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Testimonies

Spiritual Treasure Hunting in England

Story by Alban Wellspringtreasure-hunting-in-england

Going on spiritual “treasure hunts” has been a creative way to reach out to people with God’s love. We learned about this prayer method from the book, “The Ultimate Treasure Hunt” by Kevin Dedmond. It has given us opportunity to help people experience a powerful encounter with our loving God.

Doing spiritual treasure hunts is a simple process that is easy to learn. First, we pray and ask God for clues and write them down. The clues fall into five categories: location, names, appearance, prayer need, and unusual. Then we go out in teams, looking for people who specifically match the descriptions. When we find someone who matches our clues, we talk with them and offer to pray for them. Continue reading “Spiritual Treasure Hunting in England” →

Articles

Exploring your Calling, Part 1: Marriage or Singleness?

Expanding the Definition of Calling

Many Christians think of “calling” as what God wants them to do for their career or ministry. They may spend years pursuing degrees and training to following the direction they feel God is guiding them to; at the same time, they neglect to devote time and energies to pursuing whether or not God has called them to get married.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he spends a great deal of time focusing on relationships between men and women. In 1 Corinthians 7:17, he defines calling in regards to marriage or singleness: “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches” (ESV).    Continue reading “Exploring your Calling, Part 1: Marriage or Singleness?” →

Articles

Community: The Key to Healing and Transformation

By Joyce Ahn (based on the teachings of Dick Scoggins)

So many of us have issues we want to deal with and hurts from our past that keep us from fully living to our potential.  But often, the question is how do we get healed? Many of us seek out advice from counselors or friends, but more often than not, our wounds remain and so does the accompanying pain.

When we look at Jesus’ teachings, it is clear that living in His Kingdom means that we are transformed. In fact, most of Jesus’ interactions with people recorded in Scripture involve him radically disrupting their life, and often liberating them from a physical or spiritual issue.  

If we say we follow Jesus, why is it that so many of us lack that transformative lifestyle and freedom from brokenness?  Here’s a few insights into the process of experiencing deep transformation: Continue reading “Community: The Key to Healing and Transformation” →

Articles, Testimonies

Stepping Out and Saying Hello: Building Cross-Cultural Friendships, Part 2

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he instructed his followers that as they were going about, they should be discipling all of the ethnic groups of the world (Matthew 28:19). Most of us who follow Jesus are familiar with this passage. But for most, it is pretty intimidating to think of reaching beyond our own ethnic group, our own cultural comfort zone, and initiating meaningful relationships with people from other groups. But without that barrier crossing, there will be no discipling of all nations….and Jesus will not be treasured by all peoples…and he will not receive the honor and glory he deserves. Continue reading “Stepping Out and Saying Hello: Building Cross-Cultural Friendships, Part 2” →

Articles

Building Cross-Cultural Friendships

international_students

You may have an interest in getting to know people from another culture and who speak another language than you. Here are some wise words of advice from people who have learned how to build deep friendships with people of other cultures:

  1.       Be inquisitive about the culture you are new to – Don’t just study extensively about people and their culture. Choose to let them tell you about their foods, traditions, and beliefs.
  2.       Be intentional with where you live and spend your time – When your neighbors are people from other cultures, or when you frequent places where they spend time, you have lots of opportunities to chat and get to know each other better.
  3.       Always keep a learner’s perspective – If something seems confusing or strange to you, rather than making an immediate judgment call, keep asking questions and see it as a learning opportunity about their culture.
  4.       Learn people’s language – Just because you flunked Spanish class in high school doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to learn someone else’s language (even if it’s a hard language to learn!). Language learning, even informally asking “How do you say…?” allows for a fun time to rely on them as your teacher and deepen your friendship.
  5.       Be a good friend – Learning about language and culture does NOT have to be complicated or formal. Often just being a good friend is all you need. 🙂

 

Articles

Mentoring Part 4: A Case Study from Paul



We need to realize that Jesus trained his apprentices for only 3 years.  In comparison, the Apostle Paul engaged in the ministry of mentoring for more than 25 years (dating from his first missionary journey, when I believe he entered into his apostolic calling after perhaps 14 years of preparation).  In his letter to the Corinthians written during his third missionary journey, Paul refers to himself as a “wise master builder” (I Cor. 3:10).  I encourage mentors to learn much from his letters, given how much experience Paul had. Continue reading “Mentoring Part 4: A Case Study from Paul” →

Articles

Mentoring Part 3: A Case Study from Jesus (Luke 10)



Jesus gradually gave his disciples opportunity to do ministry with him.  He first invited them to observe as he modeled ministry, and often would take a good deal of time explaining things afterwards.  He went on to release them into ministry.  A look at Luke 10 will be helpful to see the process of how he equipped and sent out 70 disciples into ministry. Continue reading “Mentoring Part 3: A Case Study from Jesus (Luke 10)” →

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Mentoring Part 2: A Few Thoughts from Jesus’ Mentoring Example

Mentoring (7)

Our primary example for mentoring is Jesus. He spent the bulk of His ministry mentoring his twelve disciples, eleven of whom eventually mentored many more of their own disciples.  His closing charge to his disciples (which Paul’s charge to Timothy is but an echo, 2 Timothy 2:2) is a charge to keep making disciples, and keep mentoring others: Continue reading “Mentoring Part 2: A Few Thoughts from Jesus’ Mentoring Example” →

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Mentoring (6)

Though the word “mentoring” is not used in the Bible, the concept is evident throughout the Scripture. There are some excellent passages related to mentoring as seen in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 14 and 16, in addition to examples from Jesus and the Apostle Paul who both applied mentoring principles to their own ministries.

As demonstrated in John 14:15,18, 20, and 21, Jesus’ mentoring relationship with his disciples (mentees) was intensely personal. Effective mentoring is a love relationship established between God and people through His Holy Spirit. Mentoring is not a matter of passing on a few tidbits of information or “how to’s” of ministry. It is a matter of pouring yourself into another person and sharing yourself with them, not just your knowledge. Paul even goes as far as to compare this kind of ministry to mothering: Continue reading →