Ralph Moore Archives - Page 3 of 3

Who is Your Main Ministry Partner?

Jesus sent his disciples into the field in pairs. This underscores the need for ministry partners. Our first church plant was a partnership, with my wife and I being the only partners. It worked but took a toll on our home life. In Bible college, I was taught to avoid personal friendships with church members…

What Am I Supposed to do When No One Wants to Make Disciples?

When someone proposed this scenario, my gut response was “join the club.” I came up in an era of church programming. I attended a program-oriented Bible college then jumped into the Navigator/Campus Crusade stream. We made disciples who made disciples. Mostly, whatever success we knew came because of awarding disciple-making a high priority after our…

Learning to Multiply

As a young church planter, I hadn’t considered ordinary people qualified to start new churches. We understood discipleship but not locally-trained pastors—it seemed that worked only overseas. When we launched our first daughter church, we faced resistance from other pastors who viewed it as rebellion or some hippy thing. A “Branch of Hope” Richard Agozino…

Owning Our Turf

We disciplemakers may have forgotten something… While creating disciples is our primary responsibility, it is centered on a bigger mission than simply enlarging the church. Jesus included at least three “domains” on our turf. In Luke 4:18, Jesus characterized his mission as bringing good news to the needy, proclaiming freedom, healing the sick, and setting…

Racism, Wokeness, and Religion

I don’t know if you remember King Theoden who appears in the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He states, “I will not risk open war.” Aragorn (who some say represents Jesus in the series) responds “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” A little like Theoden, many of…

Isolation and Loneliness Cause Pastors to Walk Away

I thought financial issues would be the first cause for pastors leaving the ministry. But I was wrong! Isolation and loneliness account for the most significant number of pastors quitting their jobs—across all church sizes and flavors. And we’re not alone with our feelings. According to his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul was…

Three Benefits of Smaller Churches

“I guess it’s alright on the mission field, but not here…” The guy was trying to justify his fear of microchurch. His reaction reflects a misunderstanding of three things. How size has little to do with quality. That opportunities do not depend on numbers. And the built-in strengths of smaller congregations. One: The relationship between…

Are You Struggling to Lead a Small Church?

If leading your small church seems more difficult each week, you may need to consider some new options. I’ve watched too many people leave pastoral ministry because a church seemed unable to grow. Some faced obstructive leaders in their congregations, and some fell from favor with denominational officials. Whatever the reason, when a leader abandons…

Always and Never Ready to Reproduce

Someone recently asked me how could they know that they were ready to launch a new church. My answer was “always and never.” Consider giving birth to your first child. After achieving puberty I was always ready in one sense but never ready in another. In fact, I was so immature that I held my…

Small But Significant

I recently read an article contrasting larger congregations to “smaller and less significant” churches. I wondered at how many pastors felt defeated reading those words. On another occasion I spoke with a denominational official hoping to evangelize Gen Z. Part of his strategy was to close small and insignificant congregations so he could reallocate resources…