Tuesday's Catch: 'Winning the New and Old Front Doors' And More

Winning the New and Old Front Doors

Decades ago, the church doors were where people would check out a local church. On rare occasions, maybe the church had a radio or small market television ministry where nonmembers could connect to the church. But today, every church leader, through podcasts and social media availability, has a larger ministry footprint outside the geographical bounds of the church campus. So how does a church differentiate between the church down the street and them?

Seven Reasons Church Revitalization Begins with Me as a Church Leader
Most churches in North America need revitalization. Our Church Answers team seeks to offer support, encouragement, resources, and conversations to help church leaders move in that direction. At the same time, though, any true revitalization begins with those of us who lead those churches. Here’s why....

Churches that do not need revitalization, even replanting, form a small minority of churches in the United States and Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses of local churches in North America and accelerated the decline of a number of local churches. A growing number of local churches have been forced to close their doors. The pandemic was a wakeup call that church leaders would be very foolish to ignore.

One OTHER Reason to Read the Bible This Year
We know as Christians that there’s not a better thing we can do than to immerse ourselves in God’s Word, and the first of the year is a great time to try and incorporate that discipline into our lives. There are all kinds of reasons why this is a good and right thing for us to do, but the main one is that if you read the Bible every day, then you know you are going to grow spiritually....

How Should I Dispose of a Bible?
How do you dispose of a worn-out Bible? Is there a protocol, like with a flag?

My inclination is to seal the old Bible in an air-tight container that may prevent further deterioration of the Bible and bury it in a place where a future generation might discover it and read it. We do not know what the future holds and a time may come when the discover and reading of that Bible may be invaluable. God might use it to initiate a spiritual resurgence in North America.

The Speck You See in Their Eye Might Be the Exact Log in Your Eye
It is not uncommon for people to project onto someone else their own flaws and shortcomings. It is one way of avoiding them. A good question to ask ourselves when we notice what we perceive to be a flaw or shortcoming in someone else is to ask ourselves whether we might also suffer from this flaw or shortcoming and to ask others to share their observations with us. Everyone has blind spots, flaws and shortcomings that they do not recognize, which are hid from them but not from others.

Why Christians Should Not Get Angry with the Lost
There is a kind of Christianity that is angry with the sinful world and rails against the evils of our time. It is angry because it does not grasp the human condition: By nature, we are blind, bound, and dead...Blaring the horns of condemnation may give vent to Christian frustrations, but it does nothing to solve the human problem.