Real Lasting Life
About this blog
Ray Jones is the Coordinator for Evangelism for the Presbyterian Church (USA). He has served the church as a pastor for twenty-five years. He has a heart for helping people grow in the love of God in Jesus Christ. This growth always includes our words and deeds. He is married and has two grown daughters. He has experienced training and education at Furman University, Columbia Theological Seminary, the church, and through living in the world.
Recent posts
- The Engine of the Church
- My Witnesses
- Witnessing Communities
- The Ministry of Making Disciples
- A New Creation
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The Engine of the Church
Mike Breen, a pastor and author, has been part of starting hundreds of churches. Not long ago he wrote that he believes the missional movement will fail in North American because we are like a car without an engine. He writes that the missional church has become the beautiful, shiny new car that everyone is talking about right now. But no matter how beautiful or shiny the vehicle, without the engine, it won't go anywhere.
The engine of the church is discipleship. If we make disciples, we will get the church. But if we try to build the church, we won't necessarily make disciples. The Gospel of Matthew concludes with Jesus' words of going and making disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).
I'm learning that discipleship is something we do together. We engage practices that take us more deeply into a relationship with Jesus and into God's mission to reach the world. So, what are these practices?
What if every time we gathered, we shared scripture together? What if every time we gathered, we were in prayer for one another, the people around us, and our beautiful but broken world? What if every time we gathered, we would share our lives in such a way that we were held accountable for this new life in Christ? What if every time we gathered, we held one another accountable for how we are serving others and reaching out to share faith? What if every time we gathered, we helped one another become better stewards of the gifts we have been given?
What if these gatherings included our meetings, worship, opportunities to serve, fellowship, and study? What if they included all our meetings at 100 Witherspoon Street, our presbyteries, and when we meet for General Assembly? I believe we would be making disciples. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we would be transforming our churches and starting new ones.
May 25, 2012
My Witnesses
The churches of my childhood stressed constantly the importance of personal evangelism, but there was something essential missing in the messages we heard. The emphasis was on souls being saved. Not once did we receive a message about serving people in need and being part of what God is doing to right ancient wrongs.
When I was a teenager, I found a home with Presbyterians. It was refreshing to to hear about and to be part of God's mission to the poor and mistreated. The messages resonated with me, but once again something essential to the gospel was missing ...
May 15, 2012
Witnessing Communities
As I continue to do my work in evangelism, I keep going back to Jesus' words in Acts 1:1-8. He does not tell his followers to go and start churches. He does not tell them how to worship, serve, or study scripture; he tells them they will be witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon them (Acts 1:8).
We bear witness to the power of God's forgiving love in Jesus that has changed our lives. We bear witness to the reign of God through Jesus. As our lives change, we become the agents of change in our ...
May 11, 2012
The Ministry of Making Disciples
We are called to make disciples. Seems like a simple thing. It's the ministry of the church. But we end up in countless meetings, planning programs, and struggling over denominational decline. We want to start new churches and transform our existing churches. And there is no easy plan for this ministry. But I'm becoming more convinced that if we are about making disciples, our churches will be transformed and we will start new communities of faith.
One of the things we must get right is that we must be the church for the world. We must be Jesus ...
April 25, 2012
A New Creation
Imagine what could change if the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was allowed to shape and inform all areas of our lives. The Apostle Paul writes that we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old life no longer defines us. We are set free from all that holds us captive and for God's mission of healing the world.
April 17, 2012
Three Main Things
As I continue to grow as a follower of Jesus, I rethink much of the way in which I was trained for ministry. I’ve experienced training in sharing faith. But if I’m not in relationships with people outside the church, I have no context in which to share. I’ve learned the importance of casting a compelling vision, but I did not learn so much about developing a community in which the life we live in Jesus is the essence of our attraction. I learned the significance of a ministry bathed in justice and mercy, but that mission was not connected to a close walk with Jesus.
July 25, 2011
Sharing What You Have
Can you actually share something you don't have? Now, you're probably thinking that's a stupid question! But so often when we are dealing with evangelism, we find ourselves training people to share something they don't have or believe they don't have.
If we are simply training people to share what they don't believe thay have, the ministry of evangelism is awkward and inauthentic. When people get tools to share what they don't believe they have inside of them, the sharing is often hesitant and reluctant. What usually happens is that people come up ...
June 29, 2011
A Way of Life
Len Sweet has written a thoughtful and important new book on evangelism. I am only halfway through the book, but I am already captivated by the way in which he is presenting evangelism as a natural part of a growing Christian's faith journey. He writes in Nudge, "Evangelism as we know it hasn't worked. Either evangelism is so aggressive you want to get a restraining order, or else evangelism is so restrained you want to call it to order. Our strategies have been spectacularly useless at best, counterproductive at worst" (P. 35).
Sweet contends that evanglism is all ...
June 14, 2011
Making Disciples
The church is called to make disciples. Growing disciples of Jesus Christ share faith and serve others in ways that the Holy Spirit uses to rescue and reconcile a broken world. Discipleship begins with Jesus. "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for" (Ephesians 1:11 The Message).
What if all our church activity started with Jesus? If our worship, time with Scripture, fellowship, and prayer took us more deeply into following Jesus, would we be more of a "sent" people? As long as we continue to try to fix and ...
March 16, 2011
The Narrow Gate
Lent is a great time to explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In his latest book, Tim Keller writes about the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He writes, "...The whole story of...