From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There’s a pattern I’ve noticed in churches over the years. You walk through the door, spend a few weeks in the services, and fairly […]
Tag: growth
Your Gifts Won’t Survive Without Community
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts Sarah sat nervously at the edge of the prayer circle. Three months into this church, she still felt like an outsider looking in — […]
Even Jesus was Empowered – and that changes everything 
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There is a theological assumption so deeply embedded in the way we think about Jesus that most of us have never stopped to question […]
You’re Not Meant to Watch from the Sidelines
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There’s a particular kind of frustration that settles into a church over time. It’s not the frustration of conflict or crisis. It’s quieter than […]
Why Spiritual Gifts Aren’t Optional
There’s a quiet assumption running through much of the Western church that goes something like this: spiritual gifts are for a certain kind of Christian. The upfront ones. The confident ones. The ones who seem […]
How to be Happy
Harvard confirms what the Bible already knows. Everyone wants to be happy. That’s not controversial. The question isn’t whether we want it — it’s whether we know how to find it. Arthur C. Brooks is […]
Here Comes the Team Again part 6
Sent, Not Self-Sent Paul was sent, he didn’t commission himself. That’s worth sitting with for a moment, because it challenges an image many of us carry without realising it — Paul the maverick, the lone […]
Here Comes the Team Again part 5
The Women on Paul’s Team Open Romans 16 and start counting. Of the twenty-six-plus individuals Paul greets by name, at least nine are women. Not wives mentioned in passing. Not silent supporters. Women Paul names […]
Here Comes the Team Again part 4
When Teams Break If apostolic teams were only ever a story of triumph, we’d have reason to be suspicious. The New Testament is too honest for that. The previous posts in this series have painted […]
Here Comes the Team Again part 3
How Apostolic Teams Form Nobody applied for a job on Paul’s team. There was no recruitment drive, no interview process, no job description circulated around the churches of Asia Minor. And yet Paul assembled one […]
Paul Benger 