Dr Paul Allen

In John 15:1-17 , which is the well-known passage about the vine and the branches. The meaning of this passage is mostly straightforward and uncontroversial until you get to these words of Jesus: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Is this a blanket prayer that God will give us whatever we wish? At first glance, it does seem to be saying this. Many preachers have drawn entire theologies from this passage alone. As desirable as it might be to think that God is a genie who offers Christians whatever they want, it is critical we consider this passage in context. In other words, what was Jesus communicating to his original audience and what does this mean for us today? Upon closer analysis (which involves reading the verses before and after), it is clear that this passage is about true disciples living in obedience to Christ, and as a result, bearing fruit. To “abide in Christ” is to keep His commandments. With this in ...

I think that all of us would say that the main purpose for small groups in a church is to make disciples. If we are not making disciples, then we might as well call them social clubs. The question then becomes – what is a disciple? For the sake of this discussion, I am going to use the definition that a disciple is simply someone who is taking their next steps to be more like Christ. The really tough part is how to evaluate your groups for effectiveness in discipleship making. We can make it complicated and have the wrong assumptions about spiritual growth. Here are four wrong assumptions that you can make about discipleship in groups: Everyone grows at the same pace. The worst mistake that we can make in churches is trying to microwave the growth process in our people. If we don’t get results quickly, then we feel like we have failed as leaders. Lasting growth takes time and cannot be rushed. Everyone grows in the same way. We are all wired differently as human beings, so we ...