Category Archives: Discipleship

Understanding Leadership

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

Max DePree is widely quoted for saying, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” If it is possible that DePree is correct, what can we make of this idea? Surely it is counterintuitive in relation to what … Continue reading →

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Being Human

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

Once upon a time it was common to differentiate humans from the rest of creation by calling us “rational animals.” Animals differ from plants, minerals, fungi, bacteria, machines, etc., and in important ways our human differences are differences we share … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Education | Leave a comment

Pursuing Holiness

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

One of the defining convictions of the Methodist movement is that it is possible to live a holy life, a life pleasing to God. Methodists have at least given lip service to this conviction since the days of John Wesley … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Spirituality, United Methodism | 3 Comments

The Best Measure

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

What’s the best measure of effective ministry? What do we look for if we want to figure out whether effective ministry is happening or not? Our first tendency is to look at the numbers. The bigger the numbers, the higher … Continue reading →

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Avoiding the Sausage Factory

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

I like sausage. While I don’t like every kind of sausage I’ve ever tried, I like many of them. From what I’ve heard though, if I want to continue eating sausage I ought to avoid sausage factories. If I visited … Continue reading →

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Non-Fans?

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

One of the books I’m reading now is Neil Cole’s Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You  Are. If you’re a committed proponent of traditional ways of doing, structuring and leading church, don’t read this book. Keep it far away. … Continue reading →

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Our Audience

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Richard Heyduck

Eric Bryant asks, “Has listening to church attenders led to the decline of the church?” Declining churches, in his experience, focus on the people they already have. What do they want? How can we keep them happy? Innovative churches, on … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Discipleship, Ecclesiology, Evangelism, Jesus | 1 Comment

Asking Questions

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Richard Heyduck

From ancient times, theologians have had a motto, “Faith seeking understanding.” As followers of Jesus we don’t start from doubt or from skepticism. We don’t even start from a position of knowing nothing, from a blank slate. We start from … Continue reading →

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Perfection

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Richard Heyduck

I’m a perfectionist. But I’m not a perfectionist in every area. I’m also not a perfectionist with everyone. I insist on perfection from myself much more often (or so I think – if you know better, let me know) than … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Ministry, Perfectionism | 2 Comments

(Not so) Simple Church

Posted on July 3, 2009 by Richard Heyduck

I read Thom Rainer’s Simple Church a few months ago. I liked his proposal of having a clear, simple model of making disciples that was shared by the whole congregation (“congregation” is that a Baptist like Rainer means by “church”) … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Evangelism, Simple Church | 4 Comments