In the lead-up to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Pastor Rick Warren has made it known that he will challenge the SBC Executive Committee’s decision to disfellowship Saddleback Church. Most recently, Warren expressed his views in an open letter “to Southern Baptists.”
Warren argues that the debate is far larger than what might happen to the church he founded.
Could the SBC Learn From the Christian and Missionary Alliance’s Brand New Position on Women’s Ordination: Unity in the Midst of Differences?
Wile the Baptism Faith and Message affirms the autonomy of the local Baptist church, self-proclaimed "conservatives" in the Southernn Baptist Convention appear set on limiting that autonomy, which is fundamental principle of Baptist polity and which includes a wide latitude in the interpretation of Scripture.
Christian and Missionary Alliance Will Ordain Women
Ministers may now use the title “pastor” regardless of gender.
How to Make People Feel “Seen” Rather than “Watched”
Michael J. Kruger offers his reflections on two different approaches to ministry and the key differences between these approaches.
This article in my opinion is a timely one. A small but extremely vocal group of self-identified Christians on social media show a proounced tendency to demonize anyone who holds a different opinion from their own.50 Trauma-Informed Ideas Your Church Can Put Into Practice
The ideas encompass various aspects of church life, including worship, pastoral care, small group activities, and community outreach.
The Church Growth Metric Nobody is Talking About
How many has your church sent out?
3 Reminders for Pastors During the Summer Slump
As a song that has for decades been blasted through car stereos this time of year has said, “School’s out for summer.” For students, this is great news. Parents tend to have mixed feelings. But for pastors, it often portends the dreaded summer slump.
At St. Michael's Mandeville a church that I helped to plant in the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana we decided not to give the choir a vacation during the summer. We formed a summer choir from choir members who were not going out of town and anyone who was interested in joining the choir. We had choir rehearsals on Sunday mornings and introduced some new hymns and service music during the summer as well as led the congregational singing and performed special music. Our Sunday morning attendance did not slump. It actually picked up. One of the dynamics of the summer slump is self-fulfilling prophesy. If you believe your church will experience a slump in attendance in the summer and convey that expectation to the congregation, guess what? It will! New families will often move to a new community when school is out in their old community and church-going families will frequently be on the lookout for a new church. Rather than scaling back during the summer, it is a good idea to schedule events and activities which are not volunteer intensive but are attractive to newcomers to the community.VOICES: Why 1 Timothy 2:12 shouldn't be used to ban women ministers
Should we use 1 Timothy 2:12 as the proof text on the topic of women Bible teachers?
Visual Storytelling – The Power of “Show, Don’t Tell”
Jesus taught by leveraging the power of visual storytelling. He taught with images that stuck with his audience, images as powerful today as they were over 2,000 years ago. As a Sunday school teacher or volunteer, you want to teach with maximum impact. So, has your Sunday school discovered the power of visual storytelling?
8 Ways to Encourage Word-Driven Conversations
Bible study of the first century was all about community and it was just as integral to disciple-making then as it is today! In fact, the New Testament was written to be read aloud and lived out together in the emerging communities of believers who met in temple courts and house churches....
Why the Great Commission Should Compel Pastors to Preach on Money
When pastors teach people how to obey the biblical commands about money, they are not self-serving; they are mission-serving.
Since the pandemic, a new sport has taken off in popularity—one that seems to interest all generations: pickleball. Lee Chinnis, support pastor at Charleston Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, took up the game a year ago and has since used it as an opportunity to create stronger community within his church and community.
‘A difficult moment’: 60 Michigan churches leave UMC amid LGBT schism
Sixty Michigan congregations have disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church, joining thousands of churches that have departed the mainline Protestant denomination.
While more than 4,600 churches may seem like a lot of churches, it is less than 1/6 of the total number of UMC churches in the United States, which numbered 30,543 churches in 2020. A number of videos posted on YouTube compare the number of disaffiliating churches with the small Protestant denominations in an attempt to emphasize of the number of disaffiliating churches but these comparisons are misleading as they do not mention the overall size of the UMC. While it is anticipated that more churches will leave the UMC, what we are presently seeing cannot be characterized as a full-blown schism.
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