InQuest Ministries

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:20:45 +0000

An Unappreciated Grace

By: Mike Hall
Executive Editor

Have you ever had a friend hit you with an unexpected but pleasant surprise? This happened to me yesterday as I was reading an email. I had sent my friend an email asking them to look at some lesson notes I had prepared on the topic of the purpose and mission of the church. The response I got back has encouraged and haunted me ever since I read it.

I have long since taught about the grace that is found in Christians living life together in unity and love. I believe that it is a tool God has created for our mutual encouragement, and as a means to display the gospel. The notes that I had this person look at included such a point because this understanding is central to the purpose of the church. In the reply I got, my friend included a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (the man pictured left). It is this quote and my subsequent reflection on his life and the life of one of his contemporaries, Paul Schnieder (pictured on the right), that has stirred me deeply. Take a minute to reflect on Bonhoeffer’s words:
“It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.”

If there were two men who knew the value of community it was Bonhoeffer and Schneider. These two German pastors stood against the Nazi regime and refused to compromise the gospel. They broke away from the government sanctioned church and were instrumental in starting a new church that remained faithful to the gospel. This church they rightly called the confessing church.

Because of their faith and fidelity to the gospel, both men learned what it meant to be deprived of Christian community. Both men were removed from their families and loved ones and placed into concentration camps. Bonhoeffer was eventually hanged with piano wire and Schneider, who was imprisoned at Buchenwald concentration camp, was worked to death and eventually murdered by lethal injection but not before earning the title pastor of Buchenwald because he served his fellow inmates and preached the gospel to them from his cell.

I’m sure that many who will read this article will think its topic strange and hard to grasp. It should come as no surprise in a day of iPods, laptops, movies on demand, TV’s in every room, and a million other distractions that Christian community is at best a novelty and at worst an interruption. I think it wise that he who would be ready for heaven would spend time getting to know his heavenly neighbors here on earth. Let me challenge you to stop and consider your calendar, consider Bonhoeffer and Schneider, consider your brothers and sisters in Christ. Don’t let community with your heavenly family remain an unappreciated grace.

If you are looking for a curriculum that will help you teach your students the value of this unappreciated grace, let me recommend:

The Church

The church is made up of people who have been “called-out” for a purpose. Unfortunately, when many

believers receive the gift of salvation, they try to live the Christian life on their own. If we are to find the meaning and purpose that God intended and the
grace needed to fulfill that purpose, we must find it in His body the church. This six session study is designed help your student see the great blessing it is to be “called-out.”

To order this 6-session resource online click here: The Church

Or call InQuest Ministries at 1.800.776.1893

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:11:46 +0000

2010-11 InQuest Ministries Catalog

Our new catalog for the 2010-11 Sunday School year should have arrived at your church in August.

If you would like to be added to our mailing list, you can email us a info@inquest.org with your name and mailing address or you can give us a call 1.800.776.1893.

To view our catalog online, visit our website at www.inquest.org and click on the View Our Catalog button.

Connecting Church And Home Audio

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:28:28 +0000

In case you missed it, Southern Seminary recently hosted the Connecting Church and Home Conference of which Steve Wright was one of the speakers. If you would like to listen to this session, click on the following link:

Connecting Church and Home Audio – Ready, Set, Go: Strategies For Equipping Parents – Steve Wright

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:38:45 +0000

New Release in the Formation Series…
The Church

Our newest discipleship resource will be available this month!

Followers of Christ are people who have been “called-out” for a purpose. All too often believers forget that purpose and try to live for the Lord on their own. This six session study on Ephesians 1 and 2 is designed to help your students understand what their purpose is and how the Lord isfulfilling that purpose not through isolated believers, but through His body, the church.

To pre-order* this resource online click here: The Church

Or give us a call at 1.800.776.1893!

For other items in the Formation Series, see the following:

For The Gospel, click here

For The Solas, click here

*As soon as The Church is released, you will receive it by email.

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:29:20 +0000

$5 When You Refer a Friend!

When you refer friends to InQuest Ministries, you and each of the people you refer will receive a $5 gift certificate to use at the InQuest Ministries Online Store.

Click on the Refer A Friend link to get your $5 gift today!

Please allow 48 hours for us to process your referral. A gift certificate will be sent via email to each of the email addresses you provide. Please note: In order to receive your $5 gift certificate, you must refer a minimum of one friend. We will be unable to process each referral without all the required information (marked with *).

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:23:41 +0000

PDF Samples Available Online!

ALL of our PDF curriculum descriptions now contain links to view sample lessons! Visit the InQuest Ministries Online Store at www.inquest.org to view these curriculum samples today!

Type “PDF” in the search box to narrow your results to electronically delivered resources only.

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:39:34 +0000

TransforMission: Making Disciples Through Short Term Missions

by Dr. Shane Parker and Dr. Michael Wilder

Reviewed By: Kim Davidson

“We have realized that for students to become true disciples, they must themselves become concerned and active disciplers of the nations. If this generation will be influenced and developed toward, engaged in, and assessed for growth unto a global vision and life, God will raise them up to change the lives of whole tribes, communities, and nations.” (p 237)

Shane Parker and Michael Wilder’s newly released book TransforMission is about the impact of short term mission trips on the lives of youth and how they can be a sanctifying agent in students’ lives and in the ministry as a whole. In all 200+ pages of TransforMission I never wonder why I am reading it. The theme of the transforming power of missions is carried throughout the book. The authors know that mission trips, however long they might be, serve youth by changing their Americanized culture mindset and giving them a look at the world God created for His glory.

If you aren’t a statistician, I ask that you persevere through the first chapters. The authors do a skilled job at providing the reader with tons of broad and in depth research on short term missions and churches.

Here is where I think Wilder and Parker excel:

1. My favorite part of the book is definitely the personal stories that each of the authors tell about the time they have spent on the mission field. Reading these personal accounts anchored this truth: the gospel is for the world – and these two men breathe this.

2. This book is filled with the Word. They don’t just rely on personal experience or research studies. They take it back to the infallible Word of God as the basis of their study. You can clearly see they hold up the Word as their authority.

3. TransforMission has clear guidelines on how to begin to make an impact through short term missions. I think this book would be very useful in a seminary classroom or for a youth pastor who is fighting upstream at getting the other staff/parents at his church to see the importance of taking students across the world.

If you are involved at all in missions, discipleship, youth ministry, college ministry – you would be wise to pick up this book. This will help strengthen your argument for short term missions. I hope by reading this book you are compelled to proceed with getting your students and self overseas – no matter what length of time.

So, when’s the next plane leave?

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:34:56 +0000

The Connecting Church and Home Conference

August 20-21, 2010

Mark your calendars now, register, book your travel itinerary, and don’t
miss this exciting conference in Louisville.

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:08:05 +0000

Enjoying God

By: Mike Hall, Executive Editor, InQuest Ministries, Inc.

Is it possible to enjoy God? We have heard of worshiping God, fearing God, honoring God, and obeying God, but can we enjoy Him? According to the men in the picture to the left, worship and enjoyment of God are two sides of the same coin.

The men in this picture were called the Westminster Assembly. The assembly was made up of some of the most godly and intelligent pastors, theologians, and professors that the world has ever known (Thomas Goodwin, William Bridge, Jeremiah Burroughs, etc). They were given the task of deciding what basic doctrines all English Christians should be taught. It took them six years but they finally concluded their deliberations and summarized them in several documents one of which was called the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism is a series of 107 questions and answers. It was meant to be a teaching tool for basic Christian doctrine. The first question in the catechism is:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God,and to enjoy him forever.

Pastor John Piper modified this statement in the first chapter of his book Desiring God. He states:

“Evidently the old theologians didn’t think they were talking about two things. They said ‘chief end,’ not ‘chief ends.’ Glorifying God and enjoying him was one end in their minds, not two. How can that be? That’s what this book is about.

Not that I care too much about the intention of seventeenth century theologians. But I care tremendously about the intention of God in Scripture. What does God have to say about the chief end of man? How does God teach us to give him glory? Does he command us to enjoy him? If so, how does this quest for joy in God relate to everything else? Yes, everything! ‘Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’

The overriding concern of this book is that in all of life God be glorified the way he himself has appointed. To that end this book aims to persuade you that: The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.”

So enjoying God is not just possible it is commanded. If this is true, how is God to be enjoyed?

If we are commanded to enjoy God, how exactly is He to be enjoyed? One of the simplest ways to accomplish this is to understand God as the source of all good things (James 1:17). Think about something that brings you delight. It could be a spouse, a child, a place, even a certain type of food and then put that thing into context. For example, if I find fillet mignon to be this satisfying then God must be even more satisfying because He created fillet mignon. Then follow that with a prayer of thanksgiving to God for your fillet mignon and a request to Him to help you see Him as infinitely more satisfying. What you are doing is ultimately taking that satisfaction back to the source. Consider Jonathan Edwards view on the matter:

“The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.”

Another way to enjoy God is to rely on Him to be your provider. If you are anxious, rely on Him to bring you peace. If you are struggling financially, rely on Him to meet your needs. In depending on Him, we begin to see His far superior ability to provide for us and we get to enjoy the blessing of being thankful. God enjoyed is God glorified.”

We might not think of God in terms like delicious, rapturous, savory, enchanting, delectable, alluring, luscious, mesmerizing, enticing, tantalizing, captivating, or enthralling, but our spiritual forefathers most certainly did. They unashamedly applied such adjectives to God that we now only apply to food or to our significant others. How decidedly low we have allowed our enjoyment of God to become. I hope that I can recapture this enjoyment and experience
what the scriptures mean when they say:

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 116:11

Originally posted at www.claphamcommunity.com

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:01:54 +0000

The Connecting Church and Home Conference

August 20-21, 2010
Louisville, Kentucky

We talk a lot about the importance of the church and the importance of the home and family. Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, is hosting a conference that will help you and your ministry team get a picture of what this could look like in your church.

Dr. Randy Stinson, Dean of the School of Church Ministries, has brought
together a team of experts on church, family, ministry, and culture including
Dr. Albert Mohler, Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Timothy Jones, Steve Wright, and
Jay Strother – with many more. You will get a chance to interact with these
speakers and have small group discussion. You will get the benefit of sharing
in smaller group learning environments about what is going on at other
churches, asking questions, and sharing ideas. This would be the perfect
conference for you to not only come yourself, but to also bring your entire
ministry team.

Mark your calendars now, register, book your travel itinerary, and don’t miss this exciting conference in Louisville.