Placed for a Purpose: Ministering in your Everyday Context
“There’s a non-urgent—still very important—desire in each of us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. At times it feels more awkward than intuitive, but it’s coded into us all the same: our calling to engage in God’s mission and love our neighbors (even our next-door neighbors!). Jesus woos us to participate in his kingdom work, to see his renewal, restoration, hope and healing come to our communities. Even if we try to ignore this missional invitation for fear of what it might cost us, we can’t help but see needs around us for neighborhood peacemaking and mercy-extending. Deep down we want to make a difference in our corners of the world because Jesus has made a difference in ours.” Placed for a Purpose: Ministering in your Everyday Context by Elizabeth McKinney
How to Minister From a Place of Loneliness
“For me, ministering in a season of acute isolation feels like the cabin pressure dropped, the oxygen masks came down, and I’m fumbling to help others while I’m struggling to stay conscious. Maybe you’re a mom, experiencing deep loneliness with children to care for. Or maybe you’re wrestling with grief and loss but trying to love your church well. Perhaps you’re starting over in a new place or stepping out in faith to do something the Lord has led you to do and you’re feeling lonely. Sisters, the Lord sees you and desires to meet you in your loneliness.” How to Minister From a Place of Loneliness by Bev Chao Burrus
How Our Theology Fuels Our Ministry
“Ministry can be really hard; from serving in the nursery to groundskeeping to singing and preaching, you might experience a lack of gratitude and/or criticism. The music is too loud, the nursery is too small, the sermon is too long. Complaints, lack of gratitude, and difficult conditions all make serving less than desirable at times. Why continue to serve in exhaustion or annoyance from the demands and criticisms of ministry if we don’t know the God we serve?” How Our Theology Fuels Our Ministry by Kelly Ottoway
Inviting Women Back to God’s Table
“Why are people so likely to move away from their church community today? One of the biggest reasons is that many aren’t aware of why the local church is so important for believers. The theology of the Church wasn’t something they learned in Sunday School, and when you lack the why behind your actions, it can be difficult to stay committed in hard times. As Christian women who care about the church body, we can help educate others about this important theology and how God works through each of us to build his Kingdom. ” - Inviting Women Back to God’s Table, by Ericka Andersen
Believer, The World Needs What You Have
“Over the years, we have witnessed tremendous cultural changes that have produced genuine challenges for the gospel. Yet one thing never changes: people’s desperate need for God. No matter how secular or hostile it may become, culture doesn’t have the power to erase the creational longings that God has placed in all humans: for meaning, love, purpose, identity, and connection. So here’s the puzzle: Why do many Christians sincerely believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most wonderful, liberating news that God has ever given our weary planet, yet struggle to share it?” - Believer, The World Needs What You Have, by Rebecca Pippert
The First Gift Giver: How Our Christmas Giving Displays Our Savior
“At this time of year, we celebrate the coming into the world of the first and greatest Giver who is also the best and most beautiful gift. Thankfully, it looks like Christmas will no longer be constrained by Covid. As joyful as that isolated Christmas in 2020 turned out to be for my family, the joy of giving gifts can only grow when we spread them abroad more widely. There will be joy for the givers. There will be joy for the getters. And—we can pray—there will be joy for those who learn something of the Christ who is reflected in the giving.” - The First Gift-Giver: How Our Christmas Giving Displays Our Savior by Lizzie Laferton
The Future of Journeywomen
“Journeywomen exists to come alongside women to move them to know and love God and his Word, to find hope in the gospel, and to invest deeply in their local churches as they go out on mission for the glory of God..” - The Future of Journeywomen by Hunter Beless
Salvation Basics: How to Share the Gospel
“Imagine you’re sitting in a coffee shop with your Bible open when someone walks up to your table. “Excuse me,” she stammers, “I noticed you’re reading a Bible, and I was wondering if you can explain to me what the gospel is.” How do you think you’d react in that moment? Would you be excited for a surprising opportunity to share your faith so openly? Or, if you’re honest, would your palms start sweating just thinking about it? If fear or hesitation is one of your first responses, you’re not alone. But sisters, we must be ready to give a reason for the hope we have in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). We must be ready to share the gospel. To that end, here are three salvation basics to share with anyone who will listen.” - Salvation Basics: How to Share the Gospel by Joanna Kimbrel
The Church: Essential to Our Endurance
“These brothers and sisters whose lives have been woven into mine have encouraged me, prayed for me, welcomed me to their tables, and adopted me as “auntie” to their kids. We’ve lived through high highs and low lows together, prayed for God’s provision and lifted up our longings and laments to him, pointed one another back to Jesus and the good news of the gospel time and again, and seen God at work in many ways. Church has always been part of my life, part of my week, and often part of my work. But it’s taken a pandemic and a sabbatical to reveal to me that church is not just important, it is essential to faithfully following Jesus.” - The Church: Essential to Our Endurance by Jenilyn Swett
How to Pray for Older Saints
“God loves the generations—they’re part of his good design! As you intercede for the older saints in your life, don’t forget to praise God for them and thank him for the ways they have encouraged you and sharpened you in your faith. “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). Amen!” - How to Pray for Older Saints by Chelsea Stanley
The Gospel-Heart of Hospitality
“We live in a world that values performative hospitality. Magazine spreads show beautifully-laid tables with place cards and breathtaking floral arrangements. We see influencers with living rooms full of luxurious pillows, vacuumed floors, and art hung by interior designers, making us immediately insecure about our toy-scattered floors and smeared windows. We know the Bible calls us to “offer hospitality without grumbling,” (1 Peter 4:9), but we look around our own house and it’s a far cry from a magazine spread. How do we follow the encouragement to offer hospitality when our reality looks so messy?“ - The Gospel-Heart of Hospitality by Elizabeth Santelmann
Dear College Student: 4 Encouragements to Live on Mission
"For four years, you have the opportunity to reach those from the other side of the globe with the gospel by simply walking across the hall. If we are called to go and “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), this is the most risk-free step of obedience we can take. We have the privilege of fulfilling the Great Commission right here on our campuses.” - Dear College Student: 4 Encouragements to Live on Mission, by Ellie Sauder
Drawing the Hungry to the Lord’s Table
“Nearly every evening, church members or neighbors drop by the Butterfield home for the evening meal and family devotions. That’s right: Not just every once in a while. Nearly every evening. They talk through their days, hear how they can help people in the neighborhood, and offer prayer for those who sit around the table. There’s always another seat around the table, whether or not you believe in Jesus.” - Drawing the Hungry to the Lord’s Table by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra
The Cost and the Beauty of World Missions
“Lined up were dozens of women dressed head-to-toe in Abayas, the traditional black robe worn by women in the Gulf region of the Middle East. With no knowledge of the Middle East except what I had deduced from sensationalized news and bad action films, I arrogantly said to God, ‘I will never live in a country where women have to wear that.’ Six years later, I learned to “never say never” as I boarded a one-way flight to the United Arab Emirates with my husband and baby. We moved there for the sake of ministry, but we were the ones who were served in the end.” - The Cost and the Beauty of World Missions by Bev Berrus