Discipleship and Spiritual Growth

Tom’s message was simple: each and every one of us is invited to encounter a God who loves, chooses, and visits us.

The routes we walk—rhythms of embodied presence and prayerful listening to the small world outside our front door— help me to notice the small, and not-so-small, shifts in our season of life.

When we seek God, we discover that—through the invitations of Jesus—God’s love sought and found us first.

We have to train ordinary people in the relational skills to be Spirit-led in helping others be changed by Jesus.

I have seen and heard firsthand that thousands have trouble seeing God as a loving Father because of deep wounds from their earthly father. Maybe that’s true for you as well.

The “Read the Labels” technique is an easy way to freshen up our Bible reading. While reading, identify and track the labels that an author uses for characters in the story. Once a character is introduced, many Bible readers create a picture in their mind of who that character is and default to that initial picture without looking at the nuanced ways that the author is presenting that character.

The panelists thoughtfully evaluated each submission and chose one or more as an Outreach Resource of the Year, then highlighted other titles as “Also Recommended.” Here are the winners in the Spiritual Growth category.

It is not just your future that is at stake. It is also the meaning and value of your life. Does your life have purpose? What is a life? What is “purpose”? If the path of your life reduces to the paths of point particles, can you have any assurance that your future is bright?