Feeling the divide between leading a church and the community you serve? Discover how we can bridge this growing trust gap.
Rejection: How if Affects Leaders
In this post Charles Stone unpack the painful thing called rejection.
With a final flourish, United Methodist conference eliminates all anti-LGBTQ policies
The reversals came in the wake of a schism that saw the departure of a quarter of its US churches — more than 7,600 congregations — over the past five years.
How the recent decisions of the UMC General Conference will affect the local UMC church remain to be seen. Based upon the experience of the Episcopal Church decisions made at the denominational level or judicatorial level, while hailed by the denomination or judicatory's progressive wing, can have a substantial negative impact at the local level. The events of 2003 seriously damaged the Diocese of Louisiana, resulting in the closure of a once thriving church plant, a serious drop in attendance at a second thriving church plant, the reversion of a parish to mission status, and significant drops in attendance at many churches across the diocese. A number of clergy and congregations would disaffilate from the Epscopal Church and eventually join the newly formed second Anglican Church in North America. The diocese has never fuly recovered from the fallout of these events.And also with the UMC: Where doctrine ends and culture begins
Not surprisingly, some actions taken by The United Methodist Church’s General Conference last week are being characterized as unbiblical by those who believe they alone hold the only correct interpretation of the Bible.
Americans significantly overstate their rate of church attendance, concludes a paper published this month by a University of Chicago business school professor National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Devin Pope reviewed cellphone geodata from over two million Americans to examine their behavior with respect to religion. Pope concluded that only 5 percent of those surveyed attend services each week, and only 21 per cent attend each month – based on their location on Sunday mornings as determined by their cell phone location.
Membership decline steepens
The COVID-19 pandemic saw a significant decline in church attendance, marking a “radical discontinuity” even with previous downward trends, the Anglican Church of Canada’s statistics officer says. Canon Neil Elliot presented data from 2022 diocesan returns in a January report sent to bishops and diocesan executive officers based on parish statistics. The statistics officer said he did not collect numbers in 2020 and 2021 since COVID-19 shut down churches for much of that time.
Ministering to Moms in Your Congregation
Each church is different, and its leaders should determine the best approaches to ministering to the moms of their specific congregations.
A 16-Point Checklist for Retiring Pastors
This 16-point checklist, therefore, serves as a reminder of items to consider. It is not a one-size-fits-all guideline. It is also specifically written for pastors and other vocational ministers. Since I have a finance background, I’ve probably spoken to a few hundred pastors about retirement over the past few years. I hope this checklist covers many of your questions.
Are You Living Out These Truths?
From the beginning, the Lord’s people talk a better game than we live. So many biblical truths look good on paper and sound great when we’re spouting them. And yet, judging by the way we live, the Lord’s people probably do not believe the following....
Short-Term Missions on a Shoestring Budget
Is there a way to engage in short-term missions in a faithful, helpful, and still budget-friendly way? Jason Sevile think so. Here are five suggestions for those on a shoestring budget.
What Our Evangelism Is Missing
The mysteries of the gospel are deep and rich and not easily summarized in an article. But nevertheless, here are a few key things we regularly seem to miss about Jesus’ ways of life and preaching.
Also see: Who Really Speaks for African United Methodists – 'R'hetoricAmericans exaggerate their frequency of worship attendance, study finds
I was not able to find an analysis of the developments in the UMC from a traditionalist point of view. I would have liked to have presented both points of view.
Americans significantly overstate their rate of church attendance, concludes a paper published this month by a University of Chicago business school professor National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Devin Pope reviewed cellphone geodata from over two million Americans to examine their behavior with respect to religion. Pope concluded that only 5 percent of those surveyed attend services each week, and only 21 per cent attend each month – based on their location on Sunday mornings as determined by their cell phone location.
Membership decline steepens
The COVID-19 pandemic saw a significant decline in church attendance, marking a “radical discontinuity” even with previous downward trends, the Anglican Church of Canada’s statistics officer says. Canon Neil Elliot presented data from 2022 diocesan returns in a January report sent to bishops and diocesan executive officers based on parish statistics. The statistics officer said he did not collect numbers in 2020 and 2021 since COVID-19 shut down churches for much of that time.
Ministering to Moms in Your Congregation
Each church is different, and its leaders should determine the best approaches to ministering to the moms of their specific congregations.
A 16-Point Checklist for Retiring Pastors
This 16-point checklist, therefore, serves as a reminder of items to consider. It is not a one-size-fits-all guideline. It is also specifically written for pastors and other vocational ministers. Since I have a finance background, I’ve probably spoken to a few hundred pastors about retirement over the past few years. I hope this checklist covers many of your questions.
Are You Living Out These Truths?
From the beginning, the Lord’s people talk a better game than we live. So many biblical truths look good on paper and sound great when we’re spouting them. And yet, judging by the way we live, the Lord’s people probably do not believe the following....
Short-Term Missions on a Shoestring Budget
Is there a way to engage in short-term missions in a faithful, helpful, and still budget-friendly way? Jason Sevile think so. Here are five suggestions for those on a shoestring budget.
What Our Evangelism Is Missing
The mysteries of the gospel are deep and rich and not easily summarized in an article. But nevertheless, here are a few key things we regularly seem to miss about Jesus’ ways of life and preaching.
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