritual gifts as having the same source in the Spirit of God.
In 1 Corinthians 12:10,28–30, Paul does not list every spiritual gift because his objective is to connect all kinds of spiritual gifts back to their source in the same Spirit.
No believer should expect to exercise every gift of the Spirit, but the Spirit gives gifts to every believer.
That is the point of Paul’s rhetorical question of whether everyone speaks in tongues (12:30). The implied answer is “no” because Paul is referring to the exercise of tongues during corporate worship, not speaking in tongues as evidence of Spirit baptism.
In 1 Corinthians 13:1–8, Paul emphasizes that no spiritual gift, including speaking in tongues, is meaningful apart from love. Believers will not need spiritual gifts in eternity, while love will remain.
Chapter 14 defends the practice of speaking in tongues for personal edification, but not in place of public edification. Paul expresses the desire that all would speak in tongues, though not to the detriment of the community.
The one who speaks in tongues directs these words to God, while prophesy is communication to others. The former edifies the individual praying, while the latter edifies the whole community.
Paul encourages the exercise of prophesy over speaking in tongues in corporate gatherings, except when there is an interpretation of tongues speech.
Further, Paul instructs the church to limit the number of messages in tongues during meetings. Paul does not restrict the use of tongues as personal prayer, but as an interrupting manifestation of the Spirit during gatherings.
Understanding the human tendency to turn specific instructions into broader principles, Paul warns the church not to prohibit people from speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:39).
Again, Paul does not address the connection of speaking in tongues to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is concerned about usefulness of speaking in tongues in the corporate worship of an already Spirit-filled community.
There is evidence that the spiritual manifestations today’s Pentecostals embrace were common in the early centuries of Christianity as well.
The Gospel of Mark refers to speaking in tongues as one of the signs accompanying believers. The Book of Acts establishes that speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of Spirit baptism.
In History
Mark, Acts, and 1 Corinthians suggest that speaking in tongues was a common practice in the New Testament Church. When did that practice disappear
in Church history? What about other spiritual gifts, such as prophecy or healing?
There is evidence that the spiritual manifestations today’s Pentecostals embrace were common in the early centuries of Christianity as well.
During the second century, Christian authors wrote about spiritual gifts as an ongoing expectation of believers.
When a power struggle broke out between lay prophets and bishops, the response of church leaders was not to downplay the importance of spiritual gifts, but to highlight their own spiritual giftedness, especially in prophecy.
Over time, church leaders suppressed lay ministry. By the third century, leaders like Bishop Cyprian of Carthage claimed a monopoly on spiritual gifts, making parishioners dependent on clergy for direction. This limited the Church’s experience of the Spirit.
By the fourth century, church leaders wrote with an awareness that New Testament spiritual manifestations were no longer the common experience of Christians in their time. Augustine argued that speaking in tongues ceased to be a sign of the Spirit’s activity.
Within medieval Catholicism, there were times when certain individuals became known for exercising spiritual gifts, such as healing or prophecy, while some regions experienced charismatic revival.
Early Protestantism divided over the usefulness and expectation of charismatic gifts. Protestant charismatics such as Thomas Müntzer taught that Christians should experience the Holy Spirit as the apostles did, with a post-conversion Spirit baptism resulting in spiritual gifts.
Meanwhile, both Martin Luther and John Calvin rejected the notion that speaking in tongues was available to believers of their time, even if it accompanied Spirit baptism in the New Testament.
By the 18th century, some Protestant groups — including the Lutheran Pietists and English Methodists — were nevertheless experiencing manifestations of the Spirit.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Catholic Apostolic Church became known for speaking in tongues. The group’s founder, Presbyterian Edward Irving, used the language of “standing sign” to describe the special relationship of speaking in tongues to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In fact, some of the earliest Pentecostals were called Irvingites.
Revivals from Wales to Russia during the latter part of the 19th century included speaking in tongues. Some in the United States also claimed the experience of Spirit baptism, accompanied by speaking in tongues, before 1900.
On New Year’s Day 1901, a revival broke out at a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, with participants speaking in tongues.
The Topeka school’s founder, Charles Parham, had previously witnessed speaking in tongues at another Bible school in Maine. However, participants there didn’t make as much of it as Parham did.
Looking to the Book of Acts, Parham defined the experience as the “Bible evidence” of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
From that time, “evidence” became the most common way within Pentecostalism to describe the special relationship between Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues.
‘Initial Physical Evidence’
Early Pentecostals saw in the Book of Acts a model the Church should expect, experience, and replicate. Acts highlights a special relationship between speaking in tongues and the baptism in the Spirit. The question was how to define that relationship.
Parham’s “evidence” terminology did not come from Scripture, but from a post-Enlightenment culture with an interest in scientific language.
Some Pentecostals preferred the term “sign,” drawing from Mark 16:17. However, most embraced Parham’s term and accepted tongues as proof of Spirit baptism.
Article 8 in the Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths uses the language of both “evidence” and “sign,” the former in the title and the latter in the paragraph. By including both, “evidence” is treated as synonymous with “sign” in regard to describing that special relationship.
Looking to the Book of Acts, Pentecostals noted that speaking in tongues began on the Day of Pentecost, happened repeatedly during later Spirit baptisms, and demonstrated to the apostles that God was pouring out His Spirit on all kinds of people.
E.N. Bell, the first general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, wrote that if speaking in tongues convinced the apostles that Gentiles had received the Spirit baptism in Acts 10:46, it should “be so recognized by Christians” in modern times.
There could be many inward signs of the Spirit, but speaking in tongues was an outward experience others witnessed and confirmed. In that sense, it functioned communally.
For some Pentecostals, the physical nature of speaking in tongues made the reception of Spirit baptism a concrete experience that is more difficult to fake.
William Durham, a significant Pentecostal influence on the Assemblies of God, defended the need for physical evidence. Otherwise, Durham said, anyone might “kneel a few minutes and rise saying, ‘I have the Holy Spirit.’”
Aware of the potential for fraud or spiritual deception, early Pentecostals specified that they spoke in tongues “as the Spirit giveth utterance.” This made a distinction between genuine tongues speech and counterfeits, whether coming from the flesh or the devil.
Parham introduced the term “evidence,” but he further defined speaking in tongues as the “Bible evidence” of Spirit baptism.
That terminology was replaced by the phrase “outward evidence,” which gained popularity around the time of the Azusa Street Revival (though this language originated in Chicago rather than Los Angeles).
Outward evidence suggests there is internal change as well, including spiritual power for witnessing. Early Pentecostals did not want “Bible evidence” to be interpreted to mean “only outcome” for Spirit baptism.
Another phrase, “initial evidence,” highlighted speaking in tongues not as the purpose of Spirit baptism, but as the first outward sign of this inner change, with more to come.
The Statement of Fundamental Truths modified this to “initial physical evidence.” The adjective
As evidence, speaking in tongues signifies baptism in the Spirit.
As a spiritual gift, it edifies believers.
“physical,” like “outward,” allowed for the existence of inward or spiritual evidences of Spirit baptism. The term “initial” was used to signify that speaking in tongues was only a beginning within the Spirit-filled life, and should not be confused with the fullness of the gift of the Spirit. “Initial” meant not only first, but also that there were more works of the Spirit to come.
If Spirit-filled living produces greater love in a Christian’s life, for example, this is not an initial evidence. However, such spiritual fruit is a more substantial evidence of the Spirit’s ongoing work (Galatians 5:22–23).
During the 1920s, Harvey McAlister explained the difference in the Pentecostal Evangel: It is right and proper to speak of this supernatural sign [speaking in tongues] as the initial, physical evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in fullness within the believer. I prefer this term rather than the term “Bible evidence.” What is the difference? If you believe that speaking with tongues supernaturally is the only evidence, then as soon as the Holy Spirit comes within
and gives utterance, you will feel that you have reached a climax; but, if you believe that speaking with tongues supernaturally is simply the initial or the first physical evidence or result, you will not feel, upon bursting forth and speaking in the beautiful heavenly languages, that you have reached a climax. You will feel that you have just been ushered into the supernatural realm and will naturally continue to yield your whole life into the control of the blessed Holy Spirit and expect additional manifestations, graces, and gifts.
Initial physical evidence describes the special relationship between the practice of speaking in tongues and the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit. This language is not used to put speaking in tongues on a pedestal, but to keep speaking in tongues in its place.
The ability to speak in tongues is not the reason for God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. Rather, Spirit baptism empowers believers to proclaim boldly the gospel of Jesus in our known languages.
Article 8 further distinguishes speaking in tongues as evidence of Spirit baptism from the gift of tongues. While they are the same in essence — speaking or praying in a language the speaker does not know — they do not share the same purpose.
The Assemblies of God does not teach that speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of Spirit baptism has the same usefulness as tongues as a spiritual gift.
As evidence, speaking in tongues signifies baptism in the Spirit. As a spiritual gift, it edifies believers.
In 1 Corinthians 14, speaking in tongues edified individual believers who prayed to God in the Spirit (verses 2–4). When accompanied by interpretation within corporate worship, speaking in tongues edified the local church as people understood the message (verses 13–19).
Pastoral Practice
Pastors should approach speaking in tongues with a concern for balance.
Many Christian traditions have prohibited tongues in practice, even if not in doctrine. Conversely, some congregations have emphasized speaking in tongues to the point of neglecting or even excluding other spiritual gifts.
We must be careful to avoid both extremes. When accompanied by an interpretation, speaking in tongues can edify a local congregation. For that to happen, believers must be willing to speak, and the congregation ready to listen, at the appropriate time.
If messages in tongues become rare events within our worship, we should ask why. Does our community know how to speak and listen? Is our worship inviting full participation? Does our programming discourage unscripted moments?
At the same time, early Pentecostals left us warnings about speaking in tongues becoming the predominant spiritual gift in corporate worship. Only a full restoration of spiritual gifts is truly Pentecostal.
We should encourage the appropriate operation of speaking gifts from the pews, including tongues and interpretation. If we rely exclusively on the interpretation of tongues, however, those with a
Generations of Pentecostals have testified to the beauty and blessing of regularly praying in tongues.
prophetic word will wait for a message in tongues before they feel they have permission to speak.
Prophecy does not require tongues. All gifts aimed at the edification of the congregation, however, require evaluation and discernment (1 Corinthians 14:29).
Speaking in tongues also edifies individual believers as a prayer language. Pastors should encourage this personal practice.
Generations of Pentecostals have testified to the beauty and blessing of regularly praying in tongues. Whether as worship (1 Corinthians 14:2) or prayer offered in place of the weakness of our own words, speaking in tongues is interaction with God, who is intimately involved in our prayer lives as both Intercessor and King.
We must also teach people that the act of praying in tongues is not outside of their control (1 Corinthians 14:32). Speaking in tongues within a corporate setting should not become a distraction that keeps other people from praying or worshipping.
A person who speaks in tongues during public worship is subject to correction from leaders.
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Praying in tongues edifies believers but should not completely replace praying with our understanding. God wants to commune with both our spirits and our minds (1 Corinthians 14:14–15).
As Pentecostals, we also believe that speaking in tongues provides evidence of the reception of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Christians who pray for Spirit baptism should expect tongues.
We must remind people that it is the Spirit they are seeking, not tongues.
Pastors can assure anxious congregants that there is no reason to fear this gift. Baptism in the Holy Spirit does not involve a loss of motor control. The Spirit provides the language, but the believer chooses to speak.
We must remind people that it is the Spirit they are seeking, not tongues. Because we believe that speaking in tongues always accompanies Spirit baptism, we don’t have to push people to speak in tongues. We can simply teach believers what will happen and lead them to pray expectantly for God’s Spirit.
Further, we must remember that the purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is empowerment for witness (Acts 1:8). The Assemblies of God chose the language of “initial physical evidence” to describe speaking in tongues so that we would never confuse it with the gift of the Spirit.
If we ask people how they are living out the Spirit-filled life, we should be concerned with their witness in public, not just their private prayer habits.
Articles 7 (“The Baptism in the Holy Spirit”) and 8 are distinct fundamental truths, but not because they share the same theological weight. By separating the two, we avoid conflating them, as though speaking in tongues is all there is to Spirit baptism. Speaking in tongues is the sign of a greater work.
Pentecostal teacher Donald Gee cautioned Assemblies of God adherents on this point in a 1930 issue of the Pentecostal Evangel. Regarding speaking in tongues, Gee said “such a doctrine can only be described as ‘fundamental’ in a strictly relative sense.”
Gee described his view this way: The value of the “initial evidence” exists only because the value of the experience of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is beyond calculation. A ticket for a long railway journey is valuable to the purchaser only because of the journey he desires to make. Who would buy a ticket for the ticket’s sake if they had no intention of traveling? So it is not the “tongues” themselves that are transcendently important; but it is the fact of the believer being filled with the Spirit of God.
ALLEN TENNISON, Ph.D., serves as theological counsel to The General Council of the Assemblies of God and chairs its Commission on Doctrines and Practices.
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
George A. Rafidi and Michael Calise agree Jesus is the answer
By JOHN W. KENNEDY
In a world where people of ethnic Arabic and Jewish heritage routinely are at odds, sometimes lethally, an exception is in the U.S. Assemblies of God.
George A. Rafidi, president of the Arabic Assemblies of God Fellowship, USA, and Michael Calise, president of the National Jewish Fellowship of the AG, are friends.
“The same Messiah rules in the hearts of George Rafidi and me,” says Calise, who since 2013 has
led the Jewish Fellowship, one of 24 ethnic and language groups in the AG. “This picture of unity and love is a spiritual happening between two people who ordinarily wouldn’t be at peace with each other.”
Conflict between the ethnicities accelerated with the nation of Israel’s formation in 1948. Over the past year, tensions have heightened since the onset of war between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip.
“While Michael and I may have different points of view, the bottom line is both of our people need Jesus,” says Rafidi, who has led the Arabic Fellowship since its 2005 formation.
The son of a Greek Orthodox pastor, Rafidi was born and raised in Jerusalem. He attended a private Christian high school outside Bethlehem and accepted Christ at a church in Jerusalem.
Rafidi matriculated at Jerusalem International Bible College, an AG school. He married American missionary Jessica Masarik, who taught at the college.
The couple moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where in 1996 they pioneered Arab Outreach Ministries (AG), with George serving as senior pastor.
George A. Rafidi
Michael Calise
For the past 18 years, the Rafidis have lived in Orlando, Florida. An AG U.S. missionary with Intercultural Ministries since 2000, Rafidi oversees churches in Jacksonville and Tampa. He works with 30 pastors and missionaries.
Calise grew up in a Long Island, New York, family with a Jewish mother. He came to faith in Jesus after a Christian brother-in-law evangelized him for four years.
“We must get Jewish people to look at Scriptures for themselves, to think for themselves, and to allow the Holy Spirit to show that Jesus is a safe place for them,” Calise says. “In our interactions, instead of walls to the gospel going up, we want walls to come down.”
Rather than encountering stained-glass windows or crosses, visitors to Beth Emanuel see the Torah, listen to Hebrew, observe Jewish holy days such as Yom Kippur, and experience a presentation of the Messiah from a Jewish perspective.
This picture of unity and love is a spiritual happening between two people who ordinarily wouldn’t be at peace with each other. — Michael Calise
During his last semester of Bible college, Calise attended Beth Emanuel Messianic Synagogue (AG) in Holbrook, New York, where he met staff member Carol Casebolt. Upon graduation, Calise joined the staff. He married Casebolt, and since 1994 the couple has led the congregation.
Despite their different backgrounds, Calise and Rafidi share common obstacles in reaching their ethnic groups. Only 5% of Palestinians and 1% of the Jewish population are Christians.
Most ethnic Arabs and Jews traditionally have eschewed Christianity.
“We preach the truth of Yeshua boldly,” Calise says. “Calling Him the Messiah in a Jewish context speaks to them in a powerful way.”
Meanwhile, Rafidi reaches Arabs for Christ through friendship evangelism and compassionate sincerity. Arabic Christians work with refugees from countries like Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Syria, providing assistance with job applications, transportation to medical appointments, and driving instruction.
One of the main misunderstandings Christians have about Muslims is that the majority are terrorists or suicide bombers. But 99% are just people who go to work or school. They are people who want peace. They are tired of fighting. — George A. Rafidi
Calise explains that Jews hear from early childhood that Jesus is not for them. They learn that Jewish persecution throughout history has happened at the hands of, or at least with tacit approval from, Christians.
The main obstacle to conversion among Arabic people is fear of severing family ties, according to Rafidi. Many Arabs worry that following Jesus will result in loved ones disowning them.
Both Rafidi and Calise deal with misperceptions and stereotypes from fellow believers.
“One of the main misunderstandings Christians have about Muslims is that the majority are terrorists or suicide bombers,” Rafidi says. “But 99% are just people who go to work or school. They are people who want peace. They are tired of fighting.”
Calise says many Christians don’t realize that the majority of Jews aren’t religious.
“Often Christians assume Jewish people know the Bible well, but for the most part, that’s not true,” Calise says. “Most Jewish people are secular.”
Both Rafidi and Calise pray daily for an end to conflict in the Middle East.
Often Christians assume Jewish people know the Bible well, but for the most part, that’s not true. Most Jewish people are secular. — Michael Calise
Calise also notes that antisemitism is at its highest level in decades.
In November 2022, the AG Executive Presbytery issued a statement recognizing that “recent social, political, and economic upheaval has led to increased targeting of the Jewish world.”
“My biggest concern is for innocent people on both sides, the women and children being killed and going to an eternity without Jesus,” Rafidi says.
Calise views the war as an extension of the threat to exterminate Jews, starting with the biblical account in Esther and continuing through the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Holocaust.
Churches need to pray with an open mind for all people. Believe it or not, Jesus died for the Arabs. Nobody chose to be born into an Arab Muslim family
— George A. Rafidi
The statement reiterated the AG’s sense of urgency “to show unequivocal support of the Jewish people by repudiating every source, vehicle, or channel of antisemitism” and “to confront hatred, verbal abuse, negative stereotypes, conspiracy theories, propaganda, and attacks on the lives of Jewish people.”
Rafidi says he still talks with Christian leaders who are afraid to pray for Arabs.
“Churches need to pray with an open mind for all people,” Rafidi says. “Believe it or not, Jesus died for the Arabs. Nobody chose to be born into an Arab Muslim family.”
“There has always been a Haman ready to annihilate the Jewish people,” Calise says.
Still, the two leaders are optimistic about the future.
“There is always hope in Christ,” Rafidi says. “Despite people dying in the conflict, we must daily keep our eyes focused on Jesus. Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Calise adds, “God can miraculously change hearts, lives, dispositions, and affections.”
JOHN W. KENNEDY is a freelance journalist in Springfield, Missouri. He previously worked as news editor of Christianity Today, the Pentecostal Evangel, and AG News.
MINISTRY | PREACHING
When Preaching Offends Stewarding
hard truths for the sake of the gospel
By CHASE REPLOGLE
More than half (53%) of U.S. adults believe “people saying offensive things” is a major problem, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center report.
In the same survey, 65% said it’s a big problem that people are “too easily offended.”
These figures shouldn’t surprise preachers. We feel the cultural tension as we prepare and deliver sermons each week.
Some preachers are careful to avoid offending anyone, even if it means compromising the message. Others seem determined to provoke offense at every turn.
A few years ago, I set aside 12 months to preach through John’s Gospel. I thought focusing on Jesus’ words would help me avoid offense. I was wrong.
The Gospels reveal a Savior who offended many people. Jesus offended the residents of His hometown (Matthew 13:54–57), religious leaders (Matthew 15:12), and even His own disciples (John 6:61).
Jesus referred to hypocritical religious leaders as snakes and suggested some belonged to a “wicked and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:34,39). He rebuked Peter with the words, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Mark 8:33). During a conversation with
a Greek woman, Jesus compared Gentiles to dogs (Mark 7:27).
Don’t be too quick to explain away those hard words. Jesus used them to confront opposition to the gospel, correct wrong theology, and spur faith.
Jesus was not the swaggering, contemptuous brawler some modern preachers have made Him out to be. At the same time, Jesus never shied away from truth. He is truth (John 14:6). We shouldn’t put words in Jesus’ mouth, but neither should we take them away.
Avoiding offense at all costs means withholding the truth and the opportunity for change. Jesus risked offending to expose sin and point people to eternal life.
Although Jesus was willing to risk offense for the sake of the gospel, He was also sensitive to the needs of others. In fact, Jesus showed remarkable compassion toward individuals society didn’t mind offending.
I’ve come to realize Jesus was a steward of offense. This lesson has guided my own preaching as I consider what to include — and what to cut.
Rock of Offense
Quoting Old Testament passages, 1 Peter 2:6–8 compares Jesus to both a cornerstone and stumbling block (ESV).
A stumbling block was an obstacle that could cause a traveler to trip and fall. Leviticus 19:14 prohibited putting a stumbling block in the path of a blind person.
Isaiah 8:14 used this image in a surprising way, prophesying that the rebellious would encounter God as a “stone of offense and a rock of stumbling” (ESV). This is the verse 1 Peter 2:8 references.
God sometimes made himself an obstacle to block Israel’s pursuit of false gods. He wanted His people to repent and not fall. But risking offense was the only way to get their attention.
If someone is sprinting toward the edge of a cliff, tripping that person might prevent a more serious fall. Similarly, offense can be a form of revelation that breaks our stride and forces us to reconsider our path.
When people hear a clear presentation of the gospel, they encounter God as either an obstacle to stumble across or a foundation upon which to build a new life. Listeners may respond with frustration or change, offense or humility.
To be clear, the one who offends is not always right. Offense is sometimes given for the wrong reasons.
However, avoiding offense at all costs means withholding the truth and the opportunity for change. Jesus risked offending to expose sin and point people to eternal life.
The gospel rightly preached will cause offense — and inspire faith (1 Corinthians 1:23–24). Genuine faith overcomes offense.
We must preach Jesus’ words, hard as they may be. Anything less removes the obstacle that opens blind eyes and sets wayward feet on the path of righteousness.
To Offend — or Not
Is offending from the pulpit proof we’ve done our job as preachers? Not quite.
Although Jesus risked offending in some instances, generating controversy was not the point. Sometimes, Jesus even went out of His way to avoid offense.
For example, when Peter asked about paying the temple tax, Jesus explained that kings do not tax their sons. Despite having no obligation to pay, though, Jesus gave Peter instructions for securing the funds “so that we may not cause offense” (Matthew 17:27).
After offending some of the most powerful leaders in Israel, Jesus suddenly seemed reluctant to offend a common Galilean tax collector.
Jesus had a right to deny payment, but what would He have gained by doing so? Defending His own rights was not Jesus’ mission. He came to reconcile people to God.
Understanding that the wrong offense could become an obstacle to people encountering the essential offense, Jesus navigated every situation wisely and purposefully.
Preachers must learn to steward the offense of Christ and His words. Offending someone is never the goal, but it is always a risk when proclaiming the gospel.
There are moments when offense is necessary. Other times, it is a needless distraction from the gospel. Jesus didn’t offend for the sake of winning arguments, making political points, or humiliating others. He risked offense only to draw people closer to God’s truth.
Stewarding Offense
Preachers must learn to steward the offense of Christ and His words. Offending someone is never the goal, but it is always a risk when proclaiming the gospel.
Our task is to speak the truth with compassion, without making ourselves the obstacle. Keeping four guidelines in mind makes it easier to strike the right balance.
First, risk Jesus’ words, not your own. When preachers interject personal opinions, listeners may struggle to differentiate those views from biblical instruction.
Make it a goal to preach Jesus’ words with greater boldness, without adding your own spin. The gospel will offend some. But if we offend people with our opinions, they might miss Christ’s penetrating truth.
Second, wrestle with the offense personally. When did you last allow Jesus to speak difficult truths to you? Don’t wield Christ’s hard words without submitting to them.
A sermon should work in the preacher’s heart first. If you have not felt its conviction, you are in no place to offer it to others.
Third, avoid singling out individuals or groups. If you tend to offend the same people repeatedly, you probably aren’t stewarding offense well.
Jesus’ hard words are for everyone. They are not weapons to use against opponents.
Finally, remind listeners that fallen humanity is often blind to its deepest needs. What we think we need is not always what God wants to do in our lives.
Talk about how Jesus’ hard words have shaped your perspective and changed how you live.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. His message wasn’t popular with everyone. Some found it so offensive they sought to silence Him even by death. Yet we can preach the gospel without shame, knowing “it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
Don’t use the offense of the Cross as an excuse to be offensive. Instead, preach Jesus’ hard words to help people see their need for Him.
Like a surgeon who cuts with precision, the gospel lays bare the hidden places of our hearts to bring healing and wholeness.
Preachers shouldn’t deliver this message in a harsh or clumsy way, but neither should we neglect it. Jesus’ words are what the world most needs right now.
CHASE REPLOGLE
is pastor of Bent Oak Church (AG) in Springfield, Missouri, and author of A Sharp Compassion: 7 Hard Words to Heal Our Insecurities and Free Us from Offense.
Hitting the Right Notes Choose songs that resonate with your congregation
By ALEX DE JESÚS GOMEZ
Scanning the sanctuary , I realized the song we were passionately belting out from the platform was not resonating with the congregation.
Many congregants weren’t worshipping at all. They were just standing there, not even attempting to sing along.
Can you relate?
As worship pastors, we put a lot of thought into song selections. Each week, we wrestle with what to include and what to leave out. We carefully consider the congregation’s musical tastes and spiritual depth, as well as the service’s overarching theme.
We try to choose set lists that will speak to people’s hearts, while also striking the right balance between familiar favorites and new songs. We listen attentively to the needs of the church community. And we pray fervently for the Holy Spirit to lead worshippers into meaningful encounters with God.
Despite our good intentions and earnest efforts, a song may fall flat. It happens, sometimes inexplicably and unpredictably.
Nevertheless, I have discovered three criteria for selecting songs that hit the right notes — most of the time. I look for music that engages worshippers, reflects our congregation’s diversity, and upholds biblical truth.
Engagement
Every congregation is different. To keep participants actively engaged during worship, it’s important to learn what resonates with them.
What encourages people in their walk with Jesus and inspires them to join in sincere praise?
My Chicago congregation loves upbeat, highenergy music, so we frequently incorporate songs with those characteristics.
Our church includes many Latino members who like to move, dance, jump, and shout. That is an important consideration when making song selections. We want them to be engaged.
Your congregation may prefer slower, softer worship songs. That’s OK. The goal is engaging people in worship. Do what works in your context.
Diversity
No church community is homogeneous. Even a congregation with little racial or ethnic diversity will have a range of musical preferences.
Praising God with a blend of old and new songs is a beautiful and inclusive practice for multigenerational congregations.
Every generation declares God’s glory in its own way. Our song selections should acknowledge that truth as we come together to worship with believers of all ages. People are also experiencing different seasons — with highs, lows, and everything in between. Celebratory praise is wonderful. But there is also a place for expressing Christ-focused lamentation, longing, repentance, desperation, and quiet awe. Develop a versatile and well-rounded song bank from which you can draw.
Having a diverse set list means adding new songs as well. I once printed Psalm 33:3 on our worship team’s manual: “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
I wanted to remind team members that they needed to learn new songs and play them with excellence and enthusiasm.
God is constantly working in the lives of His people, and that calls for new expressions of praise. If we can talk about what God has done for us, we can also sing about it. Many worship songs are lyrical testimonies. This is why I love both old and new music. When I hear certain songs from my past, it takes me back to special times and places in my walk with God.
Meanwhile, new songs remind me that God is still at work in my life and the lives of others. He reveals His love and compassion afresh every day (Lamentations 3:22–23).
Every generation declares God’s glory in its own way. Our song selections should acknowledge that truth as we come together to worship with believers of all ages.
Sometimes, intentional diversity in worship takes a special effort. One Christmas Eve, we sang “Silent Night” in five different languages. Not all of those languages were represented in the congregation, but we wanted people to get a glimpse of the worship taking place around the world at Christmastime.
It took a lot of work for our singers to learn those languages, with correct diction and syntax. However, it was worth the effort.
This challenge took us out of our comfort zones, and congregants enjoyed singing along. Even if they didn’t understand the words, they knew we were glorifying God.
Worship can stretch us and bring us together. We don’t know what the language of heaven will be, but Scripture tells us that all kinds of people will worship before God’s throne (Revelation 7:9).
Truth
Choose songs that align with the Spirit-inspired message of Scripture. Think about what the lyrics teach regarding various aspects of Christian theology, such as the characteristics and attributes of God, the nature of Christ’s atonement, and our Blessed Hope.
If people walk away from a worship service mentally playing a song on repeat, I want it to be one that reminds them who God is, what He has done, and how He is redeeming creation through Christ.
When evaluating a song, consider whether it is biblically sound and points to Jesus. Does the song help people learn more about God, or does it focus mostly on human concerns?
If people walk away from a worship service mentally playing a song on repeat, I want it to be one that reminds them who God is, what He has done, and how He is redeeming creation through Christ.
Every worship service should magnify Jesus, proclaim the gospel, uphold biblical truths, and help believers grow in faith. These things are not just the preacher’s responsibility. The worship leader and musicians play important roles in evangelism and discipleship as well.
The songs we sing should help attendees understand why we worship and whom we worship. The goal of every worship team should be creating an atmosphere where people will hear about, encounter, and glorify God.
Choosing music that facilitates these moments is crucial. Relevance is not a matter of replicating what’s popular on Christian radio. As worship leaders, we need to ask ourselves, Does this song exalt Jesus?
Not every Christian song I enjoy is appropriate for worship during church. There are a couple of reasons why.
First, some songs talk more about human feelings than God’s character. Worship should focus on God, not self.
Lyrics that are more reflective than worshipful might work well for a particular segment of a service. But worship should lift up God above all else.
Second, most church worship teams don’t have the skill set to play every song. We need to be
realistic about what we can pull off, and consider whether the congregation will be able to participate. Even when the lyrics are theologically sound, poor delivery can become a hindrance to worship.
As worship leaders, we want to see people encounter God and experience life change. The songs we choose can help create an environment for those things to happen.
Of course, no song service will please every person in attendance. We can’t deliver personalized playlists from the platform.
What we can do is rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us in our song selections and work through our best efforts.
The Spirt knows what people are going through and what they need to hear. We can trust Him to speak to hearts and draw each person into a lifegiving, worshipful relationship with Jesus.
ALEX DE JESÚS GOMEZ is the founder and leader of Free Worship, the worship ministry of New Life Covenant Church (AG). She also serves as conference lead for Gather Together, a conference to connect and support worship teams in the Assemblies of God.
No Place Like Home How to help families disciple children
By BRIAN DEMBOWCZYK
KidMin leaders know that a child’s discipleship should start at home.
The Bible clearly points to this reality (Deuteronomy 4:9; 11:19; Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4). Yet many parents seem content relegating the responsibility of spiritual instruction to the local church.
It’s a challenging issue for children’s pastors. As tempting as it might be, however, we can’t dismiss family discipleship as an unattainable dream.
A supportive environment can go a long way toward equipping families for success.
Gracious Interaction
Before talking with parishioners about their home lives, we need to examine ourselves.
Frustration is understandable, but directing those feelings toward others is unhelpful.
Parents and guardians need grace, not guilt trips. Recognizing where they are and helping them take steps toward where they need to be is one way to demonstrate Christ’s love.
Work with each family to set realistic goals. For example, challenge parents to devote at least 10 minutes weekly to reading the Bible together. That may not seem like much to you, but it’s a start. It’s also more than many families are currently doing.
From there, provide incremental steps to help parents build on the habit.
Celebrate even the smallest wins with families. When there are disappointments, graciously help them get back on track.
Such interaction requires personal relationships. Addressing parents and guardians as a group may work for announcements, but discipleship calls for relational investments.
Each family has different needs and challenges. Make it a point to get acquainted not only with the kids in your group, but also with the people who are raising them.
Customizing strategies is hard work, but it’s far more fruitful than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Purposeful Discipleship
Baseball player and manager Yogi Berra famously quipped, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”
Parents and guardians need ongoing guidance, support, and encouragement as they disciple the children in their care. They need coaching — both as a group and individually.
That’s certainly true of discipleship. Both in the church and at home, discipleship should have a destination in view. It’s important to make sure everyone involved understands the objective.
Some people assume merely teaching about Jesus is enough. Certainly, we want children to understand that Jesus is real, and the Bible is about Him. This knowledge lays a foundation, but it’s not the destination. It’s a launching point.
Discipleship isn’t simply transferring information. The objective is for hearers to do something with that knowledge. Tragically, there are many people who don’t have a saving relationship with Christ despite attending church and hearing about Jesus during childhood.
Conversion, while critically important, isn’t the end goal of discipleship either. Every salvation moment is cause for celebration. Yet it is just the beginning of the discipleship journey.
Jesus called His disciples with the words, “Follow me.” This calling wasn’t for a short time, but for a lifetime (Luke 14:27; John 10:27). The goal of discipleship is for people to become like Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Our job as KidMin leaders is partnering with parents to help children grow spiritually. While it starts with lessons about Jesus, we ultimately want to see kids living like Christ as the Holy Spirit shapes them into His image (Romans 8:29; Philippians 1:6).
The north star of discipleship is raising kids who “follow God’s example” and “walk in the way of love” (Ephesians 5:1–2). When children’s leaders and parents work together toward that goal, lives will change for eternity.
Ongoing Coaching
With some topics, it might be enough to provide a quick overview and hand over a resource or two. Family discipleship isn’t one of them.
Parents and guardians need ongoing guidance, support, and encouragement as they disciple the children in their care. They need coaching — both as a group and individually.
Point them to God’s good design for family discipleship. Explain that the goal of discipleship is long-term faith. And assure them that it’s OK to start with small steps.
This can happen during a group coaching session. Make the training accessible for those who are unable to attend by recording and posting it online for parents to view at their convenience.
Don’t stop there, though. Provide families with a home discipleship blueprint to follow each week. Create a brief discussion guide based on what you covered during your children’s services.
Include the main Bible passage, a simple question or two, a prayer prompt, and a suggestion for applying this lesson during the week ahead. You might even add an optional worship song and family activity for those who want to take their home discipleship a step further.
Then, come alongside individual families to coach them on how to use that plan, personalize it, and expand it in both scope and frequency.
Offer families a variety of tools, including books, devotionals and podcasts. Provide strategies and tips, such as suggestions for sharing the gospel and leading children to Christ.
Compile as many resources as you can. Families will have their own ideas and styles, which is fine. The goal isn’t for all parents to disciple the same way, but for everyone to be moving toward the same goal — both at home and in church.
As you coach parents, don’t think just in terms of structured family devotionals, as important as those are. The sweet spot of family discipleship is the rest of the week — the normal rhythms of life.
Consider the words of Deuteronomy 6:6–9: These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Each day, parents can help their children understand that living like Jesus isn’t just a topic for church.
In a modern context, this might involve praying in the car on the way to school, discussing what the Bible teaches about a particular movie theme, or talking about how to represent Jesus on the soccer field.
Such moments present some of the best discipleship opportunities. Each day, parents can help their children understand that living like Jesus isn’t just a topic for church. Kids need to know that their faith is an integral part of daily living.
When parents and KidMin leaders link arms in discipleship, lessons at home can reinforce what we teach at church, and vice versa.
Family discipleship is possible. As children’s pastors come alongside parents with a supportive posture, clear purpose, and realistic plan, ministry will move beyond the walls of the church.
BRIAN DEMBOWCZYK , Ph.D., is associate publisher at Thomas Nelson Bibles and an adjunct instructor at Lancaster Bible College/Capital Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is author of Family Discipleship That Works.
Disciples Who Make Disciples
Equipping teens to reach their friends for Christ
By JESSICA RINER
During 2023, I led a district Youth Alive event in Georgia, training students to share the gospel with their friends.
Rogelio was among those in attendance. This teen embraced the challenge and immediately started outreach efforts at his school.
The first week, Rogelio led a friend to Christ. Within three weeks, 20 of Rogelio’s classmates had become new believers.
As Rogelio and other students from his church continued sharing their faith, they made converts almost weekly.
A few months later, I organized another training event at Rogelio’s church. By the end of that school year, more than 100 teens had accepted Christ as Savior in response to evangelism efforts from Rogelio and his friends.
About a dozen of these students regularly attend church with Rogelio today, and the congregation’s youth ministry continues to grow.
One of the best ways to reach young people for Christ is through other members of their generation. Teenagers interact with, and influence one another, every day during school hours and beyond.
When students catch a vision for evangelism, they view their schools not just as social and academic centers, but as mission fields.
That’s why a gospel presentation from a peer can be more effective than one from a pastor.
While serving as youth pastor at a small, rural church, I started teaching students to share their faith with friends. Within three years, our youth ministry had more than tripled in size — from 10 regular attendees to 35.
Teenagers who are passionate about reaching others for Christ can make an eternal difference in the lives of those around them.
When students catch a vision for evangelism, they see the world differently. Their lives become purpose-filled. They view their schools not just as social and academic centers, but as mission fields.
Following are five ways to help students develop that kind of evangelistic mindset.
1. Offer Training
Even if students are eager to share their faith, they probably don’t know where to begin or how to lead such conversations.
Most teenagers have never engaged in evangelism. The thought of explaining their beliefs or answering questions about the Bible can be intimidating for Christians of any age. For young people who are unsure about their ability to communicate the gospel, it is especially unnerving.
However, evangelism doesn’t have to be weird or awkward. Host a training event for students that will help them learn to navigate gospel conversations effectively and confidently.
Start by making sure each teen knows how to share his or her personal testimony. Ask students to write down the highlights of their salvation story. They could do this by filling out a questionnaire,
answering questions about when and where they made a decision for Christ and how that experience has shaped them.
Then have students practice telling their stories in two minutes, briefly describing what their lives were like before coming to Christ and how following Jesus has changed them.
If teenagers are reluctant to share, leaders can go first. Emphasize that every believer has a story worth telling.
This exercise gives students an opportunity to reflect on what God has done for them and practice talking about it publicly. Hearing stories from others also cultivates a sense of community and boosts the faith of everyone present.
During the training event, have each student pair up with a friend to practice sharing his or her faith conversationally. This exercise builds confidence, helping teens realize they can talk about Jesus.
The Alive in Five booklet includes the sinner’s prayer and next steps for discipleship.
2. Share Tools
Students may feel some initial anxiety about sharing their faith. Providing an evangelism template they can easily follow helps many young people overcome those fears.
There are several resources for guiding students toward thoughtful gospel conversations. One of my favorites is Alive in Five, a Youth Alive booklet that points students to biblical truths, such as, “Our sin divides us from God.”
The Alive in Five booklet also includes the sinner’s prayer and next steps for discipleship.
Having an outline helps students focus their gospel presentations, making it easier for them to transition from one point to the next. Teenagers can memorize the statements and practice using them in conversations.
3. Encourage Listening
Evangelism usually starts with relationship building. Encourage students to get to know those they hope to reach for Christ.
Asking questions is a good first step. Students might inquire about a classmate’s day at school. They can ask about sports, extracurricular activities, hobbies, or college plans.
Being curious and friendly helps build rapport. Learning about someone’s home life, interests, or struggles can open doors for further discussion. It can also help students find common ground.
Teach teenagers to ask thoughtful questions and listen empathetically. When it comes to forming relationships, these skills are often more important than talking.
As trust begins to grow, deeper discussions will flow more naturally. Open-ended questions can nudge conversations in a spiritual direction. For example, a student might ask, “What do you believe about God?”
While listening, students should remain sensitive to opportunities for pointing friends toward Jesus.
A comment about love, for instance, could lead to a discussion about God’s love. This would be a great time for a student to share his or her personal testimony, explaining how God’s love and grace have made a difference.
4. Pray for Opportunities
Help students identify friends they can evangelize, and encourage them to pray for those individuals regularly.
I suggest focusing on five friends at a time. Have students write down the names of five classmates and begin praying for them daily.
Teach teenagers to ask thoughtful questions and listen empathetically.
As they seek God, teens should look for opportunities to share Jesus with at least one of these friends each week. The Lord is faithful to orchestrate redemptive moments when students ask.
5. Provide Support
Evangelism requires patience and persistence. Students may become discouraged if nothing seems to happen when they step out to share their faith with friends.
Check in with teens at least twice a month to ask how they are doing in their evangelism efforts. Take time to hear their questions and concerns, responding sincerely and empathetically.
Provide guidance, resources, and support to help students work through whatever challenges they are facing. Encourage them to keep trying.
Remind young people that while giving up is easy, remaining faithful to the mission of sharing the gospel will one day reap rewards. Every redemptive conversation can help their friends come a little closer to putting their faith in Jesus.
Pray with students, and assure them you are backing them in prayer throughout the week.
I have seen many young people lead their friends to Jesus by following these steps. It is life changing and energizing for everyone involved.
Once students experience positive results, they will be eager to participate in evangelism again. And making disciples who make disciples is what ministry is all about.
JESSICA RINER
is an Assemblies of God U.S. missionary serving Georgia Youth Alive.
Discipleship that anchors your church in the Bible
Free resources for Preschool, Kids, Youth, and Adults.
When a Congregant Comes Out Engaging LGBTQ issues with Christlike compassion
By LINDA SEILER
Ishifted in my seat, staring at the meal I’d barely touched.
After a long stretch of awkward small talk, my college pastor finally asked, “Was there something in particular you wanted to talk about?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
When I asked for a meeting two days earlier, my pastor had suggested a day and time to get together for breakfast. He had no way of knowing that after making the appointment, I considered taking my life to get out of the conversation.
I had never told anyone about my exclusive attraction to women — much less my lifelong desire to be a man. I longed for freedom, but I felt stuck.
During a Christian conference session I attended on overcoming addictive behavior, the speaker said the key to freedom was James 5:16: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
That Word pierced my heart. So, I scheduled the meeting with my pastor.
At 21, I was a lead volunteer in the college ministry, and my pastor had invited me to stay on as a staff member after graduation. Would he respond with disgust and rejection? Would he shame me, expose my sin to the group, and excommunicate me?
Opening up was the biggest risk I had ever taken.
After hearing my secret, my pastor said tenderly, “Thank you for trusting me. I know that took a lot of courage, and I want you to know that doesn’t change
our opinion of you. We love you. We see the hand of God on your life, and we are going to get you the help you need.”
That was a phenomenal response in 1994.
Because my pastor responded with compassion without compromising biblical truth, I took the first step toward an 11-year journey of transformation. Had he reacted differently, I might not be here today. Today, the LGBTQ movement is at the forefront of cultural conversations. Increasingly, these issues are affecting churches.
As a pastor, what should you do when a congregant comes out as gay, transgender, nonbinary, or some other variation of LGBTQ? The answer may depend on the situation and the person’s heart attitude.
Devoted
When a devoted congregant confesses sexual struggles, it is a vulnerable moment.
Everything is on the line, including the individual’s reputation and relationships in the church.
the Holy Spirit, praying in the Spirit regularly and releasing every struggle and burden to Christ.
Organizations like ReStory Ministries provide a variety of resources for church leaders. Testimonies of others who have experienced freedom offer hope for transformation.
Connect congregants who are struggling with small groups and mentors who will provide ongoing guidance, friendship, prayer, and encouragement.
Emotional and relational wounds often contribute to the development of disordered desires. In short, we get hurt in relationships, and we can receive healing through redemptive relationships.
After establishing a foundation of intimacy with Christ and meaningful connections with other believers, help the overcomer get connected to inner healing prayer ministry to address the wounds in the soul that fuel disordered desires. As you would with any other parishioner, make referrals to Christian counseling if needed.
Same-sex attractions and gender insecurity indicate deeper spiritual and emotional issues. Simply telling people to stop thinking or feeling as they do is akin to turning off a check engine light without investigating what’s going on.
Simply telling people to stop thinking or feeling as they do is akin to turning off a check engine light without investigating what’s going on.
Thank that person for trusting you, acknowledging the courage it took to come forward. Offer assurance of your continued love, support, and commitment to help him or her pursue Christ and find wholeness in Him.
Homosexual and transgender inclinations are no more inborn or immutable than any other sinful tendency. For believers, the deceitful desires of the old nature remain subject to change through the process of renewing the mind and putting on the new self (Ephesians 4:22–24).
Provide discipleship that includes instruction on renewing the mind through regular prayer and Bible reading. Encourage this individual to pursue
All of this takes time and patience in the context of a loving community. Your job as a leader is not to set people free, but to connect them with Jesus, Christian community, and resources, guiding them toward a lifelong trajectory of transformation.
Disagreeable
Some congregants want to stay involved in church, but are unwilling to repent or accept biblical teaching. Instead, they demand that church leaders revise theology to justify their behavior.
Engage these congregants graciously in conversation about God’s Word.
Some people point to liberal theologies that attempt to reconcile LGBTQ lifestyles with
Christianity. The most common argument is that the word “homosexual” in English Bibles is a mistranslation.
In this view, 1 Corinthians 6:9 refers to pederasty — grown men sexually exploiting boys, which was common in Rome. That would suggest (erroneously) that a loving, monogamous relationship between two same-sex adults does not violate God’s commands.
A faithful reading of Scripture exposes such arguments as false. The Greek language had a word for pederasty (paiderasteia), but Paul never used it. It is unlikely, then, that 1 Corinthians 6:9 referred to that practice.
Whether a person is devoted, disagreeable, or defiant, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it.
Greeks described specific homosexual relationships in terms of age and status, or by distinguishing active and passive partners in sexual intercourse. There is no generic term in classical Greek equivalent to the English word “homosexual.”
By contrast, Jews prohibited all homosexual acts per se, based on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. Consequently, to express the scope of the biblical prohibition in Greek, Paul coined the term arsenokoitai in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10, which combined the words for “man” and “to have sex with” that the Septuagint used to translate the two verses in Leviticus.
My book TRANS-Formation offers further examples of common revisionist arguments and how to dismantle them.
For disagreeable congregants, it ultimately comes down to a lordship issue. Will they submit to Jesus and His Word, or will they insist on their own way?
It’s important to express compassion when talking with these congregants, as they likely
have deep wounds of rejection and a skewed view of God.
Above all, intercede for lost souls, trusting God to work as only He can.
As the apostle Paul said, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you share truth in a way that resonates.
Defiant
Defiant people are those who leave the church, announcing their LGBTQ identity on the way out the door.
For these individuals, sexuality is not the biggest problem. They have set their will against Christ, usually because of unresolved pain and misconceptions about God.
Ask the Lord to do whatever it takes to help defiant people recognize their need for Jesus. As in the story of the prodigal son, there is always hope they will return to the Father’s loving embrace.
Christ’s Example
Whether a person is devoted, disagreeable, or defiant, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it.
Consider what Jesus did before sharing convicting truth with the rich young ruler: “Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:21).
I’m so glad my college pastor demonstrated compassion without compromising God’s Word so that I could experience the transforming power of Jesus. May each of us respond like Christ when a congregant comes out regarding his or her sexuality.
LINDA SEILER, Ph.D., is a Chi Alpha missionary, executive director of ReStory Ministries, and author of TRANS-Formation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ.
WHOEVER CONTROLS THE ALTAR CONTROLS THE OUTCOME
Throughout Scripture, God’s leaders built altars where He met them in powerful, miraculous ways. God still longs to pour out His power at those altars.
International leader and pastor Rick DuBose shows the path back to five forgotten altars—and ultimately, the path to your place in heaven’s throne room. Full of real-world application, this book will help you
ignite a fire for effective prayer stand your ground in five key areas create a culture of prevailing prayer in your church build spaces to repent, receive, and encounter God
It’s time to storm the altars to move heaven and unleash victory here on earth.
By Rick DuBose
1.855.642.2011 • MyHealthyChurch.com
A 10 -Week Study For Leadership Teams
What Is Make It Count?
Make It Count is a leadership development resource for use indi vidually or with staff, volunteers, or board members.
Each installment is also available online as a downloadable PDF, along with interactive pages for group member use. The underlined words and phrases in the following text correspond to fill-in-theblank sections on team member pages. Access these free resources at influence magazine. com/Downloads.
These lessons are writ ten by STEPHEN BLANDINO , lead pastor of 7 City Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and the author of several books. MAKE IT COUNT
IFromLeading the Second Chair
By STEPHEN BLANDINO
’ve filled a number of ministry roles, including youth pastor, executive pastor, and lead pastor. Each position was unique and provided a different perspective on church leadership.
As a lead pastor, I now realize some of the most important lessons came from leading when I wasn’t in charge. This is sometimes referred to as second-chair leadership.
In Leading from the Second Chair, authors Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson define a second-chair leader as “a person in a subordinate
role whose influence with others adds value throughout the organization.”
In church ministry, these individuals commonly fill staff pastor positions. They aren’t in charge, but they’re still influential.
So, how do you lead when you’re not the person in charge? I believe leading from a subordinate posture requires four foundational commitments.
1. Partner with the pastor. Staff pastors may not be in charge of vision casting, communication, or
fundraising, but they can certainly support and play a vital role in all of those functions.
These leaders partner with the pastor to help advance the church’s mission. They serve on the same team and should champion what God has called the pastor and congregation to do.
2. Protect the heart. Staff pastors navigate the space between being in charge of the vision and being responsible for it.
Many struggle with this role because they want to be captain of the ship. Letting someone else steer bothers them. It’s important to surrender such feelings to God and submit to His plan.
Without the right heart, a second-chair leader risks sabotaging the vison — and pastor — God has called him or her to serve. Therefore, the leader must guard against jealousy, discontentment, criticism, divisiveness, negativity, and pride.
3. Prioritize the vision. Second-chair leaders put the pastor’s vision above their own ambitions and ideas. This doesn’t mean letting go of personal hopes for the future. It simply means they maintain the right focus.
Some team members may impose pet projects, side hustles, and alternative visions onto the pastor or congregation. But taking the high road means choosing service over personal dreams and desires.
4. Pursue the skills. Finally, staff pastors develop an essential set of skills to serve effectively in their roles. They become proficient at leading others, building teams, managing systems, making decisions, communicating, and creating culture.
Without these skills, they may have a heart for ministry but lack the ability to steward it effectively.
Second-chair leaders should take the initiative to learn, grow, and improve. Personal and professional development is a life habit that will serve them well not only in their current positions, but also in wherever God leads them next.
This installment of Make It Count unpacks 10 essential qualities for leading when you’re not in charge.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Christ-Centered Identity
Assess
How does identity affect second-chair leaders?
Insights and Ideas
Second-chair leaders play a vital ministry role. They lead teams, execute plans, and serve the church’s vision. Their perspectives, skills, and buy-in create forward movement and healthy ministry environments.
But the foundational characteristic of a successful support leader is a growing relationship with Christ. Finding our identity in Him is the best antidote to selfish ambition.
Author Alicia Britt Chole observed, “Having fully captivated Jesus’ and John’s attention, of all the things Father God could have said, his first words were neither directional (‘go here’) nor instructional (‘do this’). They were relational: ‘This is my Son.’”
Those relational words keep our attention where it needs to be: on Jesus. This focus helps us overcome two common traps for second-chair leaders:
1. The jealousy trap. Jealousy is the enemy of unity. Being envious of others because of who they are, what they’ve done, or the acknowledgements they receive leads to undermining words and behavior.
Pastor Chris Sonksen says, “Our jealousy tears down what someone else has done to make us feel better about what we haven’t done. Jealousy causes us to want what someone else has. If we haven’t earned it or received it, then we criticize it.”
That’s what happened in Pisidian Antioch when crowds flocked to hear the apostle Paul’s teaching. Acts 13:45 says, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.”
Grounding your identity in Christ is the best way to avoid the jealousy trap. Finding fulfillment in Him frees you to love and serve others without envy.
2. The discontentment trap. Like everyone else, staff pastors have hopes and dreams for the future. However, following where God leads is what brings lasting joy and contentment.
Paul said, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12). The key phrase to notice here is “in any and every situation.”
Christian contentment should not depend on circumstances. Even when we’re not the one in charge, we can be content in Christ.
Author and theologian Henri Nouwen observed, “One of the tragedies of our life is that we keep forgetting who we are.”
Effective church leadership begins with remembering who you are and whose you are. Seek to develop a Christ-centered identity.
Reflect and Discuss
1. How does it feel to be in a subordinate position?
2. When have you seen jealousy and discontentment undermine ministry teams?
3. Why should leaders at all levels look to Christ for their identity?
Apply
Identify truths from Scripture that describe who you are in Christ. Then create a statement that captures these biblical declarations, and begin reading it each morning to remind yourself of who God has called you to be. MAKE IT COUNT
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Second-Chair Mindset
Team Review
What have you discovered from Scripture about your identity in Christ, and how does this help you lead from a healthier place?
Assess
What kind of mindset should second-chair leaders have?
Insights and Ideas
Mindset matters at every level of church leadership. The right mindset creates health, while the wrong mindset undermines relationships and performance.
Four mindsets are particularly important for second-chair leaders:
1. The relational mindset. Second-chair leaders don’t just operate from a list of tasks and responsibilities. Their relationship with the pastor informs how they lead.
Second-chair leaders need to know the pastor’s expectations, ministry priorities, leadership style, and frustrations.
Expectations clarify performance baselines. Ministry priorities highlight values. Leadership style provides insights for working together. And frustrations point to areas where the pastor needs extra support. Such understanding bolsters effectiveness.
2. The trust mindset. Trust is the key to any effective and healthy relationship. Therefore, staff pastors should lead and serve in such a way that trust compounds over time.
Trust grows when there is character, competence, and compassion. Character shows you are trustworthy. Competence and compassion elevate trust as you complete tasks with excellence and demonstrate that you value people. All of these are essential for ministering effectively and developing healthy working relationships.
3. The big-picture mindset. One key to effective second-chair leadership is the ability to see the big picture. Taking a longer view means avoiding petty arguments and territorial disputes. Instead, there is maturity to see and champion the overall vision.
Leaders with a big-picture mindset make wise decisions, take ownership, and gain trust. This often opens doors for more responsibility and new opportunities.
4. The serving mindset. Jesus said, “The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11–12).
That’s the attitude of servant leaders. They’re not jockeying for position or looking for ways to exalt themselves. They serve with a heart of humility.
In all these areas, second-chair leaders should seek to have a mindset that reflects the transforming power of Christ. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Reflect and Discuss
1. Which of the four mindsets above is hardest for staff pastors to maintain?
2. Which mindset most challenges you?
3. How does a leader’s mindset affect those around him or her?
Apply
On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the best), rate yourself on each of the four mindsets. Then identify one step you can take to improve your lowest score.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Pure Heart
Team Review
What steps have you taken to cultivate a second-chair mindset?
Assess
What attitudes do staff pastors need to guard against?
Insights and Ideas
The first lesson addressed the traps of jealousy and discontentment. However, these aren’t the only issues that sideline leaders.
All leaders must protect their hearts against wrong attitudes and the deceptive tactics of the enemy. But second-chair leaders must pay special attention to these four deadly attitudes:
1. Criticism. The apostle James said, “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another” (James 4:11). And Paul said, “Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Staff pastors must guard against a critical spirit and foster a culture of encouragement.
2. Divisiveness. Disunity is deadly. When leaders sow — or even entertain — seeds of division, they oppose the Holy Spirit’s work of bringing together the body of Christ. And disunity has a way of spreading like wildfire.
Leaders must protect church unity, and that work begins in our own hearts.
First Corinthians 1:10 says, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
If you feel tempted to engage in divisive talk or behavior, ask the Lord to give you His heart for unity. When divisiveness emerges within the team, address the problem quickly before it multiplies.
3. Negativity. Your attitude sets the temperature and tone for the teams you lead. Choosing positivity over negativity helps create a life-giving, hope-filled environment.
To uproot the negative, practice gratitude and celebrate team wins. Personal gratitude will protect your heart as you focus each day on the goodness of God. And celebrating with your team keeps the focus on what God is doing in the church.
4. Pride. God hates pride, so guarding against this attitude is essential. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Staying humble requires personal, relational, and organizational intentionality. Personally, submit your ego to God each day. Relationally, share credit for successes with others. And organizationally, acknowledge the collective efforts of the team.
Reflect and Discuss
1. How have you seen criticism, divisiveness, negativity, or pride undermine a leader?
2. What can leaders do to spot these destructive attitudes early, before they take root?
3. Can you think of a time when one of these attitudes hurt you and your team? What lesson did you learn from this?
Apply
Make a plan as a team to guard against these deadly attitudes. Commit to hold one another accountable whenever you spot such issues.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Clear Role
Team Review
What have you done to guard against the attitudes of criticism, divisiveness, negativity, and pride?
Assess
What do you feel is the role of a second-chair leader?
Insights and Ideas
Every ministry position comes with a unique set of dynamics and expectations. Understanding those nuances helps everyone avoid confusion and frustration.
Leaders need people who can help carry the load. Moses was no exception.
In Exodus 18:21–22, Moses’ father-in-law Jethro advised him, “Select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.”
Notice that this leadership plan included a reporting structure (“appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens”) and clear responsibilities (“have them serve as judges for the people”).
Your ministry context requires the same ingredients. To gain clarity, leaders need to work together to answer five questions:
1. What are the pastor’s responsibilities? Clarity about other roles begins with understanding exactly what the pastor does. Without that clarity, people will have trouble staying in their lanes. The pastor should articulate three to five responsibilities that squarely fall on his or her shoulders.
2. What are the responsibilities of second-chair leaders? Those who report to the pastor have specific duties as well. Identify these in writing to ensure everyone is on the same page. Give staff pastors the tools and authority to carry out their responsibilities.
3. What help does the pastor need from other leaders? This calls for a candid conversation about how second-chair leaders can best support the pastor. This list should be specific, practical, and achievable.
4. What boundaries do staff pastors need to operate within? Again, this requires honest conversations. Consider specific scenarios where boundaries are undefined or nuanced, and identify clear guidelines.
5. Who reports to each staff pastor? Establish a chain of authority to ensure accountability. Communicate this structure to everyone who is part of it, including staff members and volunteers. These five questions will bring clarity to leaders regarding the roles they play on the team.
Reflect and Discuss
1. What are the pastor’s top three to five responsibilities?
2. What clarity do staff pastors need to better understand their roles?
3. What boundaries should second-chair leaders function within to ensure a healthy work environment?
Apply
To increase role clarity, schedule a meeting with the leader to whom you report. During the meeting, work through the five questions above.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Excellence
Team Review
What clarity have you gained concerning your role?
Assess
What does it mean to serve the church’s vision with excellence?
Insights and Ideas
Vision is an essential part of effective ministry. When vision is unclear, leaders unintentionally create division. And when there are multiple visions, people don’t know whom to follow or what direction to go.
As Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint.”
While second-chair leaders don’t create the vision, they do play an important role in its fulfillment. These leaders have five responsibilities when it comes to the vision:
1. Know the vision. One of the first questions to ask the pastor is, “What’s your vision?” To fulfill the vision, everyone needs to have a thorough understanding of it.
2. Embody the vision. Staff pastors must embrace and live out the vision. That’s why it’s important for them to fit the church’s culture. If there’s a cultural mismatch, the main vision will take a back seat to personal preferences, pet projects, and alternative visions.
3. Align with the vision. People and departments have a tendency to drift from the vision over time. Do the hard work of ensuring everything in your ministry area aligns with the church’s vision. If there is any misalignment, make immediate adjustments.
4. Share the vision. The pastor creates the vision, but second-chair leaders help cast it. They communicate the vision in their areas of influence — not replacing the pastor’s message, but replicating it throughout the church.
5. Implement the vision. Staff pastors play a critical role in helping turn the vision into reality. They devote time, energy, planning, and resources in moving the vision from an idea to fulfillment.
Advance the vision with excellence by asking these questions: What plan do we need to create? What resources do we need to secure? What people do we need to deploy?
Vision may begin with one person, but it’s always bigger than any individual. When the pastor and team members work together toward a shared vision, they complement the value each person brings to the process.
Ultimately, Christ is the One we are serving. Therefore, it’s important to do everything with excellence.
Colossians 3:23–24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Reflect and Discuss
1. What is our church’s vision?
2. What does it look like to embody that vision?
3. What steps can each team member take to share and implement the vision?
Apply
If you lack clarity about the vision and your place in it, schedule a time to meet with your pastor to ensure understanding and consistency. Then ask about specific ways you can help advance the vision.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Team Building
Team Review
What steps have you taken to know, embody, align, share, and implement the vision in your areas of responsibility?
Assess
Why is team building an essential part of ministry?
Insights and Ideas
Pastors entrust second-chair leaders with a great deal of responsibility — often too much for one person to handle.
For staff pastors to sustain their level of responsibility while maintaining a healthy rhythm, they must build teams.
This should be no surprise. Consider the words of the apostle Paul: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–13).
Every minister’s job is mobilizing people to serve, and that entails team building. To be an effective team builder, second-chair leaders need to adopt six practices:
1. Engage. Leaders must engage others in the church’s mission. This involves recruiting people to roles and responsibilities that will leverage their God-given gifts for a greater purpose.
2. Equip. Once people are engaged, they need the tools, resources, training, and coaching to effectively serve in their roles. This equipping process should be strategic, well-designed, and effectively managed.
3. Entrust. After equipping people to serve, the leader must entrust them with clear responsibilities. Delegating tasks communicates trust.
4. Empower. This isn’t just a matter of giving people goals to work toward. Empowerment involves responsibility. Team members should have some level of decision-making authority to function in their roles.
5. Encourage. Ministry isn’t easy. That’s why every team member needs words of life, encouragement, and support. Team-building leaders release tasks, but they also remember the people doing the work. They listen, love, celebrate, and encourage them along the way.
6. Elevate. Finally, maximizing the capacity of team members means elevating them to new levels of responsibility and opportunity. Effective leaders draw out the potential in others and mobilize them to make their greatest impact.
These six steps are the behaviors that set apart great team builders. When team members succeed, so do their leaders.
Reflect and Discuss
1. How have you seen the six team-building skills make a difference in your area of ministry?
2. Which team-building skill is your greatest strength? In which area do you most need to improve?
3. How can you take your team-building skills to the next level?
Apply
Write down each team-building skill on a sheet of paper. Under each one, list at least two things you could do to grow in that area. Take steps this week to implement some of those ideas.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Healthy Communication
Team Review
What difference have the six team-building skills made in your leadership and ministry?
Assess
What are the biggest communication gaps you experience in leadership?
Insights and Ideas
The relationship between pastors and those who report to them is extremely important. One of the essential ingredients to a thriving relationship is great communication.
Author and productivity expert Michael Hyatt observed, “When leaders don’t communicate, it’s like pouring sand in the gears of progress.”
To elevate your communication to the highest level, consider the five C’s of communication:
1. Clarity. Communication must be clear and concise. Rambling speech that’s hard to follow leaves people feeling confused and exasperated. Without clarity, team members won’t know how to act on the message.
2. Curiosity. When you meet with your pastor, come prepared to ask questions that will make a meaningful difference.
Those who lack curiosity view meetings as nothing more than boring updates and generic informational exchanges. But questions mine the gold your pastor is willing to share if only you’ll ask.
What do you need to know? What do you want to learn? What ideas would you like to explore? Curiosity makes learning and growth possible.
3. Consistency. Author Jim Collins observed, “The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.” That has never been truer than in communication. To make communication consistent, you must put it on the calendar.
I meet weekly with my direct reports. That consistency improves communication, eliminates unnecessary surprises, and keeps everyone on the same page.
4. Candor. Author Joseph Grenny once said, “The lag time for change is the same as the lag time for candor.” Speaking candidly improves understanding and dispels false notions. When trust exists in a relationship, you can be candid about what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change. Withholding such information creates a façade of unity that eventually crumbles. Candid communication allows you to acknowledge problems and seek solutions together.
5. Care. Candor should take place within a caring environment. When people feel criticized and unappreciated, relationships suffer. Let those you minister alongside know you care about them as individuals and value what they bring to the team.
Each of these five communication skills will make a dramatic difference in the quality, depth, frequency, and effectiveness of your communication. Put them to work for you, your team, and your relationships.
Reflect and Discuss
1. Which of the five aspects of communication creates the most frustration for you? Why?
2. In which of the five communication skills does our team most need to improve?
3. What can we do to improve team communication?
Apply
Ask a teammate to assess you on a scale from 1 to 10 in each of the five communication skills. Then do the same for that person. Finally, discuss how each of you can improve and the next steps you will take.
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LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Decision Making
Team Review
What steps have you taken to improve your communication with the pastor and team members?
Assess
What is the hardest part of making big decisions?
Insights and Ideas
Leaders often deal with decision fatigue when the number and complexity of decisions increase exponentially. It’s no wonder many feel overwhelmed in ministry.
To avoid burnout, you need other decision makers to help you carry the load. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Second-chair leaders are among those trusted advisers. These leaders help free the pastor to focus on what only he or she can do.
To offload the weight of decisions, staff pastors must do three things:
1. Understand how your pastor thinks. As mentioned in a previous lesson, it’s important to know the pastor. This includes learning to think like him or her.
I’m not suggesting you become a clone who no longer thinks for yourself. But you do need to know your pastor’s heart, values, and priorities. When you understand how the pastor thinks, you’ll be in a better position to make decisions that reflect his or her leadership.
2. Identify your pastor’s decision-making framework. This builds on the previous point but takes it one step further.
Most leaders operate within a decision-making framework. For example, several factors play a role in my decisions. I consider the church’s DNA, research, timing, intuition, outside perspective, the quality of the idea, and leader buy-in. Above all, of course, I seek the Holy Spirit’s direction.
If I want staff pastors to make decisions that are consistent with my approach, it’s my responsibility to share this decision-making framework with them.
3. Make decisions without burdening the pastor. Second-chair leaders should be able to make decisions without weighing down the pastor with unnecessary questions or endless meetings. If the pastor has to do all the thinking, you’re probably not fulfilling your leadership duties.
Once you learn how your pastor thinks and understand his or her decision-making framework, you have the tools you need to make decisions. Help carry the pastor’s load by taking the initiative. This will free your pastor to focus on areas requiring his or her immediate attention.
Reflect and Discuss
1. What would you like to know about how your pastor makes decisions?
2. What is the pastor’s decision-making framework, and who needs to learn about it?
3. What decisions do you need to make that would lift a weight off your pastor’s shoulders?
Apply
Clarify your pastor’s decision-making framework. Ask the pastor what’s important to him or her when making decisions. Put this in writing, and share it with those you lead.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Encouragement
Team Review
What progress did you make toward identifying a decision-making framework?
Assess
What’s the most encouraging word you’ve received recently?
Insights and Ideas
Leadership is hard. The demands are heavy, the questions relentless, the decisions consequential, the stress real, the problems complex, and the pressure high. But as Tom Hanks said in the film A League of Their Own, “If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
Especially in ministry, every leader needs encouragement. When it’s missing, people struggle to stay motivated.
The best leaders are encouragers. I wish I had learned this lesson sooner.
Take three steps to encourage those around you:
1. Speak deliberate words of encouragement. The apostle Paul said, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).
Deliberate (not random or half-hearted) words of encouragement will build up your pastor and the people you serve. Your encouragement can help sustain them during ministry’s hardest moments.
2. Offer specific prayers during times of need. Paul said, “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Ephesians 6:18). Paul then added, “Pray also for me” (verse 19). Make it a habit to pray for your pastor — and your team. Then let them know you’re praying. Further, offer to pray immediately when someone is struggling.
3. Write sincere notes of appreciation. In my office, I have a file of cards, letters, and notes I have received through my years of ministry. Each one is an encouragement to me. They’re a reminder that when ministry is tough, the sacrifices are worth it.
People in ministry need such reminders. Take a moment to jot a handwritten card expressing appreciation for your pastor, your team members, and the people you serve.
Note the adjectives in the three points above: deliberate, specific, and sincere. These are important. Your deliberate, specific, and sincere acts are what people will most remember.
Reflect and Discuss
1. Take a moment to encourage one another in a deliberate, specific, and sincere way.
2. Pause to pray for one another. Share personal needs, and then pray together for those concerns.
3. Discuss ways to foster a deeper culture of encouragement within your team.
Apply
If you’re not a natural encourager, create a reminder in your calendar to encourage, pray for, and offer words of appreciation and thanks to your pastor and team members. Adding encouragement to your calendar might seem strange, but culture doesn’t change until behavior does.
LEADING FROM THE SECOND CHAIR
Transition Planning
Team Review
What steps have you taken to create a culture of encouragement?
Assess
What are your dreams for the future?
Insights and Ideas
Few ministers spend their entire careers in the same position. Most eventually transition to a new role, location, or season of ministry.
Transition isn’t easy, but it can and should happen in a healthy, God-honoring way. Here are four guidelines for second-chair leaders:
1. Keep your pastor informed. When you sense the Holy Spirit stirring your heart to make a transition, your pastor should be the first (outside of your family) to know. Hearing it from someone else will only damage your relationship.
Your pastor can be a valuable source of wisdom, support, and prayer as you work through your next steps.
2. Show honor in the transition. When God is leading you to something new, navigate that transition in a spirit of honor. Speak well of your pastor and team members, the board, and the congregation. Demonstrate a genuine posture of servanthood and gratitude. Romans 12:10 says, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
3. Protect the church’s unity When a staff member siphons people from the congregation without the pastor’s blessing, it damages unity.
Preserving unity should be a priority because it matters to God. The apostle Paul said, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10).
You cannot expect God to bless the new work to which He has called you if you’re careless and destructive in your current position.
4. Commit to finish well. This means working hard to the end, setting up your replacement for success, keeping your leader in the loop regarding important issues, and ensuring fellow team members have the tools they need to pick up where you left off.
Ask yourself, What can I do to make the job easier and the transition smoother for the person who follows me? What does my leader need from me to make this transition more successful?
Reflect and Discuss
1. What’s the best transition you’ve ever seen, and what made it so successful?
2. Which of the four points above is easiest to overlook? Why?
3. How can the pastor and second-chair leaders honor one another during the transition process? Apply
Commit to follow the transition process above when the time comes for you to move on. As you look toward the future, be intentional about honoring God and others today.
Through the Fire
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Believing this was a sign from God, we shot a video in front of the fire that Friday announcing plans to meet in the gym the following Sunday. The clip attracted more than 30,000 views on Facebook.
On Saturday, dozens of people came together to transform our gymnasium into a temporary worship facility. Local churches donated supplies, including chairs, tables, sound equipment, musical instruments, and Communion trays. This outpouring of support was a testament to the power of faith and community.
Sunday brought heavy rain with localized flooding. Nevertheless, people came, trudging through ankle-deep water to worship together. A local television news crew was there, reporting on the church’s resilience.
Amid loss, what matters most often comes into sharper focus. As it turned out, the fire that destroyed our building became a catalyst for spiritual growth within our congregation.
We experienced the reality that the Church is not a building, but the people of God. As 1 Corinthians 3:17 says, “God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
Whenever we gathered, there was a fresh sense of excitement and purpose. People expected to encounter God. They wanted to help and serve one another. Selfish hearts grew generous. Apathy turned to sensitivity.
In the days and weeks after the fire, I personally became more aware of God’s presence and provision. At times, the exhaustion of leading in crisis mode was nearly overwhelming. On Sunday mornings before service time, I sat in our food bank closet asking God for renewed energy. Without fail, the Lord met me there and gave me strength.
My heart changed, my preaching became more passionate, and my love for God’s church grew.
Increasingly, I prioritized people over projects. Even when I was meeting with insurance adjustors and fire inspectors, I focused on making each interaction a demonstration of Christ’s love.
I took time to interact and pray with people who visited the burn site. Some wanted to see what was left of the church they once attended. Others were just curious, having heard about it in the news. Several accepted Christ or received the baptism in the Holy Spirit on the church parking lot.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Jesus was not referring to a building. He was speaking of His body — the people who make up the Church. I am more confident than ever that we have a lasting foundation, regardless of our physical setting.
Since the fire, our congregation has grown spiritually and numerically, gained resiliency, and witnessed many miracles. In September 2023, we moved into a new facility that is more than three times the size of our previous building.
Today, River of Life (AG) is a healthy, vibrant congregation that is committed to serving God, loving people, and reaching our community for Christ. During the first half of 2024 alone, we saw more than 80 salvations and 50 water baptisms.
Through the fire, God forged in us a stronger and more unified vision of what His Church should look like.
GREG TEMKE is lead pastor of River of Life Church (AG) in Millington, Tennessee.
The rebuilt River of Life Church.
By GREG TEMKE
It was nearly midnight on a January evening in 2022 when pounding at my door jolted me from sleep.
Our worship pastor’s son, Jordan Kirk, was standing outside, along with the local mayor, Spencer Cole.
Kirk shouted, “The church is on fire!”
I struggled to process those words. It didn’t seem possible. For nearly a century, our historic building had been a fixture in Munford, Tennessee, a small town outside of Memphis. Just seven weeks earlier, we had finished remodeling the entire facility — a project spanning four years.
Accepting their offer of a ride, I hopped in a car with the two men. More than two miles from our church property, I noticed an orange glow in the distance and asked, “Is that the fire?”
“I’m afraid it is,” Cole said.
When we arrived, the entire 20,000-square-foot sanctuary was engulfed in flames. From across the parking lot, I could feel the intense heat on my face.
On the scene were 46 firefighters from nine stations. With overnight temperatures in the single digits, they struggled to keep water lines from freezing. City crews used blowtorches to thaw the hydrants.
The fire that destroyed our building became a catalyst for spiritual growth within our congregation.
As news of the fire spread on social media, church staff members, parishioners, and neighbors gathered in the parking lot. Some prayed. Others cried. Worship pastor Ben Kirk led the group in a chorus of “How Great Is Our God.”
It took 16 hours to extinguish the blaze. The main building was a total loss. Yet our freestanding gymnasium was completely unharmed.
