Saturday, May 06, 2017

Saturday Lagniappe: "Small Churches Going Multisite" and Much More


Current Issues

Small Churches Going Multisite [Podcast]

At what point should a small church consider becoming a multisite campus? Listen Now

For Those Who Are "Over" Church

I want to offer a few quick counter-considerations for the millennials (or anyone else) who might be over church or leaning that way. Read More

Fighting the Fallen Leader Epidemic: A Better Way to Find Leaders

Corrective measures cannot merely address the symptoms. They need to go at the root cause. But so often we’re asking the wrong questions and looking in the wrong direction. We need to not only consider our failing pastors, but also accepted church structures and our own selves as part of the problem. Read More

Five Essential Reasons for Christians to Gather in Public Worship

Here are five important reasons why it is essential that every Christian gather with other Christians in the same local church weekly to hear the preaching of God’s Word from the undershepherds of that congregation. Read More

Thinking Through Missions Partnerships: Four Criteria

As a pastor, I regularly receive requests for financial support from missionaries. With so many needs, and so many missionaries, and only limited finances, how can we decide whom to support? In an effort to be faithful in answering this question for our church, our pastors came up with four criteria to help us decide who we partner with for the purpose of advancing the gospel in missions. Read More

Church Leadership

6 Reasons You Should Say “Yes” When Asked to Lead in Your Church

As summer approaches, ministry leaders in many churches will spend time recruiting and training new leaders to serve in their church’s kids ministry, the youth ministry, and to lead groups and classes for adults. If you are approached and asked, here are six reasons you should say yes.... Read More

Pastoral Ministry

Four Reasons to Consider Calling a Pastor in His 50s

The average pastor in America is fifty-four years old, which is ten years older than what it was just 25 years ago. Yet, many pastors find themselves sitting by silent phones once they turn 50.

This means an unknown number of average-aged preachers await phone calls that never come, while search committees look to fill pulpits with younger pastors. Should this change? I think it should. As a pastor now in my 50s, I’ve considered at least four reasons churches should call as pastors men in their 50s. Read More

2 Ways To Look at the People in Your Church

It is a display of God’s wisdom that he binds us together in local church communities. We know it is a mark of his wisdom, yet sometimes it can feel so much like folly. Sometimes we grow weary of being around people who are sinful, who are selfish, who still have so far to go. In other words, sometimes we grow weary of being around people who are just like us. At times like these, we can benefit from a reminder of what God is doing in and through his people. Read More

Hurtful Sheep and Bullied Shepherds

The sad reality is that sometimes sheep become hurtful and bully the shepherd. Read More

Bible Exposition

Dick Lucas on Mark’s Gospel – Volume 2 

Dick Lucas breaks open the second half of Mark's Gospel. Listen Now

Christianity and Culture

Does Sexual Purity Still Matter in the Church?

What if the problem with ‘purity’ is much deeper? What if the problem is the message itself? Read More

Influencing the Culture From the Bottom Up

Like an obnoxious weed, the people of God have sent roots out throughout the world, usually shaping history in a subversive way. Read More

Discipleship

Cut Off Your Hand, Tear Out Your Eye

Hard words are not harmful words—when they come from Jesus. Read More

Evangelism and Outreach

15 Reasons Our Churches Are Less Evangelistic Today

By almost any metric, the churches in our nation are much less evangelistic today than they were in the recent past. In my own denomination, we are reaching non-Christians only half as effectively as we were 50 years ago (we measure membership to annual baptisms). The trend is disturbing. Read More

The “E” Word: Why Many Avoid It, and How We Can Reimagine It

Part Two in a new series. Read More

Six Ways to Be Prepared

One of the ways you “honour Christ the Lord as holy” as a Christian is by “being prepared to make a defence [or a ‘reasoned statement’] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). Preparation is also a key way to feel more confident and positive about sharing Jesus with those around you. So here are six ways to be prepared.... Read More

Evaluating Your Church's Outreach [Podcast]

What ways can you measure the impact your church is making? Read More

Religious Freedom

Trump’s Religious Liberty Order Doesn’t Answer Most Evangelicals’ Prayers

Prayer breakfast pledge to ‘totally destroy’ Johnson Amendment comes up shy; conscience exemptions from LGBT anti-discrimination rules missing. Read More

The FAQs: What You Should Know About Trump’s Executive Order on Religious Liberty

On Thursday, May 4, President Trump released his long-awaited executive order on “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty.” Read More

No comments: