By Matthew B. Harper, a resident in a Virginia prison. Reprinted from Living God’s Mission. “What is your ministry?” As I have worked my way through the church’s discernment process, I have struggled when someone asks me this. And it gets asked a lot. It is a good question because it seeks to understand my role in community, and how I…
By Klaus Issler; part two of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. As we saw in part one of this series, for most of the history of the church, church leaders understood that the Old Testament taught a complete ban on any interest on money loans. The subject of this study is the matter of loans to fellow Israelites who had the potential…
By Abson Prédestin Joseph, reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University has had an integrative mission from its founding in 2009. It is against this backdrop that we view our partnership with, and participation in, the Oikonomia Network. There are strong affinities between the way Wesley Seminary fulfills its mission to “prepare Christian leaders to engage in…
By Lisa Slayton; part one of a series. Reprinted from The Wholeness Journey. CALLING MATTERS As a leadership adviser and executive coach, I spend much of my time working with leaders and their teams to build healthy organizations. One of the questions I am often asked is “what is the biggest pain point that leaders most often come to you about?” You…
By Michaela O’Donnell Long, reprinted from the De Pree Center. Recently, I had young woman approach me after a speaking engagement and ask with admiring eyes, “How do you do it all?” When I prodded more, I learned what all meant: she liked the things I taught about, she thought it was wonderful that I have two young children, and she hoped…
By Jeff Haanen, reprinted from Made to Flourish. Anne Bell, a recently-retired researcher at the University of Northern Colorado, spent one of her first years after retirement volunteering with the 5280 Fellowship, a leadership program for young professionals in Denver. Bright and soft-spoken, wearing dark-rimmed glasses that match her innate curiosity, she confessed one day to a group of early…
By Klaus Issler; part one of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. For much of church history, pastoral leaders believed the Old Testament taught that no interest should be charged on any loans. The care and protection for the Israelite working poor was the main rationale for such a prohibition that no interest should be charged on such loans.…
