Wednesday's Catch: 'Hurricane Batters Churches Across the Southeast" And More

Hurricane Batters Churches Across the Southeast
Episcopal churches and organizations across the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee have reported serious damage while continuing to assess wreckage in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Also See: Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage in Southeast, particularly in Western North Carolina

I found no information regarding the extent of damage to Anglican Church in North America, United Methodist and other Methodist churches in the areas affected by the flooding. The ACNA and the UMC have posted appeals for donations for disaster relief work in the affected areas.

Lausanne and the Voice of the ‘Flies’: Concerns From a Majority World Church Leader
Kazusa Okaya shares a number of concerns that were voiced by many of the majority-world leaders behid the sceneses at the Lausanne Congress.

The future of faith: reaching a new generation around the world
What comes to mind when you think of the typical human being? Whose face do you imagine? What language do they speak? How old are they?

Why Are Church People so Mean – 8 Reasons
Based on our Lawless Group interviews and surveys over the years, here are some of the reasons church members can be mean....

Based on our Lawless Group interviews and surveys over the years, here are some of the reasons church members can be mean....

6 Church Members Who Build Up the Church
Healthy local churches make a powerful and attractive testimony to a watching world. This means that every member has to be devoted to building others up.

Can Your Approach to Church Finances be both Spiritual and Practical?
Some in the church operate on the assumption that a spiritual perspective on money requires the abandonment of practical thinking. But stewardship expert Ann Michel says a sound theology of stewardship reveals that a spiritual perspective regarding money and finances is practical, and a practical perspective can also be spiritual.

The Invisible Traits of Great Leaders
There are unseen traits of great leaders which are often unknown until tested. These unseen traits often help determine the success of a leader.

Prophetic Preaching and Leadership
C. Anthony Hunt says a preacher’s call to speak on issues of social and political concern is rooted in biblical tradition. He shares specific strategies Jesus used to highlight injustice, empower change, and transform people and communities.

12 Steps to Discover Your Call to Music Ministry
Music ministry is one of the most vital ministries in the local church and should be viewed as a sacred office. Discovering your call begins with a DESIRE to be used by God to impact the local church and the world around you. Why am I a minister of songs?

5 Benefits of Limiting Group Size
Limiting group size may seem counter-intuitive, but there are at least five benefits of keeping the group size between eight and 16 people.

Based upon my own experience and the literature on small groups, a group of sixteen people is too large to be considered a "small group." The small group dynamics that make a small group a transformative experience will have disappeared, replaced by large group dynamics. The question of what is the most efficient group size "has been extensively discussed in the literature on in-person groups, and the consensus is that the optimal size for in-person groups is about 5–7 people." If a small groups reaches 12 people in size, it should divide into two new small groups.

Let’s Stop the Kid Jokes While joking about kids may seem inconsequential in the moment, this sort of talk points to a larger cultural trend toward devaluing children by depicting them as burdensome and annoying. As Christians, we need to pause and reflect on how we speak about our children. Do our comments about parenting and our children’s struggles reflect Christ’s heart or the hot takes of our culture? Under the guise of seeking comic relief from parenting’s challenges, could we be sinning by how we talk about children and their sin?

Youth Pastor and Parents Partnership: Listen Up, Moms & Dads!
A youth pastor and parents partnership is essential for successful youth ministry. How well do moms and dads understand your role? How strongly do they support your efforts? Do parents realize their own role as spiritual leaders? Consider these insights about student ministry and what you need to convey to parents.

Clearing Up Confusion About Humility
Biblical humility, then—and pride, conversely—describe where you actively place yourself in relation to others. Humble people are “lowly.” Prideful people are puffed “up.” Humble people get low and off-center. Prideful people do the opposite. This higher/lower relationship is key to understanding biblical humility.

Dave Ferguson: The Key Steps to Building a Culture of Outreach Dave Ferguson is the founding and lead pastor of Chicago’s Community Christian Church, the visionary for the international church-planting movement NewThing, and president of the Exponential Conference. He is also an award-winning author of several books, including “BLESS: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World,” which he co-wrote with his brother, Jon. Be sure to keep an eye out for his course on RightNowPastorsPlus.org.

Also See: The B.L.E.S.S. Practices,“The #1 Tool to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”, RightNow Pastors Plus, and Dave Ferguson.

BLESS: An Intentional Evangelism Initiative
God’s way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through blessing. These five missional practices make up the acronym BLESS and are a way to participate in the strategy God gave Abraham to reach the world. “And I will bless you…and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). As we engage these practices daily, we partner with God’s Spirit to bless those who do not know him.

Image Credit: Cathedral of All Souls