What you measure shapes how you act, even in the church. Even in measuring discipleship.
Honoring Congregations of Every Size
The work of ministry must always be attentive to context. Many denominational assumptions need to be questioned and more sharply. The challenges of fewer people and resources will continue, and the church is always in danger of trying to return to previous forms. Negativism and pessimism do not serve us well, and, perhaps most importantly, everything the church does should move us closer to the purpose for which we exist.
What Makes a Flourishing Small Church?
While the cohort looked at United Methodist Churches, I think it extends beyond the UMC. And, while I could ramble on about the report, I wanted to highlight three notes that I have been thinking about since the cohort ended. The entire report is worth reading, though. It’s free, so download it here!
I should note that I’m not summarizing anything in the report. I’m drawing out my own analysis, based both on the time in the cohort, the report itself, and my work with small and rural churches across the country.
Also See: Flourishing Small Churches Report and Flourishing Small Churches Cohort Curriculum - Downloadable PDF7 Paradigms Often Necessary for Church Growth
With the best visions, however, if you want to have a culture susceptible and open to growth then there are some common paradigms necessary for church growth. You have to think certain ways in order to reach a desired vision. In most every situation, an absence of certain actions or mindsets on the part of leaders keeps the church from moving forward.
C. S. Lewis’s Overlooked Apologetics Strategy
What we want is not more little books about Christianity,’ Lewis declared, ‘but more little books by Christians on other subjects—with their Christianity latent.
In Germany, right-wing ‘Christfluencers’ hope to follow the US religious right
Radicalized by COVID-19 and anger over immigration, right-wing pastors like Tobias Riemenschneider in Germany hope to gain followers by promoting conservative Christian views and politics. They have looked to religious right leaders and conservative influencers in the US for inspiration.
Why Our Baptist Forebears Wouldn’t Support Blasphemy Laws
Parliament ensured that the suppression of heresy was a political and legal function, rather than a theological issue to be administered by an independent church.
Why Gavin Ortlund Rejects Comparison Between Praying to the Saints and the Doctrine of the Trinity
Is praying to the saints a valid practice Christians can infer from the Bible similar to how Christians infer the doctrine of the Trinity, even though the Bible never mentions the word “Trinity”? Dr. Gavin Ortlund addressed this idea in a follow-up video on the Protestant view of praying to the saints and explained why he believes the answer is no.
Prioritize Public Scripture Reading During Church Services
We’re unlikely to make much progress in establishing a proper worship service if we don’t first prioritize the public reading of Scripture.
AI Parenting Advice: Is AI Is Sinful in Nature? And the Killer App Trap
Faith Tech's James Kelly sits in rooms with the people building AI companies and models, and he's blunt about what that means for your kids. He unpacks the Killer App Trap, why he won't let his own kids use AI companions yet, and reflects on how AI itself is subject to the fall.
Why Is No One Talking About AI’s Worst-Case Scenarios?
Why is no one talking about AI's worst-case scenarios? Here's what AI will do to your church if leaders don't prepare now.
Most church leaders are only having the AI policy conversation, is it okay to use ChatGPT for the bulletin, should staff use AI for sermon research? Those questions are fine, but they're not the conversation that matters.
The real question is what AI will do to your church: the jobs your people work, the income your donors have, the meaning they wake up looking for.
In this video, I walk through AI's worst-case scenarios nobody in your pastor network is warning you about — mass job loss, a mental health crisis, and a haunting conversation I had with Seth Godin about AI becoming a new religion. I also give the optimists a fair hearing.
This isn't meant to scare you. It's meant to prepare you.
What AI’s ‘Confessions’ Teach Us About Us
Why would we ever think the imperfect (us) could somehow create the perfect?
Live Outside of the Bubble
n the Christian life we have to maintain a careful balance. The Bible is very clear, we must not love the world: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Within context, John identifies the “world” as “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride and life”—all of these things are “not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16). We must not, therefore, engage in the moral, ethical, and spiritual rebellion of the world. To do such things is to love the world.
On the other hand, if we are to represent and reflect the redeemed image of God, then there is a sense in which we must love the world. “God so loved the world,” John tells us, “that he gave his only Son” to it (John 3:16). Moreover, Jesus commands us to love our enemies—to love unbelievers, even those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44). If we are supposed to love and pray for unbelievers, we must at some level interact with and get to know them. Recall that even Jesus supped with sinners and tax collectors (Matt. 9:11). He spent time with unbelievers in an effort to share the gospel with them.
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