Category Archives: Evangelism

Misery loves company?

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

The United Methodist Church has been in at least numerical decline for a generation. Here in the South we look at Baptist churches with envy, since they’re usually bigger, richer, and more powerful than ours. When we hear about denominational … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Evangelism | 5 Comments

Sharing Jesus

Posted on March 31, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

Spengler writes in his column in the Asia Times, in response to the conversion of journalist Magdi Allam from Islam to Catholic Christianity: Muslim traditional society cannot withstand the depredations of globalized culture, and radical Islam arises from a despairing … Continue reading →

Posted in Al Qaeda, Clash of Civilizations, Current events, Evangelism, Globalization, Islam | 1 Comment

Healthy Theology

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

I ran across this excerpt from an interview with Richard Rorty at Faith and Theology:  “I’m delighted that liberal theologians do their best to do what Pio Nono said shouldn’t be done – try to accommodate Christianity to modern science, … Continue reading →

Posted in Evangelism, Theology | Leave a comment

Making Disciples

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

Our purpose as a church is to make disciples. My personal take on that (for my own life) is that I’m here (wherever God has me at any given moment) to make disciples who become disciple makers. I realize that … Continue reading →

Posted in Evangelism, Leadership, Ministry | 1 Comment

Overcoming Incommensurability

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

Christian Amondson has an interesting post on issues of incommensurability, i.e., how communication can happen across narratival boundaries. Here’s my comment: Do we want to say that the incommensurability between the Christian world/narrative is essentially different from the incommensurability that … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evangelism, Theology | 4 Comments

Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations: Radical Hospitality

Posted on January 2, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

Radical Hospitality is the first of the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. That’s evangelism in plain Christianese. This is probably the new jargon I like the least. “Radical” is ok, but hospitality just seems weak in our current context. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity, Evangelism, Five Practices, Ministry, United Methodism | 1 Comment

Pictures AND Words

Posted on November 8, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Francis of Assisi is frequently quoted approvingly, “Tell of Christ at all times. Use words if necessary.” The implication is that words are rarely needed. If we only act like kind, loving, nice people then others will see Jesus in … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Evangelism | 1 Comment

Thoughts on Preaching

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

When I think of preaching, I find the 3 categories of classical rhetoric useful. 1. Ethos – This is our character. People listen to us when they know us to be people of character. Character refers not only to our … Continue reading →

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Churches that “Get it”

Posted on April 29, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Todd Rhoades at Monday Morning Insight did a post early in April on “10 Observations from Churches Who ‘Get It.’” As a pastor who would like to describe my congregation’s as “getting it,” I’m afraid we don’t always measure up … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Evangelism, Leadership, Local church | Leave a comment

Assessing Changes in the Texas Annual Conference

Posted on March 7, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Bishop Huie, Rick Goodrich, and District Superintendent Jerry Neff led the 2 hour meeting in Longview yesterday. This meeting was mandated last year as a way of assessing the changed in the Conference. You can find a power point version … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Evangelism, Leadership, Local church, United Methodism | 1 Comment