One of the best advice I ever received as a young pastor was the importance of 'to-do lists".    I received this advice in the early days of planting a new congregation.   Life was busy and I found it difficult to get all the tasks of ministry done.    Marty was an aspiring realtor, with a young family, and the housing market was booming.   He was well familiar with hectic schedules and busy days.   He suggested to me that at the end of every work day that I should do what he does, that is, take a few...

“The mark of good leaders is that they’re always learning and thus growing spiritually, intellectually, experientially, and emotionally.”   So writes Aubrey Malphurs in his book Building Leaders (Baker Books: 2004).   He goes on to say that “leadership development is never ending, because leaders are learners and if they ever stop learning, they stop leading.” In the CRCA we are committed to seeing leadership development across our denomination, in our churches, and among our pastors.   The third task of our denominational missional vision is about training, about “multiplying the number of well-trained leaders actively involved in God’s mission.”   This does not only...

A journey of a thousand kilometres begins with the first step.   Whether you travel by foot, or car, or plane – it all begins with the first step. Moving that one foot in front of the other. Starting that engine in your Toyota Camry. Booking an airline ticket with Flight Centre. It all begins with the first step. All CRCA pastors are being encouraged to establish a coaching relationship for themselves to move ever closer to living a life worthy of their callings as Christian leaders in the church. But where does one start? What are the steps that one...

You got to love hinges!   What would we do without them?   Every time we walk through a door way hinges are our best friend.  While some doors slide on rollers, most doors move on hinges.   You pull or push a door and you move from one place to another. I'm sitting today at RTC Melbourne listening to a number of talks on the Biblical book of Ezekiel.   What do you do with a prophetic book like Ezekiel?  The opening pages of this book read like a science fiction novel, with four multi-headed and multi-winged creatures riding some...

As Christ followers "we know that we cannot make a difference if we are not taking action."    That comment from Steve Saccone's book Protege really hits the mark when we think about being a church on mission.   He goes on to write:  "We spend lots of time thinking about mission.  We may even feel guilty for not doing it well enough, if we even do it at all.  The reality is the church is more know for mission statements than for doing the mission." (165)   "Mission is a call to action." (168)   "Mission is the difference between having an...

"There is one who scatters, yet increases more.And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty."Proverbs 11:24 Overflowing We need to remember, all we have belongs rightly to God.Give with a generous spirit as you place your dependence on Him.We gain the right perspective on our earthly possessions...When we learn to give back a portion to God! God blesses those who give freely what He has given.Not just monetary, giving of your time and God-given talents, indeed.We are overflowing with blessings and as our cup overflows...We'd be wasteful not to share where there's a need!...

The theme was 'URGENT' - establishing a gospel priority for your church. Over 25 CRCA pastors, church members, and leaders gathered at the Geneva Push Multiply conference in Melbourne 14-16 May. The main speakers were Greg Lee, lead pastor at Hunter Bible Church, and Sam Chan from the City Bible Forum Sydney. There were people from over 100 churches in Australia, including many CRCA churches. As a denomination we recognise the urgency of evangelism and outreach. This urgency is rooted in our vision to be 'a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.' With over 21 million people in Australia...

It was G.K. Chesterton who said "How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it."    But such wisdom is not new nor did it orginate with G.K. Chesterton.  This is the heart of God!  It was Jesus who said, "Whoever wants to become great among you must become your servant." (Mark 10:34)   On another occasion Jesus taught: "... he who is least among you all--he is the greatest." (Luke 9:48)    Jesus himself modeled this posture in life through his incarnation and his death on the cross, as the apostle Paul reminds us...

Jack De Vries was hired on by the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia and began his work as Ministry Training Coordinator in January 2008. In 2012, Jack took on the role of Ministry Development Coach. Jack came from Canada where he pastored three Christian Reformed churches:  Alliston CRC, Alliston, Ontario(1983-87), a church plant: New Life Community Church, Pickering, Ontario(1987-95), and Bethel CRC, Listowel, Ontario (1995-2007). Jack is a graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity - 1983) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Doctor of Ministry - 2003)  Jack and his wife Jeannie currently live in Petrie, a northern suburb of Brisbane...

Recently I prayed with my eyes wide open!   I have not done that for a long, long time.   As a young child during family devotions I would on occasion open my eyes(just a slit or two) during prayer -- just to see if anyone else had their eyes open.   Years later, there were many times carving up kilometres on pavement on my motorcycle when I would talk with God out loud.   I figured no one but God could hear me, but as I prayed at 100 kph I figured it would be wise to keep my eyes open.  But now here...

It is encouraging to know that 84% of CRCA congregational members would support the development of new initiatives in the ministry and mission of their local church.    This is one of many findings in the recent NCLS (National Church Life Survey) survey conducted among CRCA churches.   While not all churches participated in the NCLS survey, the results are still a good sampling of the vitality of CRCA churches.    Over 1300 adult members participated, which is almost ¼ or 22% of the total adult membership in the CRCA.   The 17 participating churches represented large as well as small churches, churches from every...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (5) Christianity is not a spectator sport. Australians know what it means to be a spectator.  And Australians are not unique in this. Sport is big business and attracts huge crowds to stadiums. What typically happens is that you have a few players on the field who are active participants in the sporting event, be it Cricket, Soccer, Rugby, or the like. The rest are spectators and they come in the tens of thousands to watch these events. They might cheer on a player or a team, but for the most part, they simply watch;...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (4) Balance in a church, just as it is in life, is a healthy condition! You might know of situations in life when you are pulled in opposing directions. It is not healthy. In one of the churches I served, soon after I arrived on the scene, I spoke with an elderly man who had a lifetime of history in this church. We were looking at the photos of all the previous pastors hanging on the wall in the church entrance. The photos were staggered, with each alternate photo hanging a bit lower than the...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (3) We all like to be in charge, in control of our lives and even our own destiny. Desire for control is buried deep in the DNA of human beings. We insist on being in the driver’s seat of our lives. To give up control is difficult. We all know of some people that might be called “control freaks” – they not only like to control their own lives; they also like to control the lives of others. In every church I have served it did not take me long to figure out who these...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (2) We are creatures of habit and we all tend to gravitate to the comfortable pew in church. At least this has been my tendency. When I was a student at university I always sat in the same general area or desk in the classroom. It was familiar, and most often the same people would sit next to me or around me. The same is in church. It is usually always the same pew, on the left side of the sanctuary, surrounded by the same people – each and every Sunday. Perhaps this is a...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (1) You probably heard it said, “Starting the job is half done.” Some might take issue with this maxim arguing that it takes a whole lot more that simply starting something to get it done. That might be true. But there is much truth in this saying. I am writing this article whilst in one of the largest aircrafts in the world, an Airbus A380-800. Engineers will tell you that it takes a lot more energy to get this huge jet up in the air than to keep it flying at high altitude. The thrust...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers - An Introduction There are many times in life when we come to a fork in the road and we have to make a choice. Do we turn to left or to the right? Or do we turn around? We need to make a choice. Which road do we take? In the words of Robert Frost, do we take the road less travelled? This is what Frost calls the road not taken. In my work coaching church leaders and congregations in missional strategies to reach the lost for Christ, I find that the majority of...

Driving along one day to my next destination I heard these words over the radio:  I am strong when I am on your shoulders, you raise me up to more than I can be. Immediately I began to think of the many times my wife or I have taken one of our children or grandchildren and put them on our shoulders, carried them on our backs, or in our arms. They might have become weary from a walk, or simply wanted to be close to us. But being carried on our shoulders lifted their burdens, and raised them up (literally) to new heights. In...

As the pages of a new year are turned on the calendar lots of people resolve to do something in the year ahead.   Many make the resolution to loose some weight.   The holiday season has packed on a few extra kilos and so people turn up at the gym and begin a routine of working out.   For others it might be to get out of debt.   Or attend church more often.   Or to improve time management.   Take a holiday.  Quick smoking. I like to suggest a challenge to you that you could turn into a...

Not too long ago I marked 33 years since I entered the ordained ministry. One of the things I did was to write one of my professors from my years at Calvin Theological Seminary. I just wanted to thank him for inspiring me so many years ago with a passion for the gospel and ministry in the church. Another one of my teachers at that time, Richard De Ridder, a missionary for many years, had charged us budding ministers to never lose our passion for the gospel and reaching the lost with the good news of Christ. He told us of...