Every Christian is a minister. According to the book of Romans, every Christian is called upon by God to minister the Word of God to other believers (see Romans 15:14 and the words “able to instruct one another”). But what does that actually look like? How can normal people like you and me fulfill this responsibility? Truthfully, there are as many ways as there are Christians and congregations. Still, let me offer a few common ways you can minister God’s truth to others, even this week as you gather with your church.

First, minister truth in resolving conflict. Because we are sinful people, we will at times behave sinfully toward one another. There will always be some measure of interpersonal conflict within a church, and in Matthew 18 Jesus clearly addresses how such disputes are to be handled. It is interesting and important to note that the elders are not mentioned until the very end of the process. Conflict resolution begins with an individual approaching another individual and showing from the Bible how that person has sinned. If he does not repent, then two church members approach that individual and demonstrate from the Bible how that person has sinned. First alone and then together, they minister truth and trust that this ministry of the Word will confront the person and cause him to repent.

Second, minister truth in mentoring. The Bible calls on us to be intentionally involved in the lives of other people, especially people who are younger than we are. You might think of yourself as a mountain climber who has nearly reached the summit, then looks back to see someone following the trail behind you. You know this trail is dangerous, full of sheer cliffs, unexpected twists and sudden turns. What that person needs is someone who has already walked the trail to instruct him in navigating it safely. This is why passages like Titus 2 tell us that older men are to be involved in the lives of younger men and older women in the lives of younger women. We are to teach and train them, to minister truth from God’s Word that will help them successfully navigate life.

Third, minister truth in putting sin to death. We enter the Christian life with deep patterns of sin and sinfulness. God calls us to put such sin to death and to come alive to righteousness. This represents a greater challenge than we can face on our own. We need others to help us and we, in turn, need to help others. We help them by ministering the truth to them. So we open the Word to show them what it means to be holy in this area. We open the Word to remind them of the gospel when they’ve stumbled and fallen yet again. We open the Word so we can memorize appropriate passages together. We open the Word to pray its truths for that other person. In all these ways, we minister God’s Word to help another person put an ugly sin to death.

Fourth, minister truth in weaker/stronger disputes. This passage in the book of Romans falls immediately after Paul’s discussion of the weaker/stronger dispute that threatened to undermine the unity and effectiveness of that church. In that first-century context, this was a dispute between people who freely ate meat and people who remained vegetarian in an attempt to maintain the Old Testament laws. In our contemporary context it is unlikely we will encounter this exact situation, but there will still always be issues that threaten to divide us. Like this situation in Rome, it may not be an issue of truth and error, but an issue of weaker and stronger. When we see people struggling with such issues, we need to go to God’s Word and to minister his truth to them in order to foster unity and destroy division.

Fifth, minister truth in intentional spiritual friendships. At Grace Fellowship Church we have recently been emphasizing intentional spiritual friendships. We are intentionally making ourselves available to others to develop meaningful relationships with them, and in one way or another these friendships are bound together by God’s Word. So we have groups of women meeting together to study the Bible, groups of men meeting together to overcome a common sin, groups of men and women meeting together to read books. In its own way, each group is offering the opportunity for church members to minister God’s truth to others. In some way, each group is looking to God’s Word and bringing its truth to bear.

These are just five simple ways out of the countless thousands we could number. The simple reality is this: In every part of the life we share together as a church, we have the ability to minister the truth of God’s Word to others. Who in your church needs you to minister the word to them this Sunday?

This article originally appeared here.

Mark Zuckerberg and Jesus may have more in common than you think. Both are masters at making disciples—it’s just that Mark may not know it yet.

On Easter Sunday, I issued a challenge to those attending our church—many of whom don’t have much church experience, and some of whom hadn’t been in a church service before. The challenge was to do a bite-size daily Bible reading over the next 21 days, in order to explore faith in God more deeply and build a core habit to accelerate spiritual growth. In a pleasant surprise, 212 adults took me up on the challenge (over 10 percent of our attendance that day). With that kind of response, we knew we needed to do a good job delivering a tool that could actually help. Thankfully for us, it already existed. It’s called Facebook. We created a private Facebook Group, sent an email invite to the 212 on Easter Sunday afternoon, and waited. By Monday morning, nearly 100 of them were already in the group. Shortly after, another 50 jumped in. We ended up with 154 people out of the 212 actively participating in their new Daily Bible Reading habit in the group. The joy of it is that we were posting our journal entries through the Gospel of John, chapter by chapter. So not only were we being encouraged, but we were learning from one another how to interact with Scripture.

A lot of churches have been experimenting like this, and the evidence is mounting that social media is seriously underutilized for the sake of the Gospel.

Here are a few reasons why:

• It’s fast. Video, information, updates and connections can happen so much faster here than anywhere. If we’re going to strike while the iron is hot, we’d better move at a faster pace.
• The world is already there. With nearly 2 billion users, Facebook is unquestionably the largest platform in the world. If you add all the other social media platforms, there are very few people we can’t reach out to with a little effort and a very little money.
• It’s safe for those exploring. Social media puts the user in control of how much they share and absorb. People can take steps at their own pace. That’s very appealing. And with the visibility it offers, the next step is always in view.

How can you get started using this tool? 
I recently heard about a church who is inviting new believers into cohort groups on Facebook to be discipled as a group. Another church is using social media to connect new members to other new members. You could use it to deliver follow-up on specific next steps. What ideas do you have? I’d love to hear your feedback on this issues. What questions, concerns or ideas do you have?

This article originally appeared here.

I was running once and saw this sign and the first word that popped in my head was “Closed.” Anything which seems exclusive to the people already on the inside makes me as an outsider seem unwelcome. I’m sure that’s not the intent this church has with this sign. It’s probably a very welcoming church. I also know there are circumstances which make some churches have to limit their parking. Again, probably not the intent, but the sign seemed so harsh to me as someone unfamiliar with the church.

As I continued running I kept thinking about that sign and implications for those who saw it. It then brought to mind signs I’ve seen in store windows—which I don’t completely understand. The signs say, “Closed for Business.” How can you be closed “for” business? Seems more like you’d be closed “from” business. If you’re closed you’re closed.

Of course, none of us would intentionally place a “Closed for Business” sign on our church doors. But, it was a great way to jar my thoughts about some practices churches occasionally have, which, intentional or not, serve essentially the same purpose.

Over the years, Cheryl and I have visited dozens of churches. Whenever we travel we try to find a church. I’ve spoken at and consulted with a lot of churches in all types and sizes.

From personal experience—here are some ways you can place a closed sign to visitors on your church.

Only do “church” on Sunday.

When we make no effort to build community with people who visit we let people know by our actions—or lack of actions—that we are comfortable with the people in the church now. And, there is little room for new friendships. (This could include not reaching out to people we haven’t seen in a while.) Not long ago, while out of town, Cheryl and I visited a church, filled out a visitor card, and only placed our email and phone number on the card. Months later we have yet to hear from anyone.

Don’t act like you’re happy to see people.

Have no one greeting in the parking lots or at the doors. And, don’t talk to people you don’t know if people actually make it inside the building. I once was the guest preacher at a church. Not one person greeted us in the church. I literally had to go find somebody to tell me when to preach. Not one other person besides the person I found ever spoke to us. I realize that’s the extreme but I wonder how many times visitors feel that same way in our own churches.

Confuse people.

Display confusing signage or, better yet, none at all. And, don’t think about using people as guest hosts. I can’t tell you how many churches we have been to where it was very confusing which door to enter and where to go once we entered the door. At times, if I weren’t the speaker—as an introvert especially—I might have left. (Just being honest.) I have to be honest even more and say that could have somewhat been said of the church where I am pastor now. After years of add-on projects it can be a very confusing building. Hopefully we are continuing to make strides towards overcoming that with signage and people.

Make it uncomfortable for visitors.

If you really want a closed sign up, everyone should talk to the only people they know. It’s either that, or you could make visitors feel very conspicuous. Have them stand up maybe—or raise their hands—and keep them up until an usher comes by. We once attended a church that made visitors stand up, introduce themselves and tell why they came that day. Talk about awkward. Again, that’s extreme, but it certainly caused me to review how we make visitors feel welcome—and don’t.

Have your own language.

Use acronyms—for everything. When we pretend everyone already knows what we are talking about—don’t differentiate between VBS and Vacation Bible School—we make outsiders feel left out of the conversation. (Even the name of it can be confusing as to what it really is without some description being given.) Another thing that is very anti-welcome is to use personal names during the announcements no one knows but the regulars. (“We’ll meet at Sally’s for the ice cream social. See Joe if you want more information.”)

Have closed groups within the church.

And, don’t start any new ones. It could be any group—Bible studies, service groups, but when any small group has been together more than a few years—with no new people entering the group—it’s a closed group. A new person coming in will not feel welcome. They won’t know the inside jokes. They don’t know the names of everyone’s children’s. They feel very left out when personal conversation begins.

Beat people up without giving them hope.

And, for this one I had to go all theological on you. But, when we are clearer about how bad people are than how great the Gospel is, we can make outsiders—who may not yet be living the life we would suggest for them—like they don’t belong and have no chance of getting there. We should teach on sin—and not just certain sins, but all sin, including what I call the 3 G’s: gossip, gluttony and greed. But my goal is to always let people leave with the hope of the Gospel. It’s actually the only hope we all have.

Those are a few of my observations. Again, none of us would purposely place a “Closed for Business” sign on our churches—so we must be careful we haven’t done so by our unintentional actions.

This article originally appeared here.