India: Global Partnerships

While we were in India, we had the privilege of visiting some groups and organizations we’ve partnered with. We got to spend time with Jack Magruder from Granger Community Church, and their partner in India, Life Mission International. With the help of the One Prayer initiative, hundreds of churches have been planted there and tens of thousands of evangelistic contacts have been made.

It was a great reminder of the importance of churches and ministries working together to accomplish more than we could on our own. If we were truly united, I believe the Great Commission could be fulfilled within our lifetime. The Church has the resources and the connectivity to make that happen if we were all pulling together.

This is why we’re excited about the 3rd year of One Prayer coming up in June. If your church hasn’t signed up, we’d love to have you on board! You can learn more and register at http://oneprayer.com.

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Joel A-Bell - 2

“Heart for the House” is a phrase that is common at Hillsong. It speaks of the loyalty, honor and single-mindedness that is felt for the local church. In this segment, I asked Joel to explain how they develop a “heart for the house.”

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100 Network Churches and Growing

Recently, we celebrated a significant milestone as we welcomed the 100th church into our Network partnerships!

We’re thrilled to partner with churches around the globe as we work together to spread the love of Jesus. If you want to learn more about how these partnerships work, check out Network.LifeChurch.tv.

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UMC - Part 5

The United Methodist Church (and other mainline denominations) have many (mostly) empty buildings. To survive and thrive, these churches must learn to work together.

I’d suggest that many UM churches consider merging and become multi-site churches. If you have a strong UM church with limited space and a struggling UM church with an empty building, why not link arms?

(For more thoughts on “merging churches,” click 1) here, 2) here, 3) here, and 4) here.)

While I acknowledge that this is a complicated suggestion, the UMC church could also consider partnering with other churches outside its denomination.

Currently, we are partnering with many UMC churches that use our teaching for no charge. The possibilities of these partnerships are enormous. I’d suggest the leaders of the UMC search for other Kingdom-minded ministries and churches to unite with for a greater impact.

I can’t help but wonder how many struggling churches could have a chance for survival (and more than simply survival) if they shared resources with other churches in their communities or from around the world.

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You’re Invited: Haiti Conference Call

This Wednesday, church leaders are invited to join a conference call to discuss how we can best work together to help the people of Haiti. I’ll be joining Andy Stanley and Wess Stafford in leading the call as we cover the following topics:

• The latest information about the current situation in Haiti
• Why the church in Haiti is the hope of Haiti
• Learning how to help the church in Haiti
• What your church can do to help
• Leading your congregation through this crisis

If you’re a church leader, and you’re interested in joining our 35-minute discussion, you can call 800-698-9012 at 2:00pm Mountain Time, this Wednesday, January 20.

I look forward to seeing what God will accomplish through His Church for the people of Haiti.

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Responding to Haiti

It’s heartbreaking to see the images that are coming to us from Haiti, and difficult to fully comprehend such devastation. But along with this tragedy comes an opportunity—our opportunity to be the Church. As fellow believers, we can stand together and actively display the love of Jesus to the people of Haiti.

At LifeChurch.tv, we’re joining forces with other churches to offer prayer and financial support for disaster relief efforts. We’re partnering with Convoy of Hope and Samaritan’s Purse in their response, and providing an opportunity for our people to give on top of what we’ve already committed as a church.

Also, Compassion International is raising funds to re-equip their local support structure and to provide for the needs of the more than 64,000 children that they assist in Haiti.  Included in those 64,000 children is Staci, one of the several children that Craig and Amy support through Compassion.

We’re also taking part in a special night of prayer with churches around the world. You’re welcome to join us, either individually or as a church, and if you’re on Twitter, please use the hashtag #pray4Haiti to help spread the word. We’ll be meeting online at 7:00pm CST this Monday, January 18.

How is your church responding to aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti?

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User Puts Passion in Action

Check out what one of our friends sent us this week:

Dave Sears, who pastors ConnectingPoints.tv in Saginaw, Michigan, contacted us and let us know he’d like to promote YouVersion.com on some upcoming billboard space he had reserved. Working with our team, they created this ad which will be seen by thousands of people as they drive the busiest road in Saginaw. Dave said, “We are praying that God will use this board to draw more people to Him in our community!”

A huge thanks goes out to Dave for his passion in spreading the word about YouVersion!

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The Strategically Generous Church

I pray your church or ministry gives spontaneously to meet needs. But if we only give spontaneously, this style of giving will limit what we’re able to give. Another way to think about giving is to be strategic.

• Abraham thought ahead of time to send gifts with his servant for Isaac’s future wife.
• The Magi planned ahead of time to bring extravagant gifts for God’s son.
• God strategically showed His love for us by sending Christ while we were still sinning against Him.

Isaiah 32:8 says, “But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.” (NLT)

We could say generous churches plan to do what is generous. Instead of just planning our next building project or fundraiser, we should also “plan to do what is generous.”

Unquestionably we should plan to help the poor and needy. (Most churches do this well or at least are trying to do so.) We can also plan to help and support other churches or ministries.

In our meetings, we have learned to strategically ask, “What can we give to other churches to help them?”

• Do you have a building you could offer another ministry one day a week or more?
• When you upgrade choir robes, a van, or a sound system, can you give what you had to bless another ministry?
• Can you make your sermons, outlines, or videos available to serve other churches?

When you plan to be generous, you might be surprised how many ways you can be a blessing.

How is God using your ministry to serve others?

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