All Comments for: Glocal Church Ministry | Christianity Today

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > 2007 > July

Christianity Today, July, 2007 |

Glocal Church Ministry

Bob Roberts has an idea that may change American congregations, if not the world.

Interview by Mark Galli | posted 8/02/2007 08:41AM

Forgive the cliché, but Bob Roberts is a revolutionary. Really. Roberts's simple but powerful idea may get the church to revolve, turn around, and carry out its ministry in a fundamentally different ...

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Rate and Comment on this article

Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 comments.

Page: 1

Show All

Anonymous

Posted: August 15, 2007 4:10 PM

I agree that this is not new, but it is not practised either. I think we need to stop discussing church and start doing what the church is meant to be doing 24 hours a day, not saving it for evangelical events or ministry times or to missionaries off overseas somewhere. So, of course, this includes giving our business skills, profession, etc, over to the mission of God - however God directs it (his plans, not ours). It's really not that complicated a concept - it's just that people don't actually want to do that, because it's not comfortable and it might actually impact their lives in some way. But that's not new either - the gospel ought to drastically change your life if taken in and lived out. I don't mind all the talking if we actually are prepared to do something different and it sounds like this pastor did.

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: August 15, 2007 2:33 AM


Is there no limit to how bad things really are in churches? If we don't start right now searching for answers in the teaching of Jesus Christ (instead of following every new theory of theologians), we will soon reach the point of no return. May God help us!

Nick	Posted: August 13, 2007 11:59 AM

World missions is good in itself, but many times we as churches jump into global missions before addressing one of the biggest problems that we have right here in our own communities: disunity. We don't know anything about what goes on under the roof of the other church buildings around us. Congregations don't intermingle (at least, not on a grand scale of fellowship). We isolate ourselves from other doctrines and attempt to live on our own as denominations. I think that this reality makes many members of a congregation feel alone. I think that for the "glocal" missions to work effectively, we need to live a similar lifestyle right where we are and begin to bridge the gaps between the church that's less than a mile away from us.

andrew christ

Posted: August 04, 2007 9:42 AM

Sincere christian churches need educated attorneys. Usa attorneys have to be trained about psychological problems of criminals. Crimes can be caused by extreme emotions.The 7 basics are jeolousy,rage,minor anger,intellect,drug addiction,self spoiled, abuse mental control and others. Attorneys should know that there is only one cheek to turn(Matthew 5). Also satanic angels can read minds and control persons(rev. 12). I rebuke satanic angels,I tell them evil destroys evil, I tell them that they are missing out on life and other ideas and they leave me alone for a while. Try to always file complaints. Thank you for your time! Learn how to be a servant. Hill Pray(psalms 99:9)!

Gaylan Mathiesen

Posted: August 03, 2007 11:07 AM

This article highlights the awareness that mission is no longer something "over there." Mission is rooted in the character of God, and must start there, not in the church, which often becomes an end in itself. The goal of God's mission is the redemptive reign of Christ--in other words, the Kindgom of God in all its fullness. The Church is the creation of the Holy Spirit, created in the image of this missionary God, and thus mission is the very nature of the Church, created to participate with God in His mission of bringing His redemptive reign to all the world. Why, after all, did He leave us here? Not to create holy huddles, separate from the world, who see the church as a dispenser of religious goods and services to meet my individual needs, but to be salt and light IN the world. This is what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus, as He said, "As the Father has s

Sandi

Posted: August 02, 2007 9:43 PM

Jimmy,I think when Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and at Corinth and shall I go on...that they were communities. I think he revolutionized communities. I like this guys idea because I read something in another article in the magazine that implicates that we as Americans often go on mission trips to make ourselves feel good. I think their right. I think if we are honest, we find when we get there that we humbly are very inadequate to make a change or do any good. I rest in the casting of seeds but I do believe the New Testament addresses entire communties. God bless.

Kathy Allen

Posted: August 02, 2007 9:32 PM


Just curious about the language barrier. I wonder how churches cope with countries that have languages which are rarely taught in the US such as Czech or Vietnamese--does the plumber/master teacher just go everywhere with a translator once he/she gets there?

fletchboy

Posted: August 02, 2007 7:47 PM

Some excellent points come out here! However, I was disheartened that Dr. Roberts feels the need to create a competition between lay-involvement and vocational cross-cultural workers. He said it himself: The Great Commission was given to the whole church. Let's embrace everything God is doing instead of decrying and devaluing certain aspects because we have a "better" idea. And, no, Business-as-Mission is NOT an insult to businesspeople. It acknowledges their rightful place at the front-lines....along with the career missionary and the short-term (or long-term) layperson. We are "workers together with God"! By and large, in my experience, it has been business thinkers whoe are most excited about BAM....not insulted. Overall, I am very excited to hear what Dr. Roberts is doing and want to say, "Keep up the good work!"

Michele M.

Posted: August 02, 2007 7:39 PM

To Jimmy, To engage with this conversation it might be helpful to meditate on the language Jesus uses as recorded in Matthew 28:18-20 (as well as his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount) - not that you haven't heard the renderings we have all been exposed to but that perhaps stop short of what is meant for those who "take up the cross". Dallas Willard has written extensively on this topic of the Kingdom of Heaven and the domain of disciples in his two books, The Divine Conspiracy and The Great Omission. I believe your concern about British colonialism is stopping short of a full understanding of what is being discussed and that you might find these books very useful.

Patrick

Posted: August 02, 2007 6:54 PM


From the subtitle of this article (a desperate cry for attention) through the end of the interview, I winced at all the hype. It's not that I think the ideas are not good--they are solid--but they're nothing new.

intergordon

Posted: August 02, 2007 2:56 PM

Well I wish I'd been in touch with this pastor and congregation decades ago. Discouraged with the widespread ego-centric overly-competitive "comfortable pew" routine, I went to Guatemala "alone" (not really--without "support" is more accurate). 30 years later (and just back in Florida a year or so) I would do it again, and I wanna get in touch with others who think and work the way this pastor does. Better, I wanna get in touch with other teachers to minister to and fellowship with and enrich 2/3 world peers and work in local churches. Why is this sometimes dimissed as "lifestyle evangelism?"

Anonymous

Posted: August 02, 2007 2:11 PM


A lot of this article makes sense, especially the part where Bob Roberts says that God wants us to be satisfied with Jesus. Jesus is sufficient. He alone is important and when we have Him life is worthwhile and life is very rich. Too many people, in the first place, want to be megastars.

Jimmy

Posted: August 02, 2007 1:57 PM


Where do the Scriptures ever call us to go transform an entire community? Perhaps if you embrace a post-mill. mindset, such is understandable. But seriously, where is it said our goal is to transform an entire community? Such seems like a British colonial mentality than that of the kingdom.

Karen Gushta

Posted: August 02, 2007 1:50 PM


This summer I've been reading Herman Ridderbos' exposition of the Biblical meaning of the kingdom of God/heaven in his "The Coming of the Kingdom." Reading this article about Bob Roberts' vision for the kingdom work of the church universal, I was captured by the simplicity of it. "Yes!" I thought. "This is truly a kingdom vision!" I pray this vision will be ignited in churches around the world!

Page: 1

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment