Delighting in the Doctrines of God
As a brand-new, twenty-something Christian, spending a year doing intern youth ministry, I had just shared the gospel to a class of jaded twelve-year-olds, when a boy swamped in an over-sized school blazer approached me. By the look on his face the cogs of his mind were spinning fast. He politely asked if he could ask me a question and said, “What if you’re wrong? What if it all just isn’t true?”
Continue reading “Pitiful Christians in a Pandemic”
My family has lived in the Middle East for almost eight years, although we never set out to be cross-cultural church planters. I used to envision at this point in my life I would be a U.S. senator or governor—or at least attempting to be one. I was serving as the chief of staff to a senator when my husband, Josh, and I could no longer resist the urge to put all our energy into local church ministry.
After seminary, friends of ours told us about an Arab sheikh who gave a plot of land on the Arabian Peninsula for the Christians in his emirate to have an evangelical church building. It was an incredible opportunity for a gospel presence in the Middle East.
So we moved hemispheres and cultures, planted a church with people from dozens of nations, built a church building, and are now raising our five children in a multicultural context in the Arab world. We still love keeping up with the American political scene, but we do so safely from 7,000 miles away.
Jenny Manley is the author of The Good Portion: Christ.
Read the rest of Jenny’s interview here.
Mothers who delight in the doctrines of God are gifts to their children and models for younger women. At The Good Portion Books we want to increase your delight. So to celebrate Mother’s Day, we are having a drawing to give away two sets of the 4 books currently in our series.
To enter the drawing, Like our Facebook page and tag one other woman in the comments on the Mother’s Day post. You’ll be entered into the drawing along with the mother, daughter or friend you tagged, and if your name is drawn both of you will win the books!
You may enter as many times as you like, as long as you tag a different person each time.
We’ll draw the winner on Mother’s Day, May 10th.
Order The Good Portion: Scripture and The Good Portion: God with a 40% discount on the T4G online bookstore.
The week that so joyfully defines the reason for Christian hope has been eerily replaced with empty baskets, vacant pews, and untasted communion. Even so, we continue celebrating the events that happened in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago as the only hope sinful men have to be reconciled to a holy God.
But we do so more quietly this year. Not in large gatherings, sunrise services, and loud choruses of corporate worship. Christians around the world this year will celebrate in our homes, meagerly offering unpretentious and humble praise. Perhaps while we contemplate and celebrate the victory of the resurrection, we should do so with 20-year-old Jesus in mind.
Continue reading “Look to 20-Year-Old Jesus This Easter”
Going to The Gospel Coalition’s Women’s Conference this June?
Join Keri Folmar, Margaret Kostenberger, Jenny Manley, Courtney Reissig and Mary Willson as they discuss why understanding doctrine is crucial for life and ministry.
Do women in your church seem to be living for the moment instead of in light of eternity? Does your small group Bible study skim the surface without going deeply into the Word? Do you want to help women know how to suffer life’s trials with joy?
This panel is for you!
First 150 attendants will receive a complimentary book from The Good Portion Series.
Register for Delighting in Doctrine here.
Fall is a spectacular time for the senses. Our Creator’s glory splashes the world with vivid colors and woodsy smells. It’s also the time of year when I’m reminded that God is in charge of the seasons of our lives. As Christians, we know and trust that God ordains all things and is working out our sanctification as we move through these seasons. So whether you’re resting or wrestling in a season of quiet ministry as a woman yourself or you’re shepherding those in a quieter season of ministry, I hope to encourage you to delight in God’s timing. Jesus told us, “The Father who sees in secret will reward you.” There is much to gain in seasons of serving quietly.
As a woman, I’ve had to wrestle with God through some of the seasons where ministry opportunities took the backseat, where they were almost invisible. Days would go by when the only person who would see my labors was God himself. Those were challenging days. They were challenging for me because I longed to teach and train others in the truths of God’s Word. I wanted to be more active in the life and ministry of the church in a more visible and vibrant—at least to me—way.
Continue reading “The Sweet Rewards of a Quiet Ministry”
A young pastor’s wife sat across from me in tears, wondering how she would partner with her husband in ministry with three little ones in tow. She had a head for theology and a heart for women, but two babies had slowed her down in the last few years and now she was pregnant with her third.
I can remember the days of wanting to partner with my husband while running after little ones. When I was a young assistant pastor’s wife, I asked an older, wiser woman how to have spiritually encouraging conversations after church with tired and hungry kids clinging to me. Her answer wasn’t filled with the practical advice I expected. “Sometimes you just have to go home,” she said.
Often pastors’ wives feel like what we do is trivial compared to our husbands’ eternally significant work. It’s not just young kids that slow ministry wives down. Chronic pain, rebellious teens, or sick parents can drain time and energy. Or we may just be introverts who need time alone with our thoughts. Our husbands are at it full-time—studying the Bible and theology, preaching, discipling, sharing the gospel, and more. And what are we doing? There may not be much on our to-do list that feels very important.
The self-help industry is flourishing. Isn’t that ironic? The industry is built on the premise that all you need for happiness, success, and contentment is within you, yet it peddles self-improvement programs as the key to becoming a better you. The endless supply and demand for the latest life changing-book betrays the fact they never actually deliver the transformation we long for.
The question is have we taken on a self-help approach to reading the Bible? The Bible is brimming with words of hope and encouragement, wisdom and guidance. So it’s easy to place ourselves at the centre of our reading, importing our desires and dilemmas and listening intently for ‘God’s word to me today, in my particular situation.’ But the words of scripture are not written primarily to encourage, inspire or direct us in this life. These words are written that we might lift our gaze from our own navels and focus instead on the glory of God in the cross of Christ.
Continue reading “My Self-Help Bible?”