The cross is not just about Jesus Christ dying for the sins of all mankind, but it was a death to purchase mankind. (Ben Parker/creationswap.com)

Back in the days of the early church, being in ministry leadership was the greatest sacrifice anyone could make and it reflected the message of the greatest sacrifice that was made—the cross. To be in ministry leadership today could be as easy as ordering an ordination certificate through the mail, taking a few Bible courses, polishing your sermon presentations, learning some leadership and church-growth principles, including how to win friends and influence people, and you’re in. I know this sounds a little sarcastic, but the point is made nonetheless.

In the early church’s purest form, the cross was the power of God and the center of Christianity, ruling the lives of the early believers. They had as their examples apostolic men who apprenticed under Jesus and who hazarded their lives for the sake of the gospel. There was no mistaking the pattern and the purpose of the lives of those first-day apostles. It is the reason they had power to make radical disciples who were distinct from the world. What they preached and what they practiced enabled them to transform the minds and hearts of so many. We have so little power to transform people’s lives today because we do not preach and live the cross……………………….

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-17).

Lest any professing Christian take this lightly or throw this off as some legalistic form of doctrine, or a turning back to the law, let me remind you that Jesus called it the depths of Satan.

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known thedepths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come” (Rev. 2:24-25)………………………………………………………………

Beware of a cross-less Christianity that breeds spiritual adultery and fornication.

http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/church-ministry/21293-spiritual-adultery-and-fornication-in-the-21st-century-church

Să cântăm prin biserici „Hallelujah” a lui Cohen cu versuri creștine?.

Photo: http://www.givealittle.co.nz

 – 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (US Dept. Of Health/Census) – 5 times the average.

– 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average.

– 85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average.  (Center for Disease Control)

– 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes –14 times the average.  (Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26)

– 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average.  (National Principals Association Report)

http://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/

Maybe this is the reason why Paul (the Apostle) said: “…..the woman should keep silence in the church.”

Victoria Olseen: “…do good for your own self’ because obedience, the church and worship are not for God as much as for self-happiness.”

Trăind într-o comunitate săracă cu de peste 1000 rromi, copiii de țigani sunt cei mai defavorizați boldeșteni. Unii dintre prunci nu mănâncă decât odată pe zi: seara. Alții au tatăl plecat la muncă “afară” sau ostatic la “mititica”. Fără serviciu, mamelor le e tare greu să-i crească singure şi fără venit! Mai ales în afara sezonului de bureți, fructe de pădure ori flori de tei. Iar cu burta goală, și nesupravegheat, cum să fi cuminte, îngrijit, sau să înveți carte?……………………….

După ce a început construirea Centrului Social (săli de clasă, cantină, bucătărie, spălător, bibliotecă, birou, etc), biserica de chirpici de alături a trebuit demolată. Nu rezista plăcii de beton de deasupra. Așa că a fost construită o nouă hală, de peste 100 mp, care trebuie compartimentată în trei, pentru săli de clasă. Deasupra, la etaj, peste hală și cantina centrului urmează să fie construită noua sală a bisericii, de 16/14  m. Urmează, căci în prezent nu s-au ridicat decât pereții din cărămidă. Bani pentru cofrat, beton pentru stâlpi, centură și evident materiale pentru acoperiș nu sunt. Dar așteptăm ca Dumnezeu să intervină!…………….

READ FULL ARTICLE:                                                                                          http://nicolaegeanta.blogspot.ro/2014/08/centrul-social-al-bisericii-de-rromi.html

All of us will, at times, be called to endure humbly a leader’s mistakes and sins. Nonetheless, should you find yourself in a church where the leadership is characteristically abusive, I would, in most cases, encourage you to flee. Flee to protect your discipleship, to protect your family, to set a good example for the members left behind, to serve non-Christian neighbors by not lending credibility to the church’s ministry.

How do you recognize abusive leadership? Paul requires two witnesses for a charge to be leveled against an elder (1 Tim 5:19), probably because he knows that leaders will be charged with infelicities more often than others, often unfairly. That said, abusive churches and Christian leaders characteristically

• Make dogmatic prescriptions in places where Scripture is silent.

• Rely on intelligence, humor, charm, guilt, emotions, or threats rather than on God’s Word and prayer. (Acts 6:4)

• Play favorites.

• Punish those who disagree.

• Employ extreme forms of communication (tempers, silent treatment).

• Recommend courses of action which always, somehow, improves the leader’s own situation, even at the expense of others.

• Speak often and quickly.

• Seldom do good deeds in secret.

• Seldom encourage.

• Seldom give the benefit of the doubt.

• Emphasize outward conformity, rather than repentance of heart.

• Preach, counsel, disciple, and oversee the church with lips that fail to ground everything in what Christ has done in the gospel and to give glory to God.

This paragraph is taken from Church Membership by Jonathan Leeman, © 2010, pp. 118-19. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.