Edminsters Online

One of the things that troubles me most about ministry talk in the church is how often we elevate monetary and physical resources above human ones and how this juxtaposition of values can undermine our ultimate mission. It seems to me that Church history would indicate that some of our healthiest seasons have been when saving grace, Christian character, and the sustenance and guidance of the Holy Spirit were the only commodities we could count on.

This seems to also be the case in our current situation where some of the most sustained growth is happening in places where resources are at a bare minimum. Conversely, the health of the Church in the West is slowly diminishing in spite of the fact that we hold the vast majority of the world’s resources.

All this begs the question: What are the Church’s most important resources? Here are some of my thoughts about the importance of discipleship in the church over against our dominant “resource paradigm”. (more…)

For the last four years, Lea and I have been committed to strengthening the youth and children of the Viimsi Free Church, Estonia. In this final year of my formal partnership through Alongside Ministry with the Viimsi Church, we were encouraged to hear people tell us that they wanted us back in ministry and in Estonia for the long term. But rather than renewing our commitment to the Viimsi Church or agreeing to partner with other churches who have expressed interest, we’re taking this opportunity to split our time for the next four years between focused study at Regent College (a seminary in Vancouver BC) during the school year and youth discipleship projects in Estonia in the summers aimed at developing our vision for future ministry.

We hope that the following pages will offer you a glimpse of the Estonian Church we love and long for, along with the vision God has given us for how we can most effectively build it up through the discipleship of Estonian youth.

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