Wednesday's Catch: "Five Consistent Sources of Discouragement for Pastors" and More

 "Aslan Is Nearer" - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Five Consistent Sources of Discouragement for Pastors - Rainer Report #1 [Video] 

Today marks the start of a new video series on the blog—Rainer Report. Every Wednesday I’ll provide you with a new video specifically geared toward helping you grow a healthy church. I pray that these will encourage and motivate you in your ministry to your church and its community. Watch Now

The Story of Two Adams

The message of salvation is the story of two Adams. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). What the first Adam undid, the second Adam repairs. But who is this second Adam, and what kind of person must He be to do this? Why is He—and only He—able to obey in this way? Read More

10 Leadership Rules That the Smart Pastor Will Obey

Whether you’re talking about your business or a church, the principles for making it successful and effective are similar. Here is my short list, based on nearly 60 years in serving the Lord’s churches. Read Now

10 Bible Reading Habits I’ve Learned from My Pastor

…hold fast to the word I preached to you… (1 Corinthians 15:2b)

A good sermon exhorts us to grapple with God’s Word preached, hold fast to its truth, and do what it commands. A preacher who places himself under Holy Scripture will present his teaching in a way the congregation can follow, to understand the text they hold on their laps. Read More

3 Reasons Why Younger Christians Should Attend the Funeral Services of Older Christians

In our present culture, it’s almost as if we expect the older generation to die—so attending their funeral isn’t really that important. As we consider such matters, I want to urge you to reconsider the importance of being present for the funeral service of older Christians in your local church. Sure, you may have to miss work and your children may have to miss some school on that particular day, but it’s worth it in the long run. Read More

Three European Alliances Warn Evangelical-Catholic Unity Is Going Too Far

World Evangelical Alliance explains why Italy, Spain, and Malta leaders shouldn’t fear that global group has fallen for the ‘Francis effect.’ Read More

"...the Roman Catholic Church continues to maintain fundamental doctrines that are not found in Scriptures."

Cultural Indicators: The Fertility Rate

This is the first in an occasional series on “cultural indicators”—measures and metrics that Christians should know about that signal potential shifts or changes in society. Read More

Tuesday's Catch: "Eating Together" and More

Eating Together

We learn in the Bible that sharing a meal together is one of the primary ways relationships are established, deepened, and enjoyed both with God and with others. Read More

Eight Reasons Denominations Are Struggling - Rainer on Leadership #402 [Podcast]

Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe turn their attention to denominations today and examine eight reasons many of them are struggling. Listen Now

Is Christ’s Victory Over Evil Powers the Centre of His Death and Resurrection? A Reply to David Bentley Hart on Paul’s Gospel

David Bentley Hart has written a provocative article, ‘Everything you know about the Gospel of Paul is likely wrong’.[1] In it he rejects that version of the gospel believed by ‘the average American Christian—say, some genial Presbyterian who attends church regularly and owns a New International Version of the Bible’. He replaces it with his own version of the gospel which centres on Christ’s defeat of evil powers. Read More

Planter, Become a Better Preacher

While there are many things a young church plant can overcome in order to establish itself, poor preaching isn’t one of them. Read More

Does the Bible teach Generational Curses?

In short, no. In Exodus 20:4-6 the subject is idolatry. Regarding those who commit idolatry, we learn that God would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him. Notice, the text says “generations of those who hate Me.” Read More

Did the Church Fathers View Their Own Writings as “Inspired” Like Scripture?

Did the church fathers really see their own writings as on the same level as those of the apostles as some contemporary writers are claiming? Read More

Out loud with words...the power of the "propositional" Gospel

Those who believe in the power of the Gospel message to save the lost can sometimes be looked down upon as simplistic, even foolish. Read More

Behavioral Science Catches Up to the Bible

Research is confirming ancient wisdom about human nature. But can it really make us better people? Read More

10 Ways to Read Your Community

How well do you know your community and the people in it?

I originally posted this article by Chuck Lawless on Anglicans Ablaze on February 26, 2015, the same date it was posted on Thom Rainer's blog. I ran across it again while doing demographic research on Benton, Kentucky, and Marshall County, Kentucky online this morning. I was searching for a breakdown of past censuses of Benton and Marshall County by religious affiliation. The article suggests 10 different ways that we can get to know the community in which a church is located and the people in that community. This knowledge is critical to understanding the cultural landscape of the community and to reaching and engaging the community's unchurched population. The article is a useful one not only for church planters but also for pastors seeking to revitalize or replant an existing church. The comment section also contains suggestions for reading a community.

5 Specific Ways The Current Approach To Church Seems Badly Outdated

You open the doors to your church every weekend hoping more people will come (or in some cases, hoping somebody comes) only to discover that, with few exceptions, more people rarely do.

It can get discouraging, and many leaders wring their hands over what to do and how to respond.

Even once-growing churches hit plateaus and stumble into decline, and we wonder why it’s so hard to gain traction.

One of the reasons so many churches struggle these days is that the way we do church is badly outdated.

Culture is changing rapidly, which means people are changing rapidly. If you want to reach people, that probably also means you need to change your approach rapidly.

That freaks out a lot of Christians who think that because the message never changes, nothing should change. Read More

Is Christ Enough for You?

In the letter he wrote to the Colossians, Paul had to deal with a false teaching that scholars often refer to as “the heresy of Colossae.” This designation is due to the unique character of the teaching and the fact that it seems to have flourished only in that region. It was a combination of Jewish elements with ascetic and mystical practices—all connected by an incipient Gnosticism. Its supporters had managed to infiltrate the Christian churches in Colossae and probably churches of other cities located in the Lycus River Valley as well. We have no evidence that this sect settled in other places.

It seems that the appeal of this dangerous sect to the Christians was the promise made of fullness, perfection, and satisfaction in God by a certain knowledge (gnōsis) that had not been previously revealed by the ministry of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. This gnōsis involved Jewish practices such as circumcision, their dietary laws and their religious calendar, together with ascetic practices and mystical worship based on contact with the angels. We can deduce that the Christians at Colossae had begun to listen to the proponents of these ideas. Paul writes this letter in order to prevent them from fully adopting these teachings. Read More

The Dangers of Echo Chamber Leadership

We leaders often enjoy the affirmation and adulation of others as we express our ideas, provide direction, and set future courses.

And we sometimes enjoy it so much that we only want people to agree with us and affirm us, even if we are wrong.

It’s called echo chamber leadership. Properly defined, it’s an environment in which leaders encourage and encounter only beliefs or opinions that match their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas and pushback are not considered.

For certain, it’s very dangerous. And Christian leaders are not invulnerable to it, far from it. Indeed the evangelical celebrity culture exacerbates the problem.

What are some key issues that help us leaders not fall into the echo chamber leadership trap? Here are six considerations.... Read More

Why Smooth Pastoral Transitions Matter More Now Than Ever

In previous generations, the denomination, the church building, and family expectations had such a strong hold that it virtually didn’t matter who the pastor was.

For many generations, people who went to church would attend every Sunday no matter what. Whether out of habit, culture, tradition, denominational identity, fear of reprisal, or a sincere commitment to Christ and his church, when the doors were open, they were going to walk through them.

And they weren’t just going to show up at some church. They were going to show up at their church – often the same church their family attended for multiple generations.
,br/> In those times, the denomination, the church building, and family expectations had such a strong hold on people that it virtually didn’t matter who the pastor was. Many denominations routinely moved their ministers around on a short-term basis to make sure attendees knew they were members of that denomination, not members of that pastor’s flock.

That era is going, going … gone. Read More

Related:
Why I Won’t Be The Lead Pastor At Cornerstone Any More – But I'm Not Leaving

One-to-One Bible Reading Video Seminar with David Helm [Video]

Leadership Resources champions expositional Word ministry of any kind because the Word of God alone has the power to bring life and transform. For that reason, we love recommending believers to read the Bible one-to-one with others; it is indeed a simple way to fulfill the Great Commission.

David Helm, pastor and author of One-to-One Bible Reading and friend of LRI, presented the following seminar at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The seminar is courtesy of Matthias Media and Reading121.org. Watch Now

Public Faith: How to Share the Hope You Have in Christ

As a college student I attended a campus Christian fellowship that always had a book table of Christian literature. There was a little booklet there called Doubters Welcome. I remember my surprise at the title, because as a young believer I thought that Christians frowned on doubters and wanted them to just take that leap and have faith. But I came to realize that the Bible has a more balanced view. While we want doubts eventually to give way to faith (John 20:28; James 1:6), we should be merciful and patient with those who are still in their doubt-troubled period (Jude 1:22). On that campus the Christian fellowship was inviting to skeptics and doubters, and there were always many of them mixed in with the believers. I always wanted to be part of a church that had that spirit.

When we started Redeemer Presbyterian Church, its life began in home meetings, then public worship, and finally our first Sunday morning worship service in September 1989. From the beginning, an “outward face” was part of why we existed. One of Redeemer’s “core values” is that we be a place where those who are not believers (or who are not sure what they believe) find their questions invited, their doubts and difficulties respected, and their struggles anticipated.

The natural tendency of any church, however, is to become ingrown as the years go by, and Redeemer has not completely escaped that. As we have grown and now transitioned to become a family of three churches, the pastors, leaders, and staff of each church must work intentionally to prioritize and strengthen their commitment to being communities known for welcoming doubters and their questions. They also must offer training to equip their congregants with the tools to become better listeners and confident, winsome sharers of their faith. Read More

3 Reasons Why This Weekend is So Important If You Want Your Church to Grow

This weekend is critically important for the growth of your church. It could be make or break when it comes to influencing your community with the message of Jesus. As much as we’ve talked in the past about the importance of being ready for “big days” that only come along a few times a year, your church also needs to be ready every single weekend to make an impact. We can’t rest on our laurels, but need to be ready to make the impact that we’re expected to. Churches who are making a difference in their communities leverage every single Sunday to see the mission moving forward. Here are three reasons this weekend is so important if you want to see your church grow in the coming years.... Read More

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What Two Simple Statistics Reveal about the American Church

Statistics never tell the whole story, but they can validate a story exists. A chart detailing a decline in worship attendance cannot explain why the church is dying, but it does reveal the decline is actually occurring. During a recent church consultation, we interviewed a long-time member who refused to believe the church was declining. Even when we showed her a chart of their own numbers, she said, “You must have the wrong numbers.” If facts are our friends, then stats are our teachers. If we listen, we’ll learn.

Two simple statistics help explain the American church. There are other important church stats, but these two may surprise you.

1 .The median church size is 75 people.
2. The median church age is 73 years.

Most American churches are smaller—under 100 people. Most American churches are older—existing for several decades. The story of the American church is one of small, established congregations. Read More

Recommended:
Why Most Churches That Start Small...Stay Small
Beyond Groundhog Day

Saturday Lagniappe: "How to Spot Sexual Abuse in Your Church" and More

How to Spot Sexual Abuse in Your Church

Understanding the dynamics of sexual abuse is the first step. Read More

The Techniques of a Sexual Predator

In his book On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Children Abuse at Church, Deepak Reju provides a look at the techniques of a sexual predator, and focuses on the way a predator will prepare or groom an entire church so that he can take advantage of its children. Read More

5 Things the Church Does That Enable Abuse

Dave Hughes take a look at how church culture can "enable abuse and create environments that are enticing to abusers and dangerous for abused." Read More

12 Signs of Repentance

In Luke chapter 3, John the Baptist calls those who repent to show it by their fruit. But what does the fruit of repentance look like? Read More

When Should Pastors Let Members Leave

As pastors, we must lovingly guide those whom God has placed under our care to steward their privilege of church membership well. Read More

Personality Tests—A Waste or a Resource?

Personality tests are helpful tools to understand the gifts and abilities that the Lord has given us. Read More

What Does Your Worship Say About God?

If an outsider came into your Sunday meeting and observed you worshiping, what would he conclude you think about God? Read More

4 Elements Your Sunday Services Need

There are additional things we need to pay attention to that can take a service from good to great. Read More

How Not to Use Texting in Ministry

Texting has many uses in ministry, but it lacks the face-to-face element that some situations require. Emojis don’t always cut it. There are some situations in which you shouldn’t text as part of your ministry. Read More

Millions of Americans Believe God Made Trump President

A surprisingly fascinating book explains why. Read More

A large part of an even more fascinating book, The Holy Bible, the two Books of Chronicles, the two Books of Kings, the Book of Psalms, the Book of Proverbs, the Books of the major and minor Prophets contain what may be described as a cautionary tale for modern-day Christians that warns them against putting their trust in politicians and gives an account of what happened to the people of Israel when they ignored this warning.

After they reached the promised land, the people of Israel clamored for a king, a strongman, like the other nations of the earth. Despite God's warnings that putting their trust in earthly rulers instead of the one true King, God himself, would be their undoing, the Israelites did not cease from their clamoring. God gave them what they clamored for but it was a test, a test of their faithfulness to God. Over and over again they failed that test and suffered the consequences of their faithfulness.

While God may have allowed Donald Trump to become President of the United States, Trump is no David. David was "a man after God's own heart." David repented of committing adultery with Bathsheba and sending Uriah to his death. To date Trump has shown no signs of repentance for what he has said and done. He is more like the kings of Israel and Judah who did whatever was right in their own sight and led their people in rebellion against God. Both kingdoms in turning their backs on God would be destroyed. Because they either are unfamiliar with the cautionary tale of the Old Testament or they dismiss or misread it, those self-identified evangelicals who support Trump may not realize that they, like the people of Israel, are being put to the test.

Friday's Catch: "How to Overcome Barriers to the Simple Church Model" and More

How to Overcome Barriers to the Simple Church Model - Rainer on Leadership #401 [Podcast]

Complexity cripples too many churches. They want to simplify, but don’t know where to start. Today, we identify barriers to simplifying your church. Listen Now

5 Books Every Church Planter Should Read

Here are five books that every church planter should consider reading. Whether you’re aspiring to plant a church or currently in the trenches, we pray these books would be an encouragement in your ministry. Read More

The Multiplying Leader

Founder of The Unstuck Group is the third entry in a new series. Read More

3 Quick Ways To See How Effective Your Leadership Really Is

By asking yourself three simple questions, you can not only get an accurate gauge of how you’re doing but an instant sense where you might need to improve. Read More

“Hello. I’m the pastor of Crock Pot Baptist Church!”

“Most great ministries are made in the crock-pot, not the microwave.” –Allan Taylor Read More

What Do We Do with the King James Version? [Video]

As time continues to pass and its language continues to age, many have wondered: What do we do with the KJV? Some are convinced we should put it out to pasture as a relic of the past. Others are convinced we should maintain it as our Bible of choice. Read More

In the accompanying video Mark Ward advocates the use of multiple Bible translations, a practice that the late Reginald H. Fuller, New Testament scholar and Anglican theologian recommended to preachers who had no Hebrew or Greek.

Pray Shorter Prayers

For most of my life, two of the Bible’s most important verses on prayer have been lost on me. I must have been distracted by the more famous verses on prayer that immediately followed. Read More

Quit Trying To Fix Sunday School – Until You’re Sure You Should Have It At All

We need to ask better questions, then do whatever ministry answers those questions in the best possible way. Read More

The Marshall County High School Shooting – A Wake-up Call to Churches

By Robin G. Jordan

For Anglicans Ablaze readers I have posted links to four media reports here, here, here, and here from which can be gleaned more details about the Marshall County High School shooting on Tuesday morning and its aftermath. As a precautionary measure the campus police at my university, which is about a 25-minute-drive from Benton, would conduct a campus-wide building check in case a copy-cat shooter decided to target the university. I have also included an USA Today article on the ways 20 years of shootings have changed schools.

In an earlier media report one area resident was quoted as saying that Benton was a small community and everyone knew each other. I must question the accuracy of this statement. Benton is one of four adjoining communities which include Calvert City, Draffenville, and Gilbertsville. In terms of their populations these communities overlap each other and may be viewed as one contiguous area. These communities and other nearby communities in Marshall County have been experiencing steady growth since the 1970s and earlier. The population of Marshall County went from 30,123 in 2000 to 31, 448 in 2010. While these figures are not dramatic, they are not indicative of a plateaued or declining population. The population of the county is also swollen every year by tourists and other summer residents. Indeed tourism is one of its main industries. The growth of the area would prompt the Episcopal Church to plant a new church in Gilbertsville in 1980. The Wikipedia article on Marshall County notes:

From its settlement until the 1930s, Marshall County was almost completely agricultural. In the 1940s, however, the Tennessee Valley Authority created Kentucky Lake, which brought tourism to the county with lake shore resorts. The Kentucky Dam's cheap and plentiful electricity also attracted chemical and manufacturing plants, mainly in the Calvert City area.

While some area residents may continue to view Benton as a small community, the reality is that Marshall County and the surrounding counties contain much smaller communities than Benton. People can live in Benton and the vicinity and not know each other. Due to the proximity of the chemical and manufacturing plants in the nearby Calvert City area, the description of Benton as a rural, farming community is also not entirely accurate.

It is quite possible for a potential shooter to have gone unnoticed.

The shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in November 2017 received a lot of attention in Marshall County. The Marshall County Sheriff’s Department would host a church safety meeting at Marshall County High School in the wake of that shooting. The meeting drew a large crowd. I remember thinking to myself how easy it would have been for a potential shooter to attend that meeting when I noticed a young man, a teenager, leaving the meeting early just after the presentation on what to expect when the Sheriff’s Department’s rapid response teams arrived in response to a report of a shooter. The potential shooter would have gained useful intelligence on how the Sheriff’s Department was advising churches to protect themselves and what kind of response a shooter could expect from that department.

Whether the Marshall County High School shooter attended the church safety meeting, I have no idea but it is not outside the realm of possibility. If it was the case, the meeting itself could have been a part of a chain of events that led to the shooting. On the day before the shooting a 16-year-old boy had shot a 15-year-old girl in their high school’s cafeteria in Italy, Texas, using a semi-automatic pistol. This event may have triggered the Marshall County High School shooting which occurred in the high school’s commons area and involved a semi-automatic pistol.

Churches not only need to take steps to protect themselves from shooters but also do whatever they can also to protect their community’s businesses, schools, and outdoor areas from shooters. This means really getting to know the people in the community and what is going on in their lives. Churches can work with other community organizations and groups to identify and help troubled youth in the community. The shooter who killed two at Marshall High School, wounded twelve others, and traumatized the rest of his fellow students also destroyed his own life. A timely mental health intervention might have prevented this tragedy from happening.

Thursday's Catch: "How Can a Replant Find Church Partnerships?" and More

How Can a Replant Find Church Partnerships?

Leading a replant, however, is very different from pastoring established an church. Leading a replant church requires church partnerships. A replant church is resource hungry, people are needed, financial resources are needed, and you can’t do it alone. I am continuing to learn how to find, maintain, and cultivate new partnerships. Read More

What Dying Churches Have in Common - Revitalized & Replant #025 [Podcast]

While not every church is alike, many that are dying often exhibit similar signs. We cover seven of those today. Listen Now

10 Things You Should Know about the Moral Influence and Example Theories of Atonement

Subjective theories of the atonement are those which envision the focus or aim of Christ’s sufferings to be the human soul rather than God himself. This model is referred to either as the moral influence theory or the example theory. Read More

Why Is Theology So Important? Can’t Jesus Be Enough? [Video]

In this video, Kevin DeYoung discusses the necessary connection between being a disciple of Jesus and theology. Watch Now

How to Structure a Sticky Sermon

If your sermon isn’t sticky, it won’t stay with those who hear it. If your sermon isn’t sticky, it’ll bounce off them and be lost forever. Read More

Evaluating Your Preaching

Here are five questions that I have used to help me effectively evaluate a sermon.... Read More

When Your Preaching Falls Flat

What can you do after a bad sermon? Here are some things that help me when my sermon on Sunday falls flat. Read More

10 Best Practices For Worship Sound Techs

Worship is a dynamic environment in which God is meeting with people, and people are meeting with God. For that reason alone, the Worship Sound Tech must take their place – with active attention – among the worship leadership influencers in the room. [Note: In the age of digital boards, some things have gotten easier when running sound. With the push of a button, levels can be set. If you’re on a digital board, some of the following technical elements may not apply.] Read More

Good Works as a Light to the World

I wonder if I would have passed my ordination exams had Jesus been sitting on that council of examiners. Something tells me I got off too easy. That something is Matthew 5:14–16.... Read More

Get Ready, Youth Group Leaders: Teens Twice as Likely to Identify as Atheist or LGBT

Barna findings on Generation Z pose new challenges for the church. Read More

Wednesday's Catch: "Great Churches Aren’t Perfect Churches" and More

Great Churches Aren’t Perfect Churches

If successfully leading a local church was easy, nearly anyone could do it. There would be no need to develop yourself to lead better. Read More

The Trauma of Holiness

As we read the works of nineteenth-century atheists, we find that they were not particularly concerned to prove that God does not exist. These atheists tacitly assumed God’s nonexistence. Instead, they said that after the Enlightenment, now that we know there is no God, how can we account for the almost universal presence of religion? If God doesn’t exist and human religion is not a response to the existence of God, why is it that man seems to be incurably homo religiosus—that man in all of his cultures seems to be incurably religious? If there’s no God, why is there religion? Read More

Five Ways To Read More This Year

One of the primary ways we can better serve those we lead is through the habit of reading. Read More

Post Seminary Reading Plan: Church History

One of the secrets to being a competent church historian is – to state the obvious – knowing what makes a competent historian in general. So I always recommend that those interested in the subject also read more widely in the discipline to keep their minds sharp. Read More

How Belief in Regenerate Church Membership Should Impact Preaching

“Wesley, if six weeks in one place, would preach myself and the people dead.” Read More

How to Better Use Video in Your Church

In my previous post, I discussed why your church should be utilizing video more in 2018. I also promised that I would write about some ways we are seeing churches successfully use video. Here are six such ways.... Read More

Why Kids Should NOT Sit Still at Church

More and more evidence is proving that kids are more attentive and learn better when they are allowed to move. Read More

Adults are also more attentive and learn better when they are allowed to move.

No, I Don’t Want to 'Shut Down an Atheist in 15 Seconds Flat!'

We need to stop celebrating the Christian shut-down expert. Jesus gave us a better way. Read More

Tragic High School Shooting in Benton, Kentucky - UPDATED

Only few weeks ago I attended a church safety meeting in the auditorium of Marshall County High School at which this shooting occurred. I am posting a link to the NPR article which gives details of the shooting. I am also posting the CNN news report. Bailey Holt, a 15-year-old girl, and Preston Cope, a 15-year-old boy, were killed in the shooting. Bailey died at the scene; Preston, of his wounds later at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.  At least 17 others were injured in this attack; 12 sustained gunshot wounds. The shooter, a 15-year old male student at the high school, was apprehended by the police and is faced with murder and attempted murder charges. We do not know yet what prompted him to attack his fellow students.

This is the second tragic high school shooting in the Jackson Purchase. The first occurred at Heath High School in West Paducah on December 1, 1997. 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of praying students, killing three and injuring five more. Marshall County High School is about 35 miles southeast of Heath High School.

I am requesting your prayers for the victims of this shooting and their families, for the students, faculty, and staff of Marshall County High School and their families,for the members of the affected communities here in westernmost Kentucky, and for the shooter and his family.

Benton, Kentucky is the home of St. Mark's Anglican Church where I am, next to our bishop, the Right Rev. William Millsaps, the closest person officially to pastor of the church, the licensed lay reader in temporary pastoral charge of the church. I have made the same request to the members of St. Mark's church family and I have notified Ms. Patricia Greer, head principal of Marshall High School, that we are praying for the students, faculty, and staff of the school and their families and offered whatever help that we might be able to provide.

I will notify readers of further developments as I learn of them.

I greatly appreciate your prayers and whatever support that you may be able to offer the school.

Robin G. Jordan

Image: Yelp.Com

20 Truths from Supernatural Power for Everyday People

Jared C. Wilson offers encouragement for experiencing God's extraordinary spirit in our ordinary lives.

For those who struggle to experience the victory promised to believers, Jared C. Wilson provides clarity in Supernatural Power for Everyday People by highlighting the work of the Holy Spirit and offering practical disciplines. Below are 20 Truths from the book, which releases today. Read More

Tuesday's Catch: "Four Keys to a Successful Church Year in 2018" and Much More

Four Keys to a Successful Church Year in 2018 - Rainer on Leadership #400

We celebrate our 400th episode by discussing four keys for how churches can be successful in their ministry this year. Read More

Ministering to Millennials in a Secular Age

Most analysis of millennials likes to focus on what makes them distinct. But a key point to keep in mind is that, in many respects, they’re just like everyone else—but more so. In other words, they reject major trends of the last couple of generations, simply a bit farther down the line of historical and logical progression. Like everybody else, they live in the epistemological and moral atmosphere Charles Taylor dubs the “Nova Effect” (A Secular Age, 299–321). Read More

Useful insights into the Millennial Generation and their cultural milieu.

Is Your Next Multisite Campus Online?—Part 1

The largest neighborhood in the world is at your fingertips. Millions who live there need a church like yours. Read More

10 Tips for an Effective Online Campus—Part 2

In Part 1, we took a closer look at expanding your church through an online campus. Expanding online is a great way to expand. Read More

You Don’t Have to Be an Alpha Male to Plant a Church

It’s possible for a person to acquire information, receive diplomas, have ministry skills, be a type-A, magnetic individual, and yet not be mature. When people are put into leadership without having been assessed at the heart level, it is deeply dangerous. Read More

Quick Keys to Effective Communication

Try these simple steps to evaluate—and elevate—your preaching. Read More

Confused by All the Attacks on the Bible? Here Are Three Categories to Help You

When it comes to the truth of the Bible, our world has found plenty of reasons to reject it. We are bombarded with a dizzying variety of objections. So much so, that the average believer is quickly overwhelmed.

It’s a bit like being in a fight with multiple opponents at the same time. You might have a chance in a one-on-one contest, but it is disorientating when punches are coming from all sides. You can’t block them all. Read More

Died: Chuck Murphy, Visionary Who Gave Conservative Anglicans a New Home

Founder of Anglican Mission in the Americas partnered with Rwanda to create US alternative to The Episcopal Church. Read More

Bolivia’s President Revokes Evangelism Restrictions

Evo Morales announces on national TV that controversial criminal code will be scrapped. Read More

The Secret Small Churches Know Best

Most Christian churches in America are small. In 2012, the National Congregations Study found that the median Sunday morning attendance for churches in the United States was 75 people. The study also found that 43% of American churches had fewer than 50 regular participants, 67% had fewer than 100 regular participants, and 87% had fewer than 250.

Many of these small churches are located in small places. Sociologist Robert Wuthnow notes in his book Small-Town America that “there are more churches per capita in less populated areas than there are in more heavily populated places.” A recent Barna study found that in my own region of New England, 40% of churchgoing Christians live in small towns or rural areas (though, of course, some may commute to urban or suburban churches). Read More

4 Tips for Casting a Yearly Vision

What aspect is God leading your church to grow in this year? Maybe there are numerous aspects that come to mind, but which one rises to the top? One of the keys to figuring this out is going to be hearing from God.

Times of prayer and God’s Word are the most important part of discerning a goal, but after you know what it is what do you do with it? Understanding God’s truth without effectively applying it is a disservice to our churches. Casting a yearly vision can help to drive them toward the goal.

Here are four tips that have helped me in creating a yearly vision for our church. Read More

Learning From Those Who Pray All Night

One Sunday morning, I picked up this paper from the pew at our church. It is the schedule for a Friday night vigil that had happened just a couple of days before.

We didn't attend this event. The idea of staying up all night to pray, worship, and study Scripture feels like a form of torture to us. But in East African Christian culture, it is an assumption. Some churches do it every month. Some do it every week. Gil has taught at a few of these, where he agreed to come from 10 pm till 1 am. That was his limit.

So I read over this schedule in awe. To most American Christians, this practice may sound crazy. But African Christians will explain that they are simply following the ways of Jesus, who many times spent the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12). Sure, it takes discipline, but it's a great way to grow in godliness and faithfulness. So, they argue, why shouldn't we follow Jesus' example? Read More

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11 Reasons Church Leaders Struggle with Prayer
Eleven Specific Ways to Pray for Your Pastor

One year at Christ Church we held an all night vigil on Easter Eve. Different individuals and groups from the parish signed up to pray at different times throughout the night. We concluded the vigil with a Eucharist and baptisms at sunrise on Easter Morn. It was the closest that we came to praying all night.

The 5 Styles of Preachers - Which Are You?

If you wanted to write the great American novel, you’d probably read a lot of Hemmingway or Twain. If you wanted to be a great painter, you’d study the masterpieces of Rembrandt or Picasso.

And if you want to be a great preacher, it’s no different: you’ll study the masters.

As I continue to grow in my preaching ability, I have made a habit of listening to a wide variety of preachers. And I’ve noticed something. Although every preacher is different, each one tends to fit into one of five “preaching styles.” Read More

Getting Theology from the Text

With a new year, we yet again try to read through our entire Bible. We have plans, strategies, apps, blogs, and even groups that assist us in making the journey through the Scriptures. Yet, we struggle. Why is that? Of course, discipline plays a major part. However, we can often get bogged down because there are parts of the Bible that puzzle us. As people often say to me, “I just don’t understand what I’m reading.”

Now what do we mean by this? To be clear, we do understand some things. We know what happened in the stories, the names in a genealogy, the descriptions within a prophecy, the processes in the sacrificial system, or the regulations within the law. We understand what the text says. That’s not our dilemma. Our dilemma is that we’re not certain why it is there. Because of this, we start skimming (or even skipping) passages we can’t figure out and eventually, we stop reading our Bibles altogether.

So sometimes we become frustrated in our devotions because we know all Scripture is profitable (cf. 2 Tim 3:16) but can’t seem to easily identify how certain texts are profitable. In the end, we are wondering, “Is there really theology in every passage of the Bible and if so, how do we find it?” That’s the key question. Read More

Why You Should Keep Using Hymns in Your Worship Services

I love old hymns. I keep a stack of hymnals on my nightstand and have an ever-growing collection in my library. I cut my teeth on Charles Wesley and John Rippon. I hope to write academically on the pastoral theology of hymns. I even have a dog named Watts.

While I certainly don’t think that historic hymns are the only thing we should sing in corporate worship, I am concerned that omitting older hymns in our gatherings silences the rich voices of church history. Some churches seem uninterested in any song that is more than two years old, much less two hundred years. Yes, the church will continue to write and sing new songs (Psalm 96:1), but it is also good and helpful for us to sing old songs. Read More

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Parents, Take Note of the Spiritual Practices Common to Kids Who Flourish As Adults

Parents, don’t take the biblical proverb “train up a child” and treat it like a promise, assuming that if you do everything right in your parenting, your children will turn out right. Proverbs are general truths, not specific promises. Besides, when we consider the overall context of the Bible, we see how counterproductive it is to try to train our kids to trust in God if what we model for them is that we trust in our training.

But even though we place our hope for our children in God, not in our training, we recognize how this proverb teaches us to take our training of children seriously—both where we guide them andalso how we shepherd their hearts. And part of that shepherding and guidance includes the effect of a family’s culture.

A new LifeWay Research study surveyed 2,000 Protestant and non-denominational churchgoers who attend church at least once a month and have adult children ages 18 to 30. The goal of the project was to discover what parenting practices were common in the families where young adults remained in the faith. What affected their moral and spiritual development? What factors stood out?

You might expect that family worship services would play a major part, or the simple habit of eating meals together around the table. Perhaps you’d expect a Christian school kid to be more likely to follow Jesus than a public school kid. Everyone has ideas about what practices are formative on children.

The research indicated that children who remained faithful as young adults (identifying as a Christian, sharing their faith, remaining in church, reading the Bible, and so on) grew up in homes where certain practices were present. Read More

Don't Just Stand There, Say Something: Intention vs. Action in Evangelism

Simply praying for the lost is not enough.

The church in the West lives in exciting and challenging times. People are truly considering what it looks like to be a missionary in their cultural context now more than in the past 100 years. This has been a great thing for the church, and a large part of this new movement is because pastors are getting excited about missional ministry.

They are leading their churches to think and pray about how to contextualize the gospel in an increasingly post-Christian culture.

However, among the pastors of this new movement, there is concerning statistical and anecdotal evidence that the talk of ‘being missional’ is replacing the actual practice of mission as it pertains to sharing our faith with our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family. I am convinced that the pastor drives both the intention and the action behind evangelism in the church.

Not too long ago I shared statistics and thoughts on the difference between intention and action regarding evangelistic efforts with Influence Magazine.Read More

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Intention Versus Action in Evangelism

Reaching College Towns and College Students

The city is a strategic place to plant and cultivate gospel-centered churches. I am grateful for the church-planting efforts in urban centers. I am also thankful for the renewed emphasis on church planting in other places such as small towns.1 From time to time, I even hear about the importance of churches in university towns—but not often enough in my estimation.

Colleges and universities can be found everywhere. New York has several universities and colleges, and so does rural Iowa. But there are some communities that are particularly defined by the presence of one or more university campuses, even beyond their being defined as urban, suburban, or rural.

I happen to live in one such community, as I pastor a church that is between the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and Duke University. We are also attuned to the presence of North Carolina State, Meredith College, North Carolina Central University, Elon University, and several other nearby colleges. This area, the Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill Triangle, is not a huge metroplex like Boston, San Francisco, or New York, so the university ethos of our area is more than a minor descriptor—it is a central reality.

Places such as this are important to consider when we look at the practice and the future of church planting. I thought I would reflect on the lessons and joys that have gripped me in the blessed endeavor of planting a church in a community defined by a college or university. Three aspects of pastoring a collegiate community have surprised me: preaching, multigenerational influence, and the art of sticking to the first things. Read More

4 Major Reasons Churches Fail to Reach People - Upcoming Webinar

Do you know what changes your church needs to make in order to reach more people in its community? Register Now

Sticky Church Vision: a 4-step Process that Works

I’ve served in churches for over 35 years and I’m still learning how to craft a sticky church vision. In my current church I delivered our vision for my first year after being here for only three months. That may seem quick, but I sensed it was well received. In this post I explain the the four steps I incorporated that created greater involvement, buy in, and spiritual success. Read More

4 Reasons for Pastors to Guard Their Hearts

Discouragement is not an emotion with which I am very familiar, but when a scandal comes out in the church, I feel it greatly. In fact, at times I have found myself not wanting to check social media, dreading to learn about the next scandal. When they come out, it is easy to find ourselves asking, “How could he…?”.

Yet, upon sober reflection, we are reminded of how dangerous our sin nature truly is; and that Total Depravity is not just a theological point, but a malignancy within each one of us. Therefore, we must intentionally guard our hearts, and one way of doing that is to meditate on the catastrophic ruin that accompanies sexual sin. Read More

The Best Preacher in the World

Every church needs two preachers. We need a human preacher, one who is visible, audible, tangible. But we also need a divine preacher, one that is invisible, inaudible, and intangible. I’m speaking of the Holy Spirit, without whom the work of the human preacher is in vain. Read More

Why Worship Pastors and Lead Pastors Should Meet Weekly

Every Monday at 4:00 p.m., I meet with both my worship pastors. We review the previous Sunday. We discuss the upcoming Sunday. We laugh together. We hold each other accountable. Sometimes I sing their worship set back to them because I have the voice of a senile cat and it annoys them.

This meeting is critical for several reasons. Read More

When People Leave: The Private Pain Of The Small Church Pastor

Even if the church is large and growing, it can be hard when people leave. But when the church is small, each loss is much more painful.

It’s hard when people leave a church.

It’s hard to leave. It’s hard being left.

Most who leave don’t make that decision lightly. They deal with some serious pain when they finally make the decision to go. As a pastor I’m more familiar with seeing good people leave the church than being the person who goes through the pain of leaving, so that’s what I want to address in this post.

If you’ve been a pastor for several years, you’ve had to deal with your share of such departures. Each one hurts. It’s especially hard when those leaving are long-term members.

The collective pain from years of those departures can wear a pastor down.

Even if the church is large and growing, it can be hard when people leave. But when the church is small, each loss is much more painful.

First, there’s the math. The percentage loss is much higher than in a bigger church. When a small church loses just one family it can mean massive changes in entire ministries.

Second – and most difficult – it’s not just a drop in attendance, tithers or volunteers. It’s the loss of people we know. People we’ve invested in. People we’re friends with. And that hurts. Read More

Should You Count Online Viewers as Worship Attendees? Rainer on Leadership #399

After the discussion surrounding a blog post earlier this week, we look at the pertinent question surrounding the topic of the internet church: should you count them in your weekly worship number? Listen Now

After reading the comments left in response to this podcast, I think that the concept of the core, the congregation, and the crowd, which Rick Warren introduces in The Purpose-Driven Church might prove useful in the discussion of the pros and cons of counting online viewers as worship attendees. Warren visualizes the core, the congregation, and the crowd as a series of concentric circles with the core at the center, the congregation encircling the core, and the crowd encircling the congregation.

Warren also describes the core, the congregation, and the crowd in terms of level of commitment with the core representing the highest level of commitment and the crowd the lowest level of commitment with the congregation somewhere in between in its level of commitment. I think that the core, the congregation, and the crowd may also be described in terms of degree of physical attendance and levels of engagement with the core representing the highest degree of physical attendance and level of engagement and the crowd the lowest and the congregation again somewhere in between.

These three groups do not have rigid boundaries and an individual may be in transition from one group to another.

In this model those who view a church’s digital worship services or listen to its podcasts would be located in the outer circle, in the crowd. We should track them but not count them as worship attendees.

People in a church’s crowd may move one of two ways – inward and to the point of becoming a part of the congregation and eventually part of the core or outward and to a point where they take little or no interest in the practice of any form of religion or spirituality. They may drift to the crowd of another church or even to the fringe of a body or organization of individuals practicing another form of religion or spirituality. They may join the growing segment of the population that views religion and spirituality in highly individualistic terms and dismisses the need to practice their beliefs as a part of an organized religion and/or a physical community. Due to their individualistic view of religion or spirituality, their beliefs are likely to be syncretic, blending Christian and non-Christian beliefs. They may have selected a touch of this and a large dab of that from the pallet of religious and spiritual beliefs that may be found online.

It is much easier to hold a mixture of beliefs when an individual is not a part of an organized religion and/or a physical community that holds its members accountable for what they believe and reinforces and strengthens orthodox beliefs while discouraging heterodox or heretical beliefs. This may explain at least in part why a growing segment of the population is rejecting organized religion and/or physical community for a highly idiosyncratic belief system, one peculiar to a particular individual and not shared with others, and for virtual community.

One of the dangers of counting virtual or internet attendance as if it was physical attendance is that we are letting a segment of the population that is strongly influenced by our increasingly secular culture in many areas of its life and which may have little or no experience of physical community and its benefits define community for the church. We live in age in which churches are showing more and more the influence of that culture while at the same time appearing oblivious to its influence. Virtual community is not the same as physical community and considering them to be on the same level is problematic. Virtue community lacks dimensions that are found only in physical community. When we equate the two, we underestimate the importance and value of these dimensions.

What I have observed on the campus of my university and elsewhere is a younger generation that, while connected digitally, is often socially isolated and frequently has difficulty in relating to others, peers as well as older adults. in face-to-face interactions. I have also observe a lack of empathy and a lack of guardedness or restraint in expressing antipathy and hostility. Internet bullying is a manifestation of the latter as is flaming in which many people team up to attack a single victim.

When an individual is a member of a physical community, the group dynamics that are operative in that community may help that individual to not only become less socially-isolated and able to relate better to others but become more empathetic and more guarded or restrained in their expression of negative feelings toward others. All of these behaviors are desirable in a follower of Jesus Christ.

8 Things Jesus Never Said

Jesus said a lot of things throughout the Bible, but there are also a lot of things he didn’t. Here are eight things Jesus never said. Read More

We need reminders of what Jesus did not say as well as reminders of what he did say.

What Happens When We Don't Listen Well

I’ve said it before on this site: I’m not the best listener. In fact, I’ve written about ways I could listen better and lead better by listening. I’m learning in my struggle that not listening can cost me more than I should want to pay. When we don’t listen well.... Read More

The Peculiarity of Early Christian Worship (or How Early Christians Managed to Offend Just about Everybody)

The ruins of  Whitby Abbey

“What in the world is this Christianity thing?”

A phrase like this would not have been unusual among Romans in the first couple of centuries. In the eyes of the average citizen, Christians were an odd bunch. And what made them odd was not just what they believed. It was how (and who) they worshiped.

To be sure, worship was a big deal in the ancient world. The ancient Greco-Roman culture was very religious. Even more to the point, they were publicly religious. Worship rituals and activities were visible for all to see.

And it was precisely here that this “Christianity thing” was found to be strange and unusual. Indeed, Christian worship seemed to hack off just about everybody. Here’s why.... Read More

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R.C. Sproul’s Warning Concerning Prayer

I need to sound a warning. In our day, many people have rediscovered the power of prayer. This is a good thing; there’s nothing more thrilling in the Christian life than to pray specifically, to express a desire, to make a request or a petition to God, and then see Him answer that request specifically and clearly. It’s nice to receive what we pray for, but the added benefit is the assurance we gain that God hears our prayers and answers them. However, some carry this to an extreme and jump to the conclusion that prayer is something of a magic wand, that if we do prayer with the right sound, in the right manner, with the right phrases, and in the right posture, God is obligated to answer. The idea seems to be that we have the capacity to coerce God Almighty into doing for us whatever it is we want Him to do, but God is not a celestial bellhop who is on call every time we press the button, just waiting to serve us our every request. Read More