Thursday's Catch: 'Creating a Culture of Inviting in Your Church: Four Key Issues' And More

Creating a Culture of Inviting in Your Church: Four Key Issues

What are churches doing that have a healthy culture of inviting? Thom looks at some of their key strategies.

How Many Guests Does a Church Need to Have Each Week to Grow?
Most of us would affirm the importance of reaching community members who will eventually attend our services. Thom looks from a different perspective. How many guests per week would be considered “good”?

Greening Your Putting Away
“God so loved the world…” Most often Christians hear John 3:16 in relationship to personal salvation. But look again at what God loves enough to send God's own Son—the world! All of creation, not just humans. If God so loved the world, then we need to also. Choose at least one aspect of creation and love it through your action and advocacy.

Making The Hard Changes In Your Life
While you can change anything for a day or a week, lasting change requires something more. The Bible gives four principles for lasting change. Do what God’s Word says, and you can make even the hardest changes in your life.

How to Grow Through Change
How can you make the most of the change you’re facing in ministry right now? Here are eight principles for growth through change.

Should Pastors Ask for Prayer Intercessors in Their Church for Themselves?
The answer to the question is an emphatic “yes.” Thom shares why.

Retention, Succession and Stability in Youth Leadership
...whenever there is a problem or transition among the leadership this will most acutely affect your current year 11s and 12s. You will see the fall out on this demographic first because they are at an age where many of them are driving and are often granted more freedom in other ways, so they can decide for themselves to go somewhere else if they wish.

How to Cultivate and Develop Student Leaders
f faithful youth leaders want students to become disciples of Jesus who go and make disciples, this also implies that we influence and develop them to become leaders in the church and the world for the Kingdom of God. But how can we do this? We can develop leaders in our student ministry in these two ways: casting a biblical vision of leadership and cultivating a system for leadership.

The New Year Is Time for Goal Oriented Groups
Here are three tips that Kiersten Telzerow has found to be helpful for growing and strengthening our small groups, especially when a new year is right around the corner.

Top 10 Ideas for a First Small Group Meeting
"Any time you’re starting a new small group meeting, a great first meeting is very important," writes Mark Howell. "I include these ideas on a simple handout inside every new small group meeting leader’s packet."

Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions
When we shift our thinking from self-focused New Year’s resolutions to God-centered disciplines, our priorities shift as well.

Six Principles for Lasting Change
Romans 12:1-11 gives us six important principles for making a lasting change in our lives.

Don’t let the war tear apart the tapestry of faith that makes America strong
This is not the time for faith communities to retreat into ourselves.

While the war between Hamas and Israel may be contributing to antisemitism and Islamophobia in the United States, it is not the only factor. Among the other factors are social media and the 2024 presidential election

Persecution expected to rise in 2024
Persecution against Christians is expected to rise in several countries in the coming year, according to Release International. The organisation's new Persecution Trends report, released this week, warns of an intensfication of persecution in a number of countries, including Nigeria, India, Pakistan and China in 2024.