Setting up a Training Programme
For over twenty years now, 9:38 has been engaged in encouraging Christian men and women to consider devoting themselves to full-time gospel ministry. And a key component of this has been to promote ‘Ministry Trainee Schemes’ – One or two year opportunities to be trained in a real church ministry environment. There are now many […]
Gospel Needs in Ireland
‘I came to the people of Ireland to preach the Gospel, and to suffer insult from the unbelievers…and many persecutions…I am prepared to give my life without hesitation and most gladly for his name.’ (Patrick Confession) We still need ‘Patricks’ to come to Ireland! Patrick did preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and saw thousands […]
Godliness Matters
Get hold of a Bible, and before you read this article, read 1 Timothy 3:1–7, Titus 1:5–9, and 1 Peter 5:1–4. Still thinking about being set-aside for paid Gospel ministry? Then you need to be godly. And not just in your public life – but in your private life too. So really godly! How? How can we […]
Developing a Training Church
Most people reading this will be familiar with the model of ministry Paul gives us in Ephesians 4. “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ […]
Gospel Needs in the North of England
A while back we did some number crunching for the gospel needs of Sunderland and its surrounding area. Sunderland has a population of around 280,000 people. If just 1% of the population were in evangelical churches of 80-100 people there would need to be around 30 gospel churches. If only we had that many! And that […]
Raising up workers in non-student churches
So many of us became Christians in a student setting, or were significantly discipled there, that it left its fingerprints all over us. That’s where we learnt to read the Bible for ourselves, lead a Bible study for others, and making a convincing case for Christ to an unbelieving friend. That all this happened at […]
Lessons in Prayer from Daniel 9
The above photo is of a panel which was once part of King Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room in his palace in Babylon. You can view it at the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin. It’s worth being clear: the Bible is not about me! It is about God. And the book of Daniel makes this point strongly… it […]
Persevering in Ministry – Advice for the next generation
In what ways could testing the waters of full-time gospel ministry, via a church-based ministry training scheme, be a help or a hindrance when it comes to persevering for a lifetime of ministry? I think a church apprenticeship type scheme is particularly useful in two situations. The first is when someone is uncertain, but trying […]
Persevering in Ministry – Dangers and lessons learnt
It’s not uncommon to hear or read shocking statistics about how many people give up on full-time gospel ministry; what, in your experience, are the most common reasons people do so? I’m afraid I think that one of the chief reasons is that many probably shouldn’t have been in full-time ministry in the first place. […]
Persevering in Ministry – the fruitfulness of forgetfulness
I’m in my 20th year in full-time gospel ministry, and there have been many highs and lows, though sometimes the agony and the ecstasy has been near inseparable. That seems often to be the way, and I have come to realise that what Paul articulates in 1 Cor 16:8 is an abiding principle of all […]
The 4 Fs a Preacher Needs To Be
1. Faithful Paul was determined to know nothing among the people except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is the cross of Christ which is to be the theme of our message; from it derive all the blessings which God longs to give to men and women. Preaching is not about telling stories or jokes, […]
Writing your first evangelistic talk
The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it. (Psalm 68:11). I remember hearing Baroness Margaret Thatcher speak for 75 minutes without notes, in Leeds Town Hall. It was an impressive performance. I delight in hearing good oratory. But it is not the same as preaching. It is a thrill […]