Tuesday's Catch: The Cultural Captivity of the Church and More

The Church Today in Cultural Captivity

Christian apologist Os Guinness says that when we look at evangelicalism today, it is the world and the spirit of the age that are dominant, not the Word and Spirit. The church in the U.S. is strong numerically, but weak because it is worldly. The church in America is in the world and of the world; and as a result, it is in profound cultural captivity. Read More

Six Cultural Pastoral Issues Where Pastors Often Struggle [Podcast]

Pastors are faced with different ethical and moral issues in society on an almost daily basis. In this podcast Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe highlight six major cultural issues facing pastors and churches today. Listen Now

A Surprising Way to Love Your Neighbor

The practice of loving our neighbors can be beautifully varied—caring for the sick, showing hospitality, volunteering to serve the city, providing for the needy, and more. There’s no one-size-fits-all for practicing neighbor love. In fact, our various contexts should give rise to various forms. But I want to suggest one significant, surprising way we can love our neighbors: church planting. Read More

8 Simple (but not easy) Rules for Movement: Part 4 - Live Off of Less

Leaders must continually evaluate what they can do without. Read More

Calvinism 101 with Kevin DeYoung [Podcast]

Kevin DeYoung unpacks Calvinism, discussing the famous five points summarized in the TULIP acrostic, the problem with cage-stage Calvinists, and the one question he’d ask Arminians to consider. Listen Now

3 Church Culture Shifts to Keep Young Parents Spiritually Engaged

Consider these three culture shifts every church can make to help Jesus-loving parents build a gospel-centered culture in their homes that give both the parents and their children a better opportunity to grow in grace and live on mission with Jesus—while staying engaged in local church life. Read More

Is Your Youth Ministry Stuck Thinking Like Blockbuster?

Blockbuster missed the cues that they were given and it cost them everything. Read More

Churches may be missing the cues in other areas beside youth ministry. The temptation to live in the past and not to face up to reality is a strong one.

The Right Culture for Community

So many churches are trying to get larger. They put a lot of time, energy, and money into their pursuit of getting bigger. The church needs to make getting small a priority. Church-health proponents are reminding pastors that the bigger the church gets, the smaller it has to get. In our research survey two-thirds of pastors told us they believe discipleship happens most effectively either one-on-one or in a group of fewer than five. Read More

Eight Strategies for Guiding People to the Right Group

What is a good way to guide people to a group where they’ll stick? The research from Transformational Groups tells us that people in groups pray more, give more, serve more, and “stick” more than people who are not involved in a group study. Guiding people to the right group is so important, and there are several ways churches can do this with great intentionality. Read More