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Small Groups With Missionaries
As Hope Community Church small group leaders we see our group members experience many major life events and changes. This document contains helpful tips for leading someone called to overseas missions. Please note a few things before reading this document. First,...
Incporporating Children into Small Groups
Regarding children, it is always important to consider the needs of the whole group along with those of the children and parents. How much disruption can the group as a whole tolerate? How flexible is the group? How sensitive are parents to the group dynamics?...
Small Group Open Chair Model
Whenever possible and healthy for the group, we encourage groups to maintain an “open chair.” This means that the group fosters an attitude of openness to newcomers and maintains an environment that would make a newcomer feel welcome. The group does not need to be...
The Lists We Keep: Another Way God is Not Like Us
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God’s grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. Fridays are the...
Cultural Clashes, Air Fryers, and How to Celebrate the Beauty of God’s People
In the trailer of Crazy Rich Asians, the two leading co-stars, Rachel and Nick, have been dating and are about to travel to Singapore to meet Nick’s family. When they get to the airport, Rachel is surprised by the first-class treatment and is shocked to find out that...
Too Tired to Work Out My Salvation
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God's grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. I love routine. It...
The Last of Us & Fearful Fathering
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God's grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. We’re living in the...
Gender Roles
The conversation surrounding gender roles in the church has been an interesting one for me to consider because of the tension I’ve wrestled with regarding this topic, especially as a wife and also a woman who works in ministry full time. Until this year, I didn’t...
Is it Okay to Sleep Together if We Really Love Each Other?
Is it okay to sleep together if we really love each other? To answer, there are several considerations. Do you have a relationship with Christ? If not, then I would encourage you to first respond to Christ. His life, death, and resurrection demand a response, either...
5 Lessons I Have Learned From My Time Overseas
As the great theologian Bob Wiley said so many years ago, “I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful… I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful… I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful…” For those of you who have not seen What About Bob? (spoiler alert? Not...
Silence and Solitude
I don’t think anyone in the western world would argue with the following statement: “We live in a time of tremendous and immediate access to knowledge, comfort, and entertainment.” For those of us that are followers of Jesus, the following statement is also true: “We...
Justice Requested, Justice Received
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. — Micah 6:8 The year 2020 has brought us two crucial things: COVID-19 and increased awareness of systemic racism in our...