Does the church still matter in our modern world?

After waves of disillusionment, #churchtoo movements, and political divides, it’s easy to question the value of investing in the church.

Dr Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She is the author of Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters, and the editor of Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends. Her new book is Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters.

Book: Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters

Dr Carmen Imes' Blog

1. Understanding Our Identity as Being Part of God's Family
2. Why Do People Think God and Church Are Not Relevant?
3. Helping People Who Have Been Hurt by the Church

Dr Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She is the author of Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters, and the editor of Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends. Her new book is Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters.

1. Dr Carmen Imes, Biola University
2. Book: Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters
3. Dr Carmen Imes' Blog

00:38 - Introducing Dr Carmen Imes

02:40 - God's Heart for Family

02:56 - ...God creates a world and intends for everyone to flourish

03:07 - ...God's plan to save the world begins with a family

04:04 - ...Jesus is the new Adam and the pathway that we become God's family

04:27 - Understanding Our Identity as Being Part of God's Family

04:50 - ...every human being is the image of God

05:32 - ...we are estranged from God so we don't live as God's family

06:22 - ...seeing people as potential siblings

08:57 - ...western church needs to learn that God works through people who have no power

10:57 - ...Esther and Daniel model two different ways of navigating faith under oppressive empires

11:47 - Why Do People Think God and Church Are Not Relevant?

12:20 - ...individualism

13:01 - ...quest for happiness

14:05 - ...but encouragingly, religion is no longer a private matter, but people want to know what you believe

16:35 - ...to share in the sufferings of others is part of what it means to become part of God's family

18:03 - ...the most effective form of evangelism right now is coming alongside

When the burdens of life and ministry push you to your physical and mental breaking point, how can you lead yourself, let alone others? Dr Dudley's new book, Leading Through Storms: Successfully Navigating Ministry While Maintaining Your Mental Health, addresses that and more.

Dr Geoffrey V. Dudley Sr. (PhD, Regent) is the founding and senior pastor of New Life in Christ Church, one of the fastest growing churches in the Metro East area of St. Louis, Missouri (O’Fallon, Illinois). Originally from Goldsboro, North Carolina, Dudley began ministry at the age of thirteen, was ordained by the United Holy Church of America in 1986, and is a retired Air Force chaplain and lieutenant colonel. He is also the CEO of iLead Enterprises, a leadership development platform for staff and workforce development. He and his wife, Glenda, have two adult children who are both ministry leaders.

Dr Dudley on IVPress

Leading Through Storms: Successfully Navigating Ministry While Maintaining Your Mental Health

1. Putting Down the Shame of Mental Health
2. Recognizing the Breaking Point When in Storms
3. Practical Steps to Cultivating Self-Awareness, Emotional Resilience, and Self-Care

Dr Geoffrey Dudley, Sr, is the founding and senior pastor of New Life in Christ Church in O’Fallon, Illinois. Originally from Goldsboro, North Carolina, Dr Dudley began ministry at the age of thirteen, is a retired Air Force chaplain and lieutenant colonel, and also the CEO of iLead Enterprises, a leadership development platform for staff and workforce development.

1. Dr Dudley on IVPress
2. Leading Through Storms: Successfully Navigating Ministry While Maintaining Your Mental Health

07:01 - What is unique in Dr Dudley's approach to leadership?

09:35 - ...how I messed up but the mission went forward with the faithfulness of God

10:31 - Putting Down the Shame of Mental Health

12:17 - ...authentic leadership

12:58 - ...level of openness for teachers is different than that of pastors

16:42 - Recognizing the Breaking Point When in Storms

17:10 - ...Know thyself

17:38 - ...leaders tend not to be reflective

18:18 - Practical Steps to Cultivating Self-Awareness, Emotional Resilience, and Self-Care

19:19 - ...what are the rhythms and seasons of your life?

20:07 - ...taking time off and keeping it

21:33 - ...check out the younger generation

22:39 - ...emotionally dry

23:25 - ...visionaries always have to have something to go after

24:19 - How can Church Leadership and the Congregation Help?

24:39 - ...demand that the leaders take time, have...

Jen Chen's book, Dim Sum and Faith, is an invitation to pause, reflect, and rediscover the joy and peace that comes from knowing you are lovingly crafted by God. It’s about seeing how our stories are a part of God’s continuous formation in our lives.

Jenn Chen's new book: Dim Sum and Faith

Jenn Chen's websites: Summit Clear and Personal Website

1. Importance of food, family, and memories
2. Revisiting the painful parts of our stories
3. The truth of our stories

Jenn Suen Chen is a spiritual director, speaker, and leader in the area of spiritual formation and crosscultural ministry. She is co-director of Summit Clear (with her husband, John), an organization focused on providing spiritual direction, mentoring, and leadership coaching for those in crosscultural work. She serves with Pioneers and spent twenty-five years living in Asia raising her family. Jenn and John have four adult children and live in the Pacific Northwest.

1. Jenn Chen's new book: Dim Sum and Faith
2. Jenn Chen's websites: Summit Clear and Personal Website

00:39 - Introducing Jenn Chen

02:46 - Dim Sum and Faith - importance of food, family, and memories

03:11 - ...reminders of home and memories

04:07 - ...where did we come from?

05:19 - Identity Shaped by Cross-Cultural Experiences

09:03 - How Our Stories Form Our Beliefs

09:20 - Dim Sum and Faith is about Spiritual Formation

09:28 - ...God is about our transformation and our growth

09:40 - ...relating to God in our context and understanding God through our lens

10:50 - ...invitational by nature

12:32 - ...it's still about relationship and identity

13:51 - Revisiting the painful parts of our stories

14:31 - ...story work with the Lord

14:47 - ...living in China made her face her discomfort in being an Asian woman

16:21 - ...her father transformed because of the gospel

17:24 - ...pray through generational things

17:40 - ...we carry values from past generations

17:53 - ...giving things to the Lord

18:56 - Getting an accurate picture of the effects of our stories

19:26 - ...need the Holy Spirit to reveal the places in our heart that need healing

19:33 - ...need others to mirror the truth to us

19:41 - ...feelings are real, but not always true

20:03 - ...some stories are good while other leave deep wounds

24:17 - ...healing in community

25:40 - Letting go of wrong beliefs

25:56 - ...ask God to reveal our wrong beliefs

26:29 - ...does God really love me?

28:27 - Realizing God's plan for us

28:50 - ...ask God to show us His heart

28:54 - ...ask God what our gifts are

29:14 - ...find others who want to do the same

29:51 - ...take...