Church scandals are getting more attention. That much is obvious. The media reports them quickly. Documentary filmmakers spotlight fallen pastors. And while megachurches often receive the headlines, smaller congregations are not immune. The public perception is clear: something is wrong. Whether the issue is systemic across church life or isolated to specific ministries with poor practices, the challenge for local churches is the same. We need safeguards. We need them now. And we need to implement them in our own churches before a crisis emerges, not after one explodes.
Church Announces Partnership With MinistrySafe After Sex Offender Controversy
Pawleys Island Community Church (PICC) announced that it is partnering with MinistrySafe as leaders work to evaluate and improve church policies and procedures designed to protect children. PICC has been at the center of controversy since mid-July when it came to light that certain church leaders had allowed a registered sex offender to volunteer on the church’s campus, which at the time was shared with a school.
SBC President Willy Rice and Other Prominent SBC Leaders Listed in New Protestant Accountability Database
Protestant Accountability, a survivor-led nonprofit, announced the launch and expansion of ProtestantAccountability.org, a searchable database that collects publicly available information about Protestant clergy and other spiritual leaders who have been accused of committing, enabling, or mishandling sexual abuse.
Why Fallen Pastors So Rarely Walk Away
Have you ever wondered why pastors who have been disqualified from ministry so rarely concede to the reality of their disqualification and just move on? Have you ever wondered why they so often disappear for a year or so and then turn up at another church or in a different denomination? I have wondered often and have formed a theory about the matter.
Belief Isn't Dying, It's Just Getting Less Certain
New data from Pew's Religious Landscape Study shows young Americans are less certain God exists — but very few are becoming atheists.
Loving the God We Don’t Understand
Coming to faith is like falling in love. For some, it is head-over-heels love at first sight, with a rush to the altar. Others find the entire idea of spiritual things wholly to their unliking, only to discover that many of their first impressions were mistaken. A begrudging acceptance moves toward appreciation and then, almost unnoticed, slips over the line into heartfelt embrace.
Yet in either case, Malcolm Muggeridge was right in observing that in the end, coming to faith remains for all a “sense of homecoming, of picking up the threads of a lost life, of responding to a bell that had long been ringing, of taking a place at a table that had long been vacant.”
Why So Few Pastors Quit Each Year, Even Though Most Are Exhausted
... although pastors aren’t walking away in substantial numbers, a majority of them aren’t okay. For the same person, both facts are often true at the same time, often for years.
3 Overlooked Groups You Should Call to Pray
There are at least three rarely noticed groups of people who pastors and church leaders can intentionally disciple to pray.
Why the Internet is Making Men and Women Hate Each Other
Lindsay Clancy is on trial in Massachusetts for the murder of her three children. She has confessed to the killings, but has pled insanity. Her defense argues that she had been suffering from an extreme case of postpartum psychosis and was hearing voices in her head telling to kill her kids.
The Internet is, of course, very interested. And the way particular social media platforms and groups are participating in the discourse illustrates again one of the most important things anyone can realize about the modern Internet:
It’s a place where each sex is learning to loathe the other.
Why We Never Speak to Each Other
And what to do about it.
Why Small Groups? The reason behind intentional Christian community.
Churches use all sorts of names for small groups—life groups, growth groups, home groups, cell groups. They also use various models, numerous strategies for connection, various plans for assimilation, and church-specific vision and goals for their group ministries. Yet all would agree that small groups are a means to an end, not an end in and of themselves. Small groups exist as a way for people to engage in biblical community that helps them become more like Jesus in every area of their lives. The following are a few key biblical foundations, ministry purposes, and benefits of small groups.
Check out this Church Fuel series on how to get your congregation to invite! The Church Fuel team shares the top ideas to help your church develop a culture of invitation!
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