Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 09032 The term “parachurch” refers to organisations that operate alongside the church, serving Christians and advancing the gospel through ministries that are distinct from the local congregation. The prefix para means “alongside,” and the concept is straightforward: these are ministries that support, supplement, and extend the work of the church without being churches themselves….
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09031 Church planting is the intentional establishment of new local congregations where none existed before, or where existing churches are insufficient to reach the people in a given area. It is one of the primary strategies by which the gospel has advanced throughout history, and it has clear precedent in the New Testament itself,…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09099 The landscape of Christian ministry includes thousands of organisations that are not churches but exist to serve Christian purposes: mission agencies, campus ministries, Bible translation societies, relief organisations, theological seminaries, and many more. These parachurch organisations play an enormous role in global Christianity. The question is how they relate to the local church…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09028 The way a church handles its preaching ministry shapes the spiritual health of its congregation more than almost any other single factor. Expository preaching is the approach that takes the biblical text as the foundation, structure, and authority of the sermon, allowing the passage itself to determine the message rather than using Scripture…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09024 Few pastoral situations are more delicate or more important than the question of what the church should do when a member sins publicly. Get it wrong in one direction — moving too quickly, too harshly, or with the wrong spirit — and the church becomes a place of fear rather than grace. Get…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8029 Evangelism is the responsibility and privilege of God’s people, but Scripture makes clear that it is never a purely human enterprise. The Holy Spirit convicts, the gospel of Christ is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16), and the angels, as ministering spirits serving those who are to inherit salvation, are not…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 4087 The question of how to distinguish a genuine prompting from the Holy Spirit from one’s own reasoning or from an external spiritual influence is one of the most practically pressing questions in the Christian life. It is easy to claim, and equally easy to dismiss — and both errors have consequences. Claiming the…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04106 Philip is one of the more interesting figures in Acts, and his ministry tends to be overshadowed by the drama of the Simon Magus episode and the theological puzzle of the Spirit’s delay. But he deserves attention in his own right. He was not an apostle. He was one of the Seven appointed…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 04028 Evangelism is frequently presented as a matter of technique: the right approach, the right words, the right moment. But the New Testament consistently locates the power behind effective gospel witness not in human skill but in the Holy Spirit. Understanding the Spirit’s role in evangelism changes both the way we engage in it…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 04016 When Christians think about prayer, the question of who exactly we are addressing is more significant than it might first appear. Most believers instinctively pray to “God” or “Father” without pausing to consider the Trinitarian dimensions of what they are doing. But when someone asks whether it is appropriate to direct prayer specifically…