Monday's Catch: Is the Church about to Have a "Giant Rummage Sale"? And More

Churches Must Adapt to Historic Disruption

There are moments in history when the world is shaken to its very core. 2020 feels like one of those moments. Amid the backdrop of pandemics, economic collapse, climate change, civil and denominational unrest, we may also be witness to one of the most significant changes to mainline denominations in the United States. A disruption that might alter the steady decline of mainline denominations. The move of faith communities online. Read More

This article, while written for United Methodist churches, is also relevant to churches of other denominations and networks.

Church Website Objectives – Making Your Church Website Work For You

You’re in a meeting with your leaders, and everyone is in agreement that 1st Church of Smallchurchville (Don’t be offended, I pastor a small church) needs to come into the 21st century. But the haven’t given consideration to any church website objectives. So you go out and find a free website builder like Wix or WordPress.com or any of the other numerous free sites out there, and you put up a website with your church name, address, and service times. You are all ready for the flood of traffic that is going to come to your church because of being on the web. Unfortunately, all you see is empty pews. Why? Read More

Five Principles to Get Church Members Out of the Committee and Into the Community

I continue to be amazed, if not frustrated, at the amount of time church members spend in committee meetings. I often find churches are spending ten times more hours in committee meetings than Great Commission activities. Committee meetings are not inherently bad, but they have become sad substitutes for ministry in many churches. Just today, I met virtually with six staff members of a church. They were lamenting the time consumption and frequent divisiveness of their committee system. They asked me about guidelines for church committees. As I have with other church leaders, I shared these five principles. Read More

Your Sermon or Lesson Is No Better than Its Conclusion

I’ve heard a lot of good sermons or Bible teachings that tend to wane toward the end. No matter how strong the rest of the sermon or lesson is, a poorly crafted conclusion can hinder the entire message. Here are some reasons why we need to spend more time on our conclusions—and tomorrow, I will deal with the importance of introductions. Read More

How to Expose the Idols in Your Life

Few stories in the Old Testament tend to make us feel more superior to the Israelites than the tale of the golden calf in Exodus 32:1–6. How backwards they must have been to think you could make a god out of metal! How silly to think bringing offerings to a statue would bring peace, joy, and happiness! The entire story is almost too absurd to believe. Or at least, until we examine our own idols. Read More