Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 33

Don’t Divorce Christ

I love the local church. From Acts 2 to Revelation 3, the Bible is about the local church, written to the local church, or written in the context of the local church. 

God gave us the local church as his plan A for his mission on earth, and he did not give us a plan B. The local church is just that important.

Please don’t say that the church is the people of God and not a building. Yes, the people of God are the church, but they are commanded to gather (and it’s usually in a building) and to be in fellowship with one another. Don’t use that metaphor as an excuse to skip church. 

Please don’t communicate to your children that it’s okay to skip church. To take a break. To participate in Sunday sports. To go on vacation (most vacation spots have churches). They will know where your priority is. They will demonstrate a similar priority in their adolescent and adult years. They will not need the church. They will not need God. 

Please don’t use the local church to get your perceived needs met. Your style of music. Your programs. Your ministries. Your schedule. 

Please don’t say the church is about sending, not attending. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and. The Bible commands us to send. And the Bible commands us to gather.

Please don’t say you don’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites. Yes, it is full of hypocrites. We are called sinners. But we are sinners forgiven by Christ’s death on the cross. We are living examples of the power of the gospel. Not perfect. Just perfectly forgiven. 

Please don’t use the slightest excuse to skip church. Bad weather. Good weather. Not enough sleep. Too much sleep. Upset stomach. But not too upset to play golf. 

Please don’t say that this short missive is legalistic. It is not legalistic. It is biblical. It is about commitment. 

I love the metaphor that says clearly we, the church, are the bride of Christ. Read Ephesians 5:25-30. We, the local church, are indeed the bride and Christ is the bridegroom. 

And if we are waning in our commitment to the local church, we are waning in our commitment to the marriage between us, the church, and Christ. 

Please don’t minimize the importance of the local church. 

Please don’t divorce Christ, the bridegroom. 

The local church is just that important.

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Reminders for Moms This Mother’s Day

If you’ve walked through your local grocery or convenience store, you have probably noticed a heavier presence of florals and pastels that lead to a display of cards to celebrate and honor moms on Mother’s Day. If you are like me, you are swarming with thoughts of needing to purchase something for a mom in your life to wondering if your people will even remember since they have forgotten in previous years. 

It can be a day of celebration–but it can also be a day of unmet expectations and struggle. 

Wherever your thoughts may land as we approach this Mother’s Day, I wanted to offer some simple reminders for you and the moms in your life…

The Ache You Feel is an Opportunity for Redemption

Mother’s Day is a hard and complex day for many. Broken relationships, grief, childlessness, regret, and disappointment can often fill this day that is supposed to be marked by joy and honor. 

Whether it is the loss of an earthly mother or the ache for the relationship that was never there, we find ourselves in the tension of holding loss in one hand and hope in the other. Wherever your heart may land this Mother’s Day, there is the promise of redemption through the person and work of Jesus. Paul encourages us that our “losses” are “gains” in the Kingdom of God and in those areas that are marked by hurt and pain, God is meeting and tending to them with grace, mercy, and love.  

Your Identity is in Who You Reflect, Not What You Produce

It is really easy to attach our identity to the role of “mom.” From the very beginning we are put into classifications: epidural or natural; home or hospital; nursing or formula; cloth or disposable diapers; cry it out or co-sleep methods. And this is just the first few months of motherhood! 

The temptation for us is to attach our identity and worth to the choices we make or how well we achieve the self-determined status of “great mom” in any given moment. But when you look at who you are as a woman, created in the image of God, you don’t find a list of achievements or tasks to be completed–you find that your Creator infuses dignity, purpose, belonging, and worth simply because you are His daughter.

God has made each of us unique, diverse, and gifted us in various ways to reflect and image Him. He is big, multifaceted, creative, and full of wisdom and beauty. We each have unique families of origin, hobbies, and dreams that we hope to use as a platform to reflect God’s glory. We are part of His thread of redemption which means that who we are is rooted in His great narrative for our life and not simply in what we do or achieve. 

Limits and Failures Are God’s Reminder of Grace 

We feel guilty when we lose our temper over spilled milk or after the 200th time we asked our children to clean up their room. We are filled with anxiety at the thought of a failed grade or a missed assignment because of how it affects their GPA. We lay sleepless, replaying our failures, waking up wound up and determined to protect them from the heaviness of this world. 

We take the blessing of shepherding our kids and turn it into a savior-complex that is too weighty for us to hold. This comes into play when we start to believe the lie that we can control, fix, or protect the circumstances around us and our kids and that ultimately we are in control.

God is really good at being God and when we remember that, our heart to love, care for, protect, and guide is a fraction of what God desires for our kids. Some of the biggest truths we can pour into the hearts of our kids is that we point them to the One who their hearts need most, and we do that by modeling that truth ourselves. 

When we mess up, there is grace. When we go too far, there is forgiveness. When we overstep and disobey, there is kindness in God’s rebuke and consequences. We show them that the God who has so graciously loved and chased us down each and every day with His love and patience is the same God who is pursuing them.

Motherhood isn’t Limited to Biology

We often think of motherhood in terms of biology, but in the family of God we see Him opening doors of influence, connection, and giftedness to help bring His Kingdom on earth. In Matthew 28, Jesus gives His final words to the disciples, both men and women, to go and make disciples. Through baptism, teaching, and modeling we are able to be a part of God’s mission to bring light in the midst of darkness, and hope in the midst of despair.

You may be in a season of life where you no longer have children at home, or you are waiting to see if the pregnancy test this month will finally show two lines. No matter what your nuclear family looks like right now, you as a believer in Jesus Christ, have the opportunity and command to disciple, care for, and train up others around you. 

Your local church family gives you an opportunity to share your gifts, wisdom, and time as you invest and love the next generation of women. Younger generations are craving and longing for spiritual big sisters, moms, and grandmas as they navigate life’s ups and downs. 

Who is someone you can take to coffee and be a listening ear for, or someone to invite to come cheer alongside you in the stands at your kids sports game, or a young woman who can serve alongside you on a Sunday morning as you study and teach your Sunday school class?

As the world looks for a moment toward women with celebration and intentionality, I pray that we point them to look to God’s faithfulness and kindness in our lives as we reflect the One who defines, sustains, and propels us forward in both grace and truth. 

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Shifting Your Church Out of Survival Mode and into Hopeful Optimism

Many churches are barely hanging on, but there is hope.

Churches are simultaneously both fragile and resilient. They hang on by their fingernails, but those fingernails are surprisingly strong. Every Sunday seems to have the potential to be the last one. Yet the same church survives year after year, decade after decade. Struggling churches tend to maintain the constant tension between fragility and resiliency. It’s the perpetual state of not quite dying.

And it’s exhausting.

You have just enough momentum and life to get to the following Sunday. The culture of the church is one in which the members learn to survive but never thrive. Barely hanging on requires a ton of energy.

Any initial movement in the right direction will feel slow, but the progress is monumental when you consider how the church expends energy. Survival is a drain. Hope is an investment. The more you invest in hope, the greater it will build over time.

What happens when a church starts investing in hope? What are the signs a congregation dedicates more energy to hope than survival?

The core gets stronger, and the mission becomes clearer. Most churches are smaller than they were three years ago. But the core people are stronger. Key leaders and volunteers who stuck with the church through the pandemic now have a clear sense of mission.

Polity is a means, not an end. The governance of the church should never dictate how the church ministers. Rather, the ministry of the church should guide the governance. In a hopeful congregation, polity is not the driver but rather the mission of God.

Devotion is more prevalent than nostalgia. In a church merely surviving, the past is often the hero. In a church filled with hope, Jesus is the hero. When the mission of the present evokes more energy than the memories of the past, the church is turning toward hope.

Members care more about the community than their traditions. While traditions can be important markers in the life of a church, these markers should never supersede a love for the community. Hopeful churches love the community more deeply than their traditions.

The older generation is willing to give up preferences to reach the younger generation. When preferences are the priority, internal conflict will inevitably surface, especially between generations. The greater burden is with older, more mature people to give up their preferences to reach the next generation.

The younger generation is willing to listen and learn from the older generation. One of the great bridges of hope between generations is a willingness to learn, especially when the younger generation learns from the older generation.

Members value sacrifice more than comfort. Apathy is a contaminant polluting the mission of the church. Status quo churches are more like social clubs than kingdom outposts. The less a church cares about comfort, the more hopeful the church will be. A church willing to sacrifice is one that knows the reality of hope.

If God can save any person, then He can also save any church. It’s time for churches to be optimistic. The energy spent on survival can be transferred to hope. Stop draining your energy on survival and start investing in hope.

Do you want to help move churches from flatlining to flourishing? Check out Church Revitalization Certification . This certification is for leaders who want to see struggling churches make a greater gospel impact.

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Nine Microstresses of a Pastor

December 15, 1967 was a major moment in American history.

I bet few of you know what happened on that day. I sure didn’t until I began studying the world of microstresses. 

Let me explain.

On that fateful day in 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed, and 46 people died. The bridge connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia to Gallipolis, Ohio over the Ohio River. The collapse was attributed to microstresses, small and almost imperceptible factors that cumulatively caused the catastrophe. 

A small fracture formed in a part of the bridge that was one of many components that held the bridge deck in place. The fracture, too small by itself to cause damage, was the result of a design flaw. The flaw allowed salt and water to seep in the component. The salt and water led to corrosion and cracking. Because that one component was not working, the load shifted to similar parts of the bridge. The cumulative shifting led to overload on the working parts of the bridge. That overload led to the ultimate tragedy.

So, December 15, 1967, became a pivotal day where inspection of bridges became commonplace, and where quality standards of new bridges hit a higher and safer level. 

One little stress ultimately led to a total collapse. 

Pastors are not alone in having stressful jobs. I don’t want to imply that their work is more difficult than other jobs. But pastors are unique in the cumulative number of microstresses in their lives. And, left alone without care, these microstresses can lead to a total collapse.

Here are nine of the most common microstresses pastors experience by the very nature of their jobs and calling. Not all of them are the result of negative circumstances per se.

The decision making microstresses. Pastors must make countless decisions every week. One pastor told me his greatest challenge was “decision fatigue.” The decisions can range from making a small church expenditure to counseling a terminally ill patient on important decisions. Some seem insignificant. But they all add up quickly. The critical comments microstresses. For most people, pastors included, criticisms sting. Many pastors are subject to a regular litany of criticisms. It wears on them, makes them question their own leadership, and can lead to depression. The emotional extremes microstresses. A pastor told me that his ministry was a roller coaster emotionally. Just that week he celebrated the birth of a baby and the new birth of a Christian man. But he also officiated at the funeral of a 16-year-old girl who was killed in an automobile accident  The theologian-in-residence microstresses. Pastors get bombarded with biblical and theological questions. For most of them, such conversations can be fun. But some pastors get an overabundance of texts, calls, and social media posts with questions about the Bible and theology. The pastoral care microstresses. All pastors must do some level of pastoral care. It is a part of their calling. But the marriage failures, sicknesses, depression, anger, and other typical challenges people experience can cumulatively seem overwhelming.  The deadlines microstresses. Most pastors have to prepare and preach a sermon every week. Every single week with few exceptions. Again, most pastors love preaching. But the constant deadlines can be challenging.  The not omnicompetent microstresses. Pastors are expected to be competent in many areas. But they aren’t. They wish they could help in every situation, but they are simply not skilled in every discipline under the sun. A Florida pastor was asked to make it snow on Christmas day. Seriously.  The family failures microstresses. Pastors are rightly concerned about putting their family first in their lives and ministries. But that does not make it easy. It’s been over three decades, but I am still haunted by the look on my nine-year-old son’s face when I canceled our weekly father/son trip to McDonald’s. A church member called me with an “emergency” need for marriage counseling. I let my son down, and the marriage still failed.  The bill payment microstresses. I admit frustration when I hear people talk about overpaid pastors. Baloney! Most pastors struggle from paycheck to paycheck. Those struggles are yet more microstresses.

This article stated the problem without solutions. I will have a follow-up article shortly. I will address how pastors can better deal with microstresses.

Stay tuned.

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The Top Three Ways Lead Pastors Can Serve the Second Chair

The second chair position is paradoxical for two reasons. First, a second chair involves the tension of submitting as a subordinate to the first chair while at the same time leading with a high level of influence. Second chairs maintain a dependence on the first chair while at the same time managing the significant amounts of freedom found near the top of the chain of command. Additionally, the second paradox involves being in an ever-changing role that is difficult to define while at the same time trying to add structure to the vision of the first chair. Second chairs often find themselves in the unenviable position of being the Jell-O others are trying to nail to the wall.

Whether it’s a paid or unpaid position, formal or informal, most churches have a strong leader serving under the lead (or sole) pastor. In smaller churches, this person can be a prominent layperson. In larger churches, the position is often an executive pastor. Numerous titles describe this position, including associate and administrator. Other church leadership positions can also be second chairs, such as a worship pastor. In this article, I will refer to the position simply as the second chair.

This post is about second chairs but directed to first chairs. How can lead pastors serve those whose main item on the job description is to serve them?

Serve first, lead second, and teach servant leadership. All church leaders should take on the posture of serving first and leading second, but a personal example is not enough. First chairs cannot assume second chairs (and other staff members) will follow the example of servant leadership if it is simply lived out and never taught. First chairs must do more than encourage others to serve. They must teach others how to be servant leaders. First chairs should direct second chairs and staff to be aware of more than just what they should do, but also who they are in Christ. Servant leadership is more than a list of positive and negative traits. Servant leadership is more than a list of helpful or unhelpful actions. Being a servant leader like Jesus is an identity. This identity has a biblical foundation, and it must be taught.

Create a partnership, not a dictatorship. Living servant leadership and teaching servant leadership are essential to creating a culture of servant leadership. But this culture is unsustainable (as is just about everything else in the church) without a partnership. Treating second chairs and staff as partners rather than employees will help sustain a transformational servant leadership environment. A first chair’s goal is to create a partnership and not give directives like an overbearing boss. This partnership of servant leadership can be fostered with transparency and clarity.      

Balance authority and responsibility. The temptation for a first chair is to seize power and control from the second chair. In the hierarchy of command, it is easier for a first chair to pull authority from a second chair than for a second chair to take it from a first chair. One of the ministry tensions of the second chair is leading and adding value to the church without the positional authority of the lead pastor. A subordinate leader can only influence upward if the senior leader gives him or her the corresponding authority to do so.

One of the first chair’s primary responsibilities is serving the second chair. Nothing invalidates leadership like abandoning a servant’s heart. A first chair’s relationship with a second chair is one of a partnership, not a dictatorship. In this partnership, the first chair should grant a second chair a high level of authority to accomplish the tasks of his or her responsibility.

At Church Answers Central, we cover a variety of topics and answer these kinds of questions every day. Church Answers Central is the world’s largest online community for practical ministry support. Get 24/7 answers to your church questions. Join a vibrant community of nearly 2,000 church leaders in a safe environment. Connect with top church health experts like Thom Rainer, Chuck Lawless, Sam Rainer, and others like you. Become a member today!

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5 Reasons Why Prayer Must Accompany Evangelism

In June of this year, our Church Answers team will be releasing “The Hope Initiative,” a simple, reproducible strategy utilizing this tool by Thom Rainer to turn a church outward toward its community. One of the reasons I love this strategy is that it clearly connects prayer with evangelism. Many evangelism tools only assume prayer is taking place when it’s likely not—and that’s a problem. 

Here’s why any outreach strategy must be grounded in prayer:

1. Evangelism is a spiritual battle. We are trying to reach people who are following the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:1-3), who are blinded by the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:3-4), who are living in the domain of darkness (Col 1:13), who are held captive in the devil’s trap (2 Tim. 2:26), and who are under the power of Satan (Acts 26:18). Any evangelism we do pushes into the darkness of the enemy’s kingdom, and we can expect an attack when we move forward with the gospel. We need prayer.

2. We cannot open blinded minds. We cannot, in our own power, somehow change the heart of a non-believer. We sow and water the seed, but it is God who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:7). He alone changes hearts and transfers people from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of His Son (Col. 1:13-14). Our prayer pleads with God to change those hearts even as we obediently share the gospel.

3. Evangelism is seldom easy. Some folks are hesitant to speak to others about their faith. Some are afraid of rejection. Others worry they won’t have the right answers. Some just don’t know how to share their faith. At the same time, though, even someone as evangelistic as the apostle Paul needed the prayers of others that he might speak the gospel boldly and clearly (Eph. 6:18-20; Col. 4:2-4). If Paul needed prayer support to be evangelistic, surely you and I do also. Prayer admits our inability to evangelize apart from the power of God.

4. Prayer is a confession that we need God in this process. In my book, The Potential and Power of Prayer, I describe prayer as “an expression of our relationship with God and a confession of our dependence on Him.” Prayer that accompanies evangelism is a cry that others will know Him and a confession that we need Him to change their lives. Serious, heartfelt prayer, on behalf of non-believers, expresses the depth of our burden for God to redeem someone.

5. Ongoing, genuine prayer should compel us to practice evangelism. That is, a relationship with God marked by prayer should overflow from our hearts that we (a) want to talk to Him and (b) want to talk to others about Him. If we truly meet with God in prayer, we will also want others to meet Him in prayer.

Pastors, make sure you’re equipping your church family to do evangelism—but equip them to pray too. Pray in such a way that they will want you to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1), lead them to the throne of God, and ask God to deepen their burden for the lost. 

Then, do as the book title says: Pray & Go! 

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The Life Cycle of a Pastor (Updated)

For almost 30 years, we have tracked the tenure of pastors. Though some of the categories are the same, the time periods and the descriptions of the periods continue to evolve. We are now in a post-pandemic, post-Christian era. The changes are significant.

Of course, these cycles are generalizations. There will always be exceptions and outliers. Here is where we see the life cycle of a pastor today.

Honeymoon: 0 to 6 months. This era is becoming shorter and shorter. When we first started reporting the life cycle of pastors, the period lasted up to three years. It is now down to 6 months. Church members are often fearful about their church’s future. They frequently call pastors with unrealistic expectations. It does not take long before many members realize that the expectations will not be met.

Challenges and conflict: 6 months to 4 years. The honeymoon period is shorter, and the era of challenges and conflict is longer. For two decades, this difficult period of a pastor’s tenure only lasted two years. Now the pastor can expect it to last over three years. Obviously, this period is the most common era for pastors to resign or get fired.

Acceptance and stability: Year 4 to year 7. For many years, we referred to this stage as the growth era of a pastor’s life cycle. Until the pandemic, it was common for the pastor to lead the church to growth during this time more than any other point. Today, we simply say it’s a time of acceptance and stability after a period of conflict. Growth is not as common for churches during this era as it was in years past.

Inflection point: Year 7 to year 10. This stage becomes the defining point for a long-term pastor. It is possible for the church to have a growth stage at this point. But it is also possible for the pastor to cease leading the church toward Great Commission growth. This reality can become pronounced if the pastor is moving toward retirement. Such is the reason we call it an inflection point: the growth and health of the church moves clearly positive or clearly negative.

Mystery: After year 10. We still don’t have sufficient data to name this stage. And any attempt to define it seems futile because we just don’t see any consistent patterns. The efficacy of a pastor’s ministry after the 10th year of tenure remains a mystery.

 If you are a pastor, or if you have observed pastors closely, I welcome your perspectives. How closely aligned do these stages match what you have seen or experienced? What are some differences in your ministry?

Let me hear from you.

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Is Gen Z More Likely to Attend Church Than Millennials? The Surprising Answer

Are the trends reversing? Could younger people return to church in greater numbers? Perhaps. It’s too early to tell, but one researcher gives a little hope. Ryan Burge reported on data indicating Gen Z is more likely to attend church than Millennials and Gen X. While almost a third of this younger generation does not claim a particular religion (the “nones”), they attend religious services at a slightly higher rate than their Millennial and Gen X parents.

More research is needed as this data could be an aberration. Two caveats are in order. First, Gen Z religious attendance has been trending down, not up. Second, not every member of Gen Z is included in this data as some are too young to be present in the measurements. One data point does not make a trend, but this one is worth watching over the next few years.

At Church Answers, we wanted to know more. So we asked a Gen Zer his thoughts. This video is the second installment of a three-part Church Answers YouTube series on Gen Z. Check out our channel to see the other videos.

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Seven Insights from Churches about the Recent Easter Weekend

We’ve done a lot of listening and learning the week after Easter. We at Church Answers are grateful for consulting and coaching clients and for the large community at Church Answers Central.

Though our information is more anecdotal rather than data-based, it is nevertheless insightful. Here are seven key takeaways we gleaned from church leaders about the recent Easter weekend:

1. A surprising number of unchurched persons attended Good Friday services. More churches are offering Good Friday services than in the past. For the first time, we heard that unchurched persons attended these services in surprisingly greater numbers. In fact, some church leaders indicated that they had more unchurched in Good Friday services than Easter services.

2. There seems to be a greater spiritual hunger in the communities the churches serve. Obviously, there is a relationship between the first two points. And while it’s difficult to measure spiritual hunger, church leaders heard enough comments and had sufficient people respond to them the week after Easter to make this observation confidently.

3. Simplicity was effective and appropriate. Fewer church leaders reported that they had major Easter productions or pageants. Their services were simple yet profound. For many churches today, Easter is more of a time of reflection and quiet celebration than a major production.

4. Evangelism was more intentional. The trend about increasing evangelistic intentionality preceded the most recent Easter weekend. But this intentionality continued through Easter. Many church leaders reported more people choosing to follow Christ than they can recall for an Easter weekend.

5. Most churches did not have record attendance. In fact, among our small sample, fewer than one of ten churches reported that this Easter was a day of highest attendance. And seven in ten reported that their attendance was slightly lower than the previous year’s Easter attendance.

6. Easter Sunday attendees were primarily church members. Once again, Easter Sunday seems to be the unofficial reunion day when most of the members show up on the same day. As noted in number one, more churches reported unchurched persons on Good Friday than Easter Sunday.

7. Digital streaming services attendance continues to decline in most churches. This trend continued on Easter Sunday.

Keep in mind that our observations are anecdotal. I do appreciate those who spoke to us, wrote to us, or contributed to the community at Church Answers Central. We would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

What was your Easter weekend like at your church?

Thom

P. S. Consider joining our community at Church Answers. Nearly 2,000 church leaders are with us every day: https://churchanswers.com/join/

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History’s Most Important Biography

I love historical biographies. My family knows that these will always be on my Christmas list. It was no different this past year, and I’m now reading my way through a nice gift I received: a biography of Samuel Adams, the Boston revolutionary. Before that, I read a fascinating biography of King James I, the ruler famous for his role in commissioning the King James Bible, which was first published in 1611.

Because of my love for books like these, I’m naturally drawn to what is certainly the most important biography in history: the biography of Jesus. That’s why I’m excited about God with Us: The Four Gospels Woven Together in One Telling. It’s a captivating new book that looks and feels like a paperback novel. But it’s not a story based on Jesus’ life, with fictionalized embellishment. It is the story of Jesus’ life, teachings, and deeds, told entirely in the words of the four Gospels in the New Living Translation.

God with Us brings the accounts of the four Gospels together into one chronological narrative—from “In the beginning the Word already existed” (John 1:1) to “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven” (Luke 24:51). And everything in between.

By arranging Scripture chronologically, God with Us helps us experience Jesus’ story the way we’re used to reading biographies—from beginning to end. I just read it, and I found that it opened up new perspectives and confronted me with fresh truths, even though I’ve read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John countless times.

God with Us makes the Gospels highly readable as a single, streamlined story, and it does so without cutting out parts of the biblical text. The books are skillfully interwoven, and only duplicated stories or teachings are taken out.

This is the perfect Bible for use in a variety of settings. It is a powerful tool for evangelism, since it invites seekers—and believers who have trouble finding time to read—to discover Jesus’ story all in one place. Because of this, it’s likely that God with Us will become a valuable tool for outreach (there’s a “Knowing God Personally” section in the back of the book) as well as for devotional use and personal Bible study.

God with Us divides Jesus’ biography into eight chronologically ordered sections:

1. The origin, birth, and childhood of Jesus

2. The preparation for Jesus’ ministry

3. The initial Galilean ministry

4. The Sermon on the Mount

5. Continuation of the Galilean ministry

6. Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem

7. Jesus’ final visit to Jerusalem

8. The post-resurrection

James Barlow, the editor of this fascinating compilation, writes in the introduction:

Why in the world would four simple fishermen suddenly leave their families and their work without hesitation to blindly follow a man walking along the shore whom they didn’t know? . . . In his account, Matthew depicts these four men willing to leave everything behind after hearing Jesus’ simple request: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

The answer to this question suddenly came to me as I read the Gospel of John, specifically John 1:29-51. John provides the added insights that John the Baptist had first introduced Andrew and one other disciple to Jesus, and that Andrew had in turn introduced Simon Peter to Jesus. These disciples had spent time with Jesus, thus they knew him when he ultimately called them by the seashore. My entire perspective changed on why they left and followed Jesus. I discovered background and context to the story that was not included in Matthew’s account but could be learned by reading the Gospels collectively. That raised my curiosity level significantly as to whether there were other aspects of the individual Gospel accounts that might be confusing if not read within the perspective of the four Gospels as a whole.

That curiosity led to the painstaking work that produced God with Us, which now serves to bring insights and clarity to the reading of the Gospel accounts like never before.

While it’s wonderful that God with Us enhances believers’ enjoyment and understanding of the Gospels, we’re even more excited about how clearly the Good News is being presented to those who are just meeting Jesus and learning about the gift of salvation for the first time.

This book is a clear and effective evangelism tool for churches and outreach ministries. Reading God with Us: The Four Gospels Woven Together in One Telling will introduce people not just to a fascinating historical figure, but to the God of the universe, the great I AM.

Pick up your copy of God with Us—and a handful more to use as you encounter others who need to meet Jesus.

It’s like nothing you’ve ever read, even if you know the Bible well!

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