Dr Paul Allen

If I Should Fall from Grace with God (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) If you haven’t figured it out yet let me encourage you to see something that will greatly help you. Not all of your ideas are good. Some of them are bad. And God will often let you flail and fail out there for very good purposes. And when you fail do not lose the opportunity to find grace in the midst of it. I believe this is especially important for pastors to understand. It’s one of the most important lessons I have learned in 16 years of pastoral ministry: failure is to be expected and learned from. I have misspoke, misstepped, and missed the mark in more ways than I can explain here. And failing hurts. Most of us of are afraid of it. Leaders in particular are afraid of failure since it’s always a bit more of a public spectacle. I’m not talking about moral failure that disqualifies someone from the ministry, but ministerial failure. It may sometimes involve sin, but more often it’s poor judgment or simply the ba...

Sixty-one percent of Australians self-identified as Christians in 2011, which is down from 91 percent in 1911, only 100 years earlier. Australia's population is steadily getting older, but the church is about to get younger. As the churchgoing elderly (78.5 percent of Australians born before 1946 self-identify as Christians) slowly begin to pass away, the ever-growing middle-to-young population of Australia will begin to dominate the churches, though those churches will likely be smaller due to the number of young people no longer self-identifying as Christians. (1) Here are three primary pieces of the churches of Australia that will be integral to their health in the long run: 1. Evangelism Sixty-seven percent of Australians who self-identify as Christians are comfortable sharing their faith with friends and family. This means that 33 of every 100 Australian Christians are uncomfortable sharing the gospel with those closest to them. (2) (Remember, this is self-identified C...

At Hope College we’re dedicated to helping Christians know what they believe, why they believe it, how to live it and how to share it.  The Diploma of Christian Ministry and Theology is designed to equip you for mission placement,  church planting , ministry in the  local church , and growth as a disciple of  Jesus Christ . Students can expect to graduate from this course with a deeper knowledge of the  Bible  and valuable  practical skills  for ministry both formally and informally. International students welcome. www.hopecollege.com Related articles Join Bible College 2013 (everythingpointstochrist.blogspot.com) Hope College Australia Enrol for 2013 (everythingpointstochrist.blogspot.com) Study on the Gold Coast (hopecollege.com) International Students welcome (hopecollege.com)