In the last few posts I discussed the five purposes of small groups at High Point church. Our vision for small groups is for them to be Christ centered, transformational communities. The five purposes and practices of small groups are designed to build these communities.
One point of application I took away from Nic’s sermon yesterday came right off the bat- as he mentioned John G. Paton’s story and how reading about missionaries has encouraged and inspired him, I decided I wanted to do more of that myself. I suggested he put out a blog post with some recommendations…he responded by assigning me the work instead- well played. Here is the fruit of that discussion:
Why Read Biographies of Christians?
John Piper wrote a short chapter on why to read Christian biography in his book Brothers, We are Not Professionals. He points out that Hebrews 11, a summary of many of the greats of faith in the biblical story, is written to compel us to run the race of our faith well. If an author of Scripture sees value in sharing stories of faith lived out to spur his readers on, it makes sense for us to seek these too. Continue reading Learning the Stories of Christian Missionaries→
High Point Church has always been a missions church. We have never been afraid to believe the gospel is for all people. And there have always been people within our movements who have risen up to answer the call to foreign fields. High Point is just over 50 years old, and over 50 years global missions has changed a lot. Very few new missionaries hear what John Paton (sailed from Scotland to the New Hebrides April 16, 1858) was told, “You will be eaten by Cannibals!” (He almost was.) Missions looks a lot different, even though we are often doing many of the same things we have always done. We are translating the Bible into new tongues. We are helping people and economic squalor apply basic technologies for better lives. We are teaching indigenous missionaries to preach the gospel. We are sending Western missionaries into countries with no indigenous witness – especially in Muslim lands.
