The Ragamuffin Gospel

Ragamuffin Gospel Reflection Reading the Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning was a challenge; while I agreed with his thoughts and feeling the style in which it was written I found to be very cumbersome. Then this feeling of being critical of the writing made me feel guilty because the subject and the topic is so important and many individuals give the book very high reviews. I much prefer a local Springfield, Missouri author named Jennifer Rothschild; Jennifer is a nationally renowned author and woman’s conference speaker living in the area with her husband who is on the faculty of Missouri State university. What makes Jennifer special is that while she is blind she shares amazing truths comparing her challenge to our own spiritual blindness…

effectively. Concrete Response One important point Wheeler and Whaley make is that Great Commission worship is relational. When I first came to faith in Christ I wanted to share the gospel with my family members. However, when first sharing the gospel I was not as relational as I could have been. I told my mom I had become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and tried to tell her what a sinner she was and that without Christ she was going to hell. While that was true, I needed to be more…

Like Peter, Jesus gave us His keys, the gospel and He called every one of us to be the faithful steward of the Kingdom. We have a great privilege and responsibility to save lives to be part of building His Church by adding one stone at a time. In Closing, on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit came down and through powerful preaching of Peter Sunday Church was born as Jesus promised. As Christians gather together on Sundays, they grew in faith and then went out to share the gospel of…

Quite frankly, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not meant for entertainment, but empowerment. The grace of the gospel gives us the empowerment to make confession, to be convicted in one’s belief and in the righteousness, redemption and renewal of God. The goodness and the glory of the gospel enables us to love and serve one another as community to know that we do not need to live by violence, but that we have victory through the cross of Christ and him…

said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to creation.” Jesus knew that all creation needed a Savior so his gave this ‘divine assignment to the apostles. The message was clear that we are to go, but the method was not explained. Consequently, the message has not changed since the apostles, but the method has certainly changed. The good news remains the message the God gives the church and the command to go make disciples. The ministry of sharing the gospel is about sharing and…

I had the opportunity to watch the movie “Risen” during Fall Break for extra credit. The movie is about a Roman military guard named Clavius who remains set in his ways after serving in the army. He arrives at a crossroad when he 's tasked is to investigate the mystery of what happened to Jesus following the aftermath of the Crucifixion. Throughout his journey, Clavius discovers the truth that he 's been seeking. It was a very interesting movie because it was from Clavius’ perspective and it…

Purpose The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society is written by Henri Nouwen. Henri Nouwen was much more than an author, he was also a priest, teacher, theologian, and writer who was fluent in five languages. He was born in Holland and became an ordained priest at the age of 25. Nouwen earned a degree in psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen and moved to the United states at 32 to continue to further his studies. Eventually, he settled down in Ontario, Canada where he was…

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. led the charge of civil rights despite disagreeing with the basic factors of method and intention. Malcolm X’s famous speech The Ballot or The Bullet remains integral to his methods for attaining his goals. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail communicates his intentions as well as his celebrated methods of civil disobedience. Malcolm X and King often critiqued the other in their work either in speeches or in writing; in his speech, Malcolm X calls attention to…

the world should look, and we need to step up and lead the people around us. In order to share the gospel with others, we have to take a look at what God is calling us to do. Leading others consists of knowing what the Christian life looks like, sharing that with others, and staying faithful and truthful in what we say and do. Brian Jensen and Keith Martel did a wonderful job of explaining the gospel in their book Storied Leadership: Living and Leading from The Christian Narrative. They started…

In the Farewell Discourse, Jesus provides various examples as to what love can be displayed to be. John 15 provides an explicit example in which Jesus provides a reference of love in relation with both vines and branches. Jesus explains to his disciples, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). By Jesus expressing this statement, he simply states that by having a relationship with God, one…