Saturday, July 08, 2023

Saturday Lagniappe: 'Christians Who Feel They Don’t Need Church Anymore' And More


Christians Who Feel They Don’t Need Church Anymore
Watching services online, listening to sermon podcasts, or reading Christian books, and/or worshiping alone or as a family is not a substitute for active participation in the life, ministry, and worship of a local church. These activities may meet a need when circumstances prevent us from taking an active part in the life, ministry, and worship of a local church but they cannot replace such involvement.

7 Guiding Principles for Advancing Peace 
How can pastors and other Christ-centered leaders become part of the solution rather than perpetuate the problem of painful polarization in our country and within the churches we lead? How can we instruct others through our own example? Toward that end, consider these seven principles for advancing peace.

7 Attributes That Demonstrate The Real Strength Of A Leader
What demonstrates the real strength of leadership? We know things like decision-making, strategy, and execution require strength from a leader, and those elements are vital to realizing your vision, but what puts strength in a leader?

Do People "Just Not Value the Word Anymore?"
Preachers really need to get to know the people to whom they are preaching and to prepare sermons for them rather tha preaching to a congregation of their imagination. Otherwise, they ru thhe risk of not preaching to their congregation where its members are spiritually.

Big churches sound alike, little churches are the 'Wild West' of music, study finds
Worship professor Will Bishop said that focusing on the most popular worship songs can miss what churches are actually singing.

Focus on the Offense
The church plays way too much defense when it comes to teenagers.

11 Ways to Recruit Volunteers That Stick
The two most common complaints from children’s ministers everywhere are along the lines of either “I need more volunteers” or “How will I ever get my existing volunteers to stick around and do what they’ve committed to do?” The short answer to both is: Do your advance work upfront.

10 Volunteer Missteps That Can Cost You New Volunteers
These 10 recruiting missteps can cost you new volunteers. Here’s how to avoid them.

LGBTQ+ Americans are more religious than our Supreme Court battles let on
Religion and queerness make strange bedfellows, but they are not as hostile as we may think.

Evangelical Covenant Church drops congregation over LGBT 'policies and practices'
For the second time in its history, the Evangelical Covenant Church has formally removed a congregation from its membership over policies that affirm same-sex marriage and invite LGBT individuals to hold leadership positions in the church.

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