Wednesday, September 04, 2024

Wednesday's Catch: 'Putting Belonging in its Proper Place' And More


The balance between belonging and conviction makes a church not only a place where people want to be but a place where they can truly belong.

How the Unchurched Really Feel about te American Church - Free Report
Church Answers Research has surprising new insights.

Creative Ways to Share the Gospel in Your Local Community - Video
If you missed yesterday's seminar, here is a video of the seminar. Pastor Juan Vasquez offered useful tips on how to partner with community organizations to meet community needs as a part of an overall evangelistic outreach strategy, how to plan marriage seminars and other evangelistic outreach activities, and how to recruit and train ministry leaders, and other helpful ideas that work.

To Have a Healthy Church, Have a Healthy Structure
Structure is far more important that we usually realize. Every building in the world has to have the right structure to stand up and not collapse. Living things have structure as well. An animal can grow to no more than nine inches without an internal skeletal system. And every church has a structure as well. Some churches are structured for health and growth while others are structured merely to maintain and to survive.

What to Cover in a New Members’ Class
...what needs to be taught and shared in this class? A lot could be said, but I believe the following must be said. My hope is this will help you as you consider how to educate God’s people on what membership in the local church is all about.

What Americans Believe About Jesus
With the success of The Chosen streamed series and the conversations sparked by He Gets Us, Jesus Christ is trending in pop culture. However, does Jesus register in the hearts of Americans? Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” In our own way, Barna has posed this question to millions of people over decades of surveys. Here are three findings from our most recent data on who Americans say Jesus is.

How To Add Impact To Your Leadership Language
Like any language, the skill of talking like a leader can be learned, developed and mastered. As a starting point, here are 10 unmistakable signs that you’re talking like a leader....

5 Ways to Communicate More Effectively with your Congregation
Ensuring that everyone in a busy church is informed about upcoming events can be a daunting task. Doug Powe, Director of the Lewis Center, shares strategies that can significantly improve your communication efforts and help make sure your messages are effectively conveyed and received by your congregation.

Loving the Bible, Part 2: Teaching others to love Scripture
God in his mercy refused to abandon me to my whims, but sent me a priest who unashamedly, enthusiastically, intelligibly, and joyfully preached and taught Holy Scripture. Being shepherded by someone who loved the Bible taught me something no one had ever shared with me before: that reading and interpreting Scripture was not just good for the life of faith but is a source of inexhaustible joy. This completely changed my encounter with the Bible, and my faith life.
What sparked my own interest in the Bible was a friend's father, a Jehovah's Witness. I was not comfortable with his interpretation with Scripture so I decided that I needed to be able to interpret and understand the Bible for myself. My first step was to read Bernard Ramm's Protestant Bible Interpretation, which I checked out from the public library.
4 Reasons You Might Think the Bible Is Boring
If you’re bored with the Bible, have you wondered why? A variety of explanations exist, and any (or several) of them could identify the problem. Let’s consider four possibilities.

What Bill Gates, Spurgeon and Muslims Teach Us About Bible Memory
Now if young boys are able to memorize an uninspired book about brooding legalism, how much more can Christian youth memorize divine words that give joy and life? Christians should be memorizing a lot more Scripture than they are.

Why might risk be the proving ground for our faith?
At its core, faith is an act of trust - a confident reliance on God that often requires stepping into the unknown. One of the most profound yet frequently overlooked aspects of faith is risk.

Preparing for Lausanne’s L4: Prayer, Purpose, and Proclamation
The Lausanne Movement has convened evangelicals for 50 years for the cause of world evangelization. Along the way, the movement has always recognized the importance of balancing theological clarity with missional urgency.

Don’t Worry About Gospel Conversations with Your Muslim Friend
A review of A.S. Ibrahim's Reaching Your Muslim Neighbour with the Gospel.

The Power of Your Story to Draw People to Faith
One of the most effective tools in your evangelism tool belt is your testimony, the story of how the gospel shapes your life. There are times that your testimony serves as a real-life illustration. Other times, it serves as the main content of the conversation. If you end with a question like, “Has anything like this ever happened to you?” It invites others to trust Christ too.

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