Five Practies of Fruitful Congregations

"Radical Hospitality. Passionate Worship. Intentional Faith Development. Risk-Taking Mission and Service. Extravagant Generosity. People are searching for a church shaped and sustained by these qualities. The presence and strength of these five practices demonstrate congregational health, vitality, and fruitfulness. By repeating and improving these practices, churches fulfill their mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."

The paragraph above opened the original Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, published in 2007. No one imagined that in the years that followed, more than 600,000 copies of the book and its supplemental materials would strengthen thousands of congregations in multiple languages around the world. The practicality and simplicity of the ideas and the energizing quality of the adjectives that modify the practices have stimulated sermon series, leadership retreats, and discipleship discussions on six continents. The practices have brought clarity of purpose for Christian leaders and inspired boldness to initiate ministries that change lives. The Five Practices remain as fresh and as motivating today as when they first appeared in print.

And yet, when the original Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations was released, no one had iPhones, Facebook was limited to use by a few universities, Netflix mailed DVDs to our homes, and Blockbuster had over six thousand stores. Social media, in all its various expressions we know today, did not exist. The refugee crisis, the threat of terrorism in the US and Europe, the election of President Obama and then of President Trump, new conversations about race, gender, and guns in America, the changing attitudes toward immigrants—clearly, in our evolving world, so much has happened since the book was written. Read More

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (February 21, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

When we become a follower of Jesus, we embark on a new life. Lent is a good time of the year for an annual checkup on how well we are doing. Are we moving forward in our new life? Or have we fallen back into our old ways? If so, what can we do to start moving forward again?

The Scripture reading for this Saturday evening is Ephesians 4:25-5:2. The New Life

The homily is titled, “Imitators of God.”

The dismissal song, Steven C. Warner’s choral arrangement of the traditional Irish hymn, “To Christ the Seed,” scored for SATB choir, cantor, guitar, and keyboard (optional string trio) and is available from sheetmusicplus.com.

The link to this Sunday’s evening’s service is https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/02/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-sunday_21.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/
May this service be a blessing to you.

20 Truths from ‘How to Revive Evangelism’ by Craig Springer

“Evangelism training should have as its utmost priority developing and training great listeners.”

1. "In the US especially, the instinct to evangelize is eroding. No matter how much our walk with Jesus has impacted our lives, many of us simply aren’t talking about it—not to our families, not to our friends, and not within our communities. The data shows this on a number of levels, and the conclusive nature of the findings should be setting off alarm bells everywhere." (2)

2. "What if our methodologies of evangelism, designed to work during the past fifty years or so, are something like a cassette tape that we ask Millennials to play when what they’re really looking for are Spotify playlists?" (6) Read More

Photo Credit: Craig Springer

Saturday Lagniappe: How to Convince People to Get Involved in Small Groups and More

How to Convince People to Get Involved in Small Groups We must be intentional in how we lead our congregations in order to shape a culture of small-group involvement. Here are three tips on how to build that culture.

Managing Online Groups Ministry is more decentralized than ever. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But, many of the things you typically count on to monitor the health and activity of small groups aren’t functioning at their optimal level. How can you know what’s going on with your groups when your “dashboard” has short circuited?

Turn Your Sermons into Small Group Studies Many pastors are interested in creating their own video-based curriculum. But, they put it on the backburner because they feel the pressure of creating the next Purpose-Driven Life. Let me relieve some pressure for you – that’s not going to happen. There is both good and bad news in that statement. 

4 Steps to Recruit a Church Planting Team Preparing to start a church plant can be a daunting task. There are so many needs to fill and sometimes the enormity of it all can feel paralyzing. One of the keys to successfully planting a church is to recruit a good launch team. (Remember, in our language today, a launch team and a core group are a little bit different.

How to Lead Well as a Church Planting Leader Church planting requires a certain set of skills—organization, initiative, patience, and passion, just to name a few. These skills are especially required for a church planting leader. To last long term in this capacity without burnout requires some forethought and consideration. Here are some thoughts on how to lead well in this position.

Reaching Out Like a New Church, Whatever Your Age There are many things that I have learned as pastor of a new church that have changed the way I look at church. Some of these practices and values have been born out of necessity, but I am committed to hold onto them no matter the size of our congregation or the growth of our assets because I believe they will keep us focused on reaching new people. They will hold us close to Christ’s mission to make disciples rather than just caring for our own.

According to Their Ability: Church Growth in Small and RuralLocations After thirty-two years in pastoral ministry, I have come to see three great influences upon my experience. These might be summarized by that famous line from business that states the most important thing is “location, location, and location.” Let me explain.

5 Practices of Leaders who Develop Leaders There are specific practices among the best developers of leaders, and I’m sharing five of them with you here.

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (February 20, 2021)

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

The Scripture reading for this Saturday evening is James 2: 14-26 Faith Without Works Is Dead.

The homily is titled, “A Fruitful, Living Faith,” and touches on how such a faith is essential to an effective witness to Jesus.

The dismissal song, Laura Wasson’s setting of James Quinn’ hymn, “Christ Be Beside Me,” is scored for SATB choir (with descant), organ, and oboe, and is available from Oregon Catholic Press (OCP). Titled ST. ROSE, it is the original setting of the hymn which can also be sung to the Gaelic traditional melody BUNESSAN.

The link to this Saturday’s evening’s service is https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/02/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-saturday_20.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

Faith in Numbers: Behind the Gender Difference of Nonreligious Americans

One of the most consequential stories in American religion in recent years is the rapid and seemingly unceasing rise of “nones” – those who respond to questions about their religious affiliation by indicating that they are atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.”

According to some recent estimates, around 4 in 10 millennials and members of Gen Z, a group that comprises those born after 1980, do not identify with a religious tradition. In comparison, only about a quarter of baby boomers indicate that they are religiously unaffiliated.

Social scientists are only beginning to explore the demographic factors that drive individuals who no longer feel attached to a religious tradition.

But as someone who follows the data on religious trends, I note one factor appears to stand out: gender. Read More

Incentives to Decline: Why Some Churches Really Don't Want to Grow

Your congregation has been in significant decline for years. Members acknowledge that something must be done to reverse the decline. Plans are discussed and official votes are taken to make church growth a top priority, but with few results. Nothing seems to gain traction. When growth is a priority but nothing happens, low-grade depression and lethargy inevitably follow.

The slow death of certain denominations has been charted by polls, study groups, seminaries, and think tanks. Countless sermons are preached, classes are taught, books are written, and consultants are hired, in order to revitalize congregations. Denominational executives establish committees, task forces and study groups. Conferences are held and encouragement is given lip service, while privately, everyone knows the sad truth: few congregations will ever reverse decline once they are in its grip. The money, time, and effort are better spent on starting new congregations, because the old ones seem incapable of rebirth.

How can this be true for a faith founded on new life? If the gospel can prevail against the gates of hell, why can't it prevail against the massive decline facing our congregations?

No church members want to see their local congregation die. It would seem that their motivation to keep the church alive would be strong enough to overcome any obstacle, yet each year more churches close their doors while lamenting their fate. It is as if there are counterforces at work against the very changes that would bring new life.

We know along with Paul that there is perversity at work in the human heart and believe that same perversity can be at work on an organizational level as well. At an unconscious level, members of dying churches may be influenced by some hidden payoffs in the church's decline. Until we're willing to name and confront the incentives for decline that exist alongside the desire for new life, we may find our churches continuing to not do the thing they want but instead to do the very thing they hate. Read More

“I Believe in Jesus, but Don’t Call Me Christian”

“Younger people are less religious than older people.”

Across the board, this proves to be true. Doesn’t really matter what country one observes or what metrics one uses; statistically, research finds that younger generations tend to be less religious than those who have come before.

However, it turns out, what does matter is which religion is being studied.

According to recent Pew Research, Christianity not only has the most predominant age gap, in that it affects nearly every country that identifies as Christian, it also has the largest one by percentage meaning there is a larger gap in between the ages than other religions. Read More

Here’s Why People REJECT Our Evangelism Efforts

One in five Americans don’t believe in a deity. Less than half of the population attends religious services on a regular basis. Our evangelism isn’t working. People simply find our evangelism unbelievable. Why? While a person’s response to Christ is ultimately a matter that rests in God’s sovereign hands—something we have no control over—a person’s hearing of the gospel is a matter we do have control over and responsibility for. Read More

It’s Never Just a Wave

The garage door opens, the car pulls in, the door closes. Neighbors remain faceless and anonymous. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Cue worldwide pandemic.

Lockdowns had us homebound––as if in a twilight zone––and we suddenly emerged in strangely large numbers for neighborhood walks. We stepped outside our apartments and homes, looking to the left and to the right, some of us seeing our neighbors for the very first time.

We felt something shift in our openness toward neighborly interactions we’d avoided because they were too daunting and awkward. Potential relationships that had once seemed insignificant and a waste of time now felt important. We started at the very beginning, with a wave or a smile. Read More

Is It Time to Shoot Your Project On A Mobile Phone?

When I started out in television production, the cost of a camera was out of sight. And depending on it being a film or video project, the cost continued to climb. But today, we carry around a TV studio in our pocket and more and more filmmakers are embracing the idea of producing projects on mobile phones.

The bottom line is that it’s time to stop complaining that we don’t have a budget or the right equipment to make a high quality project. In fact, I don’t have to defend myself. Just take a look at some amazing examples. Read More

Seven Reasons Why None of the Continuing Anglican Churches Are a Suitable Candidate for a Third US Anglican Province

By Robin G Jordan

I have for a long time held the opinion that none of the raft of US Continuing Anglican jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for an alternative province to the Episcopal Church USA or the Anglican Church in North America. A recent experience reinforced this opinion. It was a reminder that none of these jurisdictions are really equipped to take on that responsibility. I am not suggesting that the United States does not need a third Anglican province, only that the existing Continuing Anglican jurisdictions are not suitable candidates for that province.

Among the reasons that none of these jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for such a province is that not one of them is thoroughly committed to confessional Anglicanism or Reformed Anglicanism. One or two of them may claim that they are committed to confession Anglicanism or Reformed Anglicanism, but the evidence does not support their claim. Jurisdictional leaders may lean in that direction, but local churches do not.

Several jurisdictions make no pretense of adhering to the doctrinal and worship principles of the Articles of Religion of 1571, historic Anglicanism’s confession of faith. They stand squarely in the tradition of the nineteenth century Catholic Revival and it is with Oxford Movement and the Ritualists of that century that they identify. They make no bones about it. This they claim represents a genuine Anglican identity. If they display any regard for the Articles of Religion, it is for a Oxford Movement-influenced interpretation of the Articles in a Catholic sense. These jurisdictions use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and various editions of the Anglican Missal and a few have issued specific guidelines for the worship of their churches.

A second reason that I do believe that none of the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for an alternative province is that they lack numbers and resources. Most of their churches are relatively small. They serve a tiny segment of the population. What may be described as their base is aging and shrinking. They are not reaching and engaging the newer generations in sufficient numbers to replace deceased and incapacitated members and arrest their decline, much less to reverse that decline and become a powerhouse in reaching and engaging the younger generations.

A third reason that I believe that none of this raft of jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for an alternative province is that they do not have the right kind of leadership that one or more of these jurisdictions need to form an alternative province. This is not a criticism of these jurisdictions’ existing leaders. They are doing the best that they can to lead their respective jurisdictions within the constraints of their circumstances and the extent of their vision.

Forming a new province that will be viable on the North American mission field, however, requires leaders that are not just mission-minded, important as that is, they must be passionate about mission, have a razor-sharp focus on mission, must be able to generate enthusiasm for mission in existing clergy and congregations, and must be able to attract and inspire a new generation of clergy who share their excitement for mission. By mission I mean reaching and engaging the unchurched, the under-churched, and the de-churched and enfolding them into vibrant new churches; launching and growing new networks of churches; and forming longtime churchgoers as well as new believers into disciples who are capable of reaching and engaging others and forming them into disciple-making followers of Jesus. This requires leaders who are dynamic in their thinking, who are open to change, and who are flexible in their approach, leaders who have a lot of energy and the freedom to do what they need to do.

This leads to the fifth reason that I believe that none of the existing jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for an alternative province. They look to the past and not to the present and the future. They are bound by tradition and preference—traditional and customary practices that do not serve the Church well in the twenty-first century and personal preferences of clergy and congregations, which are serious obstacles to the Church’s fulfillment of its central task of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth and making disciples of all people groups. The greatest barrier that we face in reaching and engaging the newer generations is not the younger generations themselves but the folks already in our churches—members of the clergy and members of the congregation.

The North American Anglican Church has too many stalled churches. They have become refuges from the changing world around them. They welcome only folks like themselves. They have few if any connections with their communities. They live in an era that is long gone and will never return.

Church members are not living their lives to God’s glory. They are inward-looking. They are more concerned with maintaining their level of comfort and not allowing new people or new ideas to disturb them.

Anyone who has read Thom Rainer’s Autopsy of a Deceased Church recognizes that these churches exhibit the characteristics of a declining or dying church. When the COVID-19 pandemic abates, we may discover many of these churches have closed their doors for good.

The late Peter Toon published an article, “Causing Traditional Churches to Grow,” originally titled, “Worship Simply, Engage in Mission Joyfully: How to Grow a Traditional Church,” in the first decade of this century. While I do not agree with everything that Dr. Toon wrote in the article, the observations and recommendations that he made were not far off the mark and if they had been heeded would have given some traditional Anglican churches a new lease on life. Several recommendations that he made are recommendations that we now read in the church revitalization literature and hear on church revitalization podcasts. They are steps that a declining church needs to take if it wishes to turn around.

Dr. Toon also recognized that his observations and recommendations would not benefit any church whose clergy and congregation did not have the inclination to make use of them. Regrettably, things have not changed much from the time that Dr. Toon wrote the article. Many churches in the North American Anglican Church have too much invested in keep things the way they are, even if it means a slow death by attrition.

As the senior warden of a small traditional Anglican church explained to me, the handful of people who formed the congregation of his church wanted to come to the church on a Sunday; quietly worship together, using the liturgy of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; fellowship for a short while over coffee, doughnuts, cake, and other sweets after the service, and then go their separate ways. They had no interest in doing anything else. At the time none of the members lived in the community and they had no connection to it. The community was simply the location of their church building. From what I have observed, they are not an isolated case.

A jurisdiction largely made up of congregations like this one is not a suitable candidate for an alternative province. To be a suitable candidate for an alternative province, it needs to have significantly more growing, vibrant churches than it does such chapel congregations.

I describe them as "chapel congregations" because they resemble the congregation of a private chapel where small religious services are held. In some ways they are similar to the congregations of the Recusant household chapels before Catholic emancipation in the United Kingdom in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and those of of the Royalist household chapels during the Great Rebellion in the seventeenth century.

The growing, vibrant churches that should form the largest number of churches in an alternative province need to be multiplying church leaders and church members who are outward-looking and on fire for the gospel, the kind of Anglicans that are the namesake of this blog--“Anglicans Ablaze.” An alternative province, if it is going to flourish, needs substantial numbers of these churches, church leaders, and church members, folks who testify to Jesus with their words and their lives. It does not need more local chapters of the Dead Anglicans Society.

Now I recognize that chaplaincy congregations have a place in a jurisdiction or province. However, they can be a serious drag on a jurisdiction or province when they form the lion’s share of the congregations in that jurisdiction or province.

I also make a distinction between chaplaincy congregations and micro-churches. Both are small—even tiny. Chaplaincies focus on the spiritual needs of their members. Micro-churches look beyond themselves and engage their communities. They seek to show and share the love of Jesus. Jesus for the members of micro-churches is their Lord, not someone whom they call Lord. They shape their lives around his teaching and example. They want others to know Jesus and to follow him. They witness to him with both their words and their deeds.

Ritualism may be defined as “the regular observance or practice of ritual, especially when excessive or without regard to its function.” It may be further defined as “a traditional or fixed way of behaving.” When we read or hear the word, “ritualism,” we may envision priests in elaborate vestments; genuflecting and kissing the altar, elevating the consecrated Host, and other ceremonies; and bevies of servers in white albs and with processional crosses, candles, and incense. Ritualism, however, can be as simple as coming to church every week and reading the same service from The Book of Common Prayer. What we are doing is performing the same ritual week after week.

When performing the ritual at our weekly gathering becomes the focus of that gathering as is the case in many Anglican churches, we are engaging in ritualism. We may embellish the ritual with two or three hymns and a sermon, but performing the ritual is the primary focus. The hymns and the sermon become a part of the ritual.

This is what has become worship in many Anglican churches—the performance of a ritual. For some people, the performance of the ritual is meaningful. It reinforces and strengthens the bonds between the congregants.

For others, especially visitors and newcomers, however, it is not. It does not accomplish what worship should accomplish—focus our hearts and minds on God and our relationship with God and transform our lives, particularly our relationship with others. Every service of public worship does not have to give a big nudge in that direction, but it should give a nudge.

For followers of Jesus our relationship with God is inseparably tied to our relationship with others. When Jesus repeated the words that God spoke through the prophet Hosea, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” he is summing up in that brief phrase how our relationship to God is connected to our relationship to others.

The performance of a ritual that our worship has become may not turn us Godward or otherward. We may come away from our weekly gathering feeling that we have done our duty to God and earned merit with him. The Pharisees had come to think along the same lines. As Jesus pointed to their attention, however, their hearts were far from God.

This is one of the dangers of Prayer Book worship and it is one of the reasons that US Anglican churches have not seen a lot of life transformation. It attracts people who like their lives the way that they are and who are adverse to changes in their lives, particular the radical changes that Jesus calls upon his disciples to make. One can feel like one is honoring God while settling for what is a watered-down form of discipleship.

It is not confined to Prayer Book worship and may be observed in the churches that do not use a service book. Prayer Book worship, however, is fairly susceptible to it. It is prevalent in the US Continuing Anglican jurisdictions as well as the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church in North America. Its prevalence in the US Continuing Anglican jurisdictions is the sixth reason that I believe that none of the jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for an alternative province.

It is not the kind of worship that energizes clergy and congregations for mission. Where it is prevalent, the jurisdiction will have a lackluster record of gospel growth. Gospel growth is conversion growth. It is the kind of growth that occurs when nonbelievers not only believe in Jesus and trust in him for their salvation, but they also become functional disciples, living their lives in accordance with Jesus’s teaching and example and reproducing themselves.

It takes a different type of worship to motivate churches for mission. It is the kind of worship that sets clergy and congregations on fire for the gospel. It may be liturgical in form, but it is animated by the Holy Spirit.

I am not talking about charismatic or Pentecostal worship with its expectation of miracles and its exercise of the sign gifts. I am talking about worship from the heart, worship into which the minister and the people enter fully and without reservation. They are not performing a familiar ritual. They enthusiastically praise God with “hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs.” They encourage each other and build up each other’s faith. A visitor will feel the power and presence of God in their singing. They listen attentively to the reading of the Scriptures and their exposition in the sermon. When they pray, the visitor will sense their excitement that something is about to happen, something that is good. When they go forward for the communion, they go forward joyfully, songs of praise on their lips, a people going to meet their Lord. It is the kind of worship that sends the congregation back into the world, invigorated, strengthened, and eager to love and serve their Lord, to live their lives to the glory of God.

With this kind of worship enthusing its churches, a jurisdiction should not have much difficulty in mobilizing its churches to reach and engage the unreached and unengaged segments of the US population and plant new churches. Their enthusiasm will also be contagious. It will spread from the members of these churches to those around them—friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, fellow students, and other people that they encounter in their everyday lives.

A final reason that I believe that none of the raft of US Continuing Anglican jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for a third US Anglican province is related to the mindset that I gave as the fifth reason why I do believe none of these jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for a third US Anglican province. If churches are to be effective in carrying out the Great Commission in twenty-first century North America, they need tools designed for this century and not handed down from the previous century or more than three centuries ago and designed for a different time.

Some Continuing Anglican clergy are coming to this realization. Others, however, when the ineffectiveness of these earlier tools in the twenty-first century is drawn to their attention double down on maintaining that they are still effective. They, however, are not able to produce any data to support this contention but fall back on anecdotal evidence. This evidence is typical drawn from a tiny segment of the population but is over-generalized to the larger population and used to dispute the need for newer and more effective tools. Their inability or unwillingness to recognize the need for such tools to further the Church’s mission is serious barrier to reaching and engaging the younger generations.

Many Continuing Anglican jurisdictions have constitutions and canons that drastically limit what Bible translations and service books that may be used in their churches. Some local Continuing Anglican churches limit in their articles of incorporation or bylaws what Bible translation and service book, which may be used in their public services of worship. 

The history of the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions explains in part this resistance to the development and use of new and more effective tools designed for the twenty-first century mission field. Several jurisdictions were formed in reaction to Prayer Book revision as well as women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church USA. 

Since that time the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions have tended to attract individuals who are seeking to escape the cultural and social changes in the United States. As one Continuing Anglican priest with whom I am acquainted declared during the coffee hour at a local Continuing Anglican church, “we don’t like change.” Almost all the members of the congregation who were present nodded their heads or murmured in agreement to his remark.

Whether we like it, the world is changing. NASA just landed the Perseverance rover on Mars. We cannot be faithful to our Lord and carry out the Great Commission while isolating ourselves in our own little bubbles from the rest of the world. Jesus did not commission us to go and make disciples of people like ourselves, people who look like us, live like us, speak like us, and have the same values as ourselves. He commanded the first disciples and future generations of his followers to go and make disciples of all people groups—people not like ourselves, people who do not look like us, live like us, speak like us, or share our vales. He did not tell us that we could fish only for people who like our favorite translation of the Bible or our favorite Book of Common Prayer. He made no such stipulations. We cannot twist his words to our liking and be his faithful disciples.

These seven reasons are why I believe that none of the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions are a suitable candidate for a third US Anglican province. Does the United States need a third province? I believe that is does. I also believe that it needs to be built on a more solid foundation than the Episcopal Church USA, the Anglican Church in North America, and the Continuing Anglican Churches are. It needs to be built on Jesus himself, the Holy Scriptures, and the Articles of Religion. They offer the firmest foundation upon which we should build. It will not be a foundation of sticks and straw.

Photo Credit: St. Jude's Anglican Church, Tucson, Arizona

Craig Springer: Listening to Proclaim—Part 1

“The megachurch era of the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, founded on a desire for anonymity, is shifting because people are longing to be known and seen.”

Alpha USA runs on the simple idea of providing a great meal, a short talk and a meaningful discussion about life and faith over the course of 11 weeks. As executive director, Craig Springer oversees operations in more than 6,000 churches and 450 prisons throughout the United States, and helps mobilize more than 50,000 volunteers and 350,000 participants in the U.S. And there are more than 1.5 million involved with Alpha globally. In his new book, How to Revive Evangelism: 7 Vital Shifts in How We Share Our Faith (Zondervan), Springer shares the importance of listening and creating an environment that welcomes questions; offering a place to belong, even before you believe; providing an experience of what faith looks like, not just an explanation; and living the potential of unity, even in the face of our differences. Here he discusses strategies for more effective evangelism. Read More

Also See:
Craig Springer: Belonging Is a Precursor for Belief—Part 2

Alpha USA

Alpha Online

10 Things You Should Know about the African Church

Did you know that you can partner with Crossway to equip African pastors and church leaders with gospel-centered resources? Get involved.

1. The African church is growing.

It is said that the number of Christians in Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century was about 9 million and that by the end of the twentieth century it was about 380 million. Church structures cannot cope with this kind of growth. So, churches are simply meeting in classrooms, in grass-thatched makeshift structures, and under trees—and yet they are still growing! It is also refreshing to see in attendance young parents with their toddlers, teenagers and young adults, all the way to octogenarians. It speaks well for the future of the church in Africa.

2. Where there is zeal, there is some lack of knowledge.

The church in Africa is full of zeal, though sometimes this zeal lacks knowledge (Rom. 10:2). This zeal is seen in evangelistic fervor. Anyone with eyes to see cannot miss this, and it is the explanation behind the quantum leap in growth. African society, generally, is very open to the Christian message, though openness to listening is not the same thing as openness to responding to the message. If they know that you are a pastor who has come to visit their home, most parents will call everyone in the home to come and listen to you. The door of opportunity is still wide open. Individuals whose knowledge of the Bible is still at a kindergarten level will soon be found leading a church in a village. Some of them do not even have a full Bible. Yet, they are preaching wherever they find ears that are willing to listen. You will find lay preachers in streets and on buses and trains. Personal witnessing takes place in schools, colleges, and universities.

There is a desperate need for more training in order to reduce the wildfires being produced by this zeal where knowledge is lacking. The normal “Bible College” structures used in the Western world to train future leaders and pastors cannot cope with this zeal and growth. Other forms need to be brought in that would function more like the combine harvester does on huge commercial farms. All such “problems” aside, however, the church in Africa is refreshingly zealous. Read More

Conrad Mbewe draws attention to how the African chieftain mentality has affected how the African church views leadership and how that view of leadership has led to abuses. The African chieftain mentality is one of two factors to which I drew attention myself in my earlier writing about the influences upon leadership in the African church and in turn leadership in the Anglican Church in North America. The other factor was the Roman Catholic Church's view of leadership. Both factors have had a profound influence upon leadership in the African church. But as Conrad Mbewe observes, it is not a Biblical view of leadership. Other writers have warned that in the African Anglican provinces it can lead to episcopal abuse of authority. Synods of clergy and lay delegates can act as a counterbalance to bishops and as a check on their abuse of authority. What we have seen in the Anglican Church in North America is the College of Bishops arrogating to itself decision-making powers that under the province's constitution and canons belong to other bodies. These abuses can be traced to the African view of church leadership and an Anglo-Catholic/Roman Catholic view of bishops and their authority, which has shaped the prevailing view of the role of the episcopate in the College of Bishops. It is not a Bible view of leadership. Neither is it an Anglican one. Since the English Reformation the bishops in the Church of England have been subordinate to the King or Queen and Parliament. They  have been subject to the laws of the realm as have any other minister. They have not been a law unto themselves--an unfortunate development in the Anglican Church in North America promoted by its first Archbishop Robert "Bob" Duncan. 

9 Steps to Unite a Disjointed Discipleship Community

The days following 9/11 were passionate, patriotic days. I remember sitting in long lines at gas stations behind big trucks with giant American flags flying from their beds.

Families and neighborhoods united together for a common good. Sporting events and teams started implementing more focus on “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “God Bless America.” That passion was fueled by a sense of honor or duty.

But many of those days were also scary. There was real fear of another attack or that our economy would fail. Many of our friends enlisted to fight a long battle. But churches had full services, and prayer was frequent. Emails shared messages of hope and encouragement. Ribbons were tied around trees to show support. We called people we loved to check in on them. We banded together, and we cared for each other.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. Soon, we all returned to our common way of life. We lost our sense of community and replaced a shared focus and sacrifice with ideas of selfishness and self-centeredness. Not intentionally—it just happened. We got busy with all of our errands and schedules.

We’re now in similarly uncertain times. We’ve been told that if we are to make a difference with this virus, we need to stay away from each other, often in isolation from those we love the most. Read More

75 Icebreaker Questions for Church Small Groups

From theology to accountability, church small groups can cover some heavy topics—causing some members to be slow to open up.

But sometimes all it takes is a little nudge to get a group talking. Here are 75 fun icebreaker questions along with multiple choice answers to warm up the room and get your people chatting.

You might want to bookmark this site on your device for whenever your group needs a jumpstart. Or, if your church has a social media presence, these questions make for great online polls to generate engagement. Read More

8 Easy Ways to Be Missional

Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples;” “Walk wisely toward outsiders;” “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt;” “Be prepared to give a defense for your hope.” We can have a missional lifestyle in everyday ways without overloading our schedules. Read More

This article offers some good suggestions for missional living, but it was obviously written for pre-pandemic times. It recommends a level of direct personal contact that would not be safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. How might we adapt these suggestions to the present crisis?

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Ash Wednesday (February 17, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

With this Wednesday evening’s service, we mark the beginning of the holy season of Lent, forty days dedicated to prayer and spiritual growth and renewal and leading up to Easter Sunday and the most important festival of the Christian year, the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture reading for this Wednesday evening is 1 Peter 2: 1-10 The Living Stone and a Chosen People.

The homily is titled, “Spiritual Sacrifices.” The homily delves into what means to be “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”

The service blends three traditional pieces, Louise Bourgeois’ “O Gladsome Light O Grace,” Thomas Armstrong and Robert Philip Goodenough’s Psalm 141, and Thomas Talley’s Magnificat with two more recent pieces, Carl F. Schalk’s “Out of the Depths” and Karen Schneider Kinner and Steven C. Warner’s “Come to the Living Stone.” “Out of the Depths” is available from Concordia Publishing Company and J W Pepper; “Come to the Living Stone,” from GIA Publications.

The link to this Wednesday evening’s service is https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/02/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-ash.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/ 

May this service be a blessing to you.

Learning to Respond to Church Crises

COVID revealed challenges for evangelical churches, not the least of which is authority and leadership in the church. How do you respond to state mandates requiring masks or online-only worship services? Who in the church decides how to respond?

Evangelical churches are often loosely affiliated with a denomination, and function more like parachurch organizations being led by the pastor or a small group of enthusiasts within the church.

At Salem Evangelical Free Church, we learned on March 15, 2020 that the pandemic was spreading like wildfire across the Upper Midwest. In a hastily called emergency meeting of key staff leaders and elders, our elder board established a five-person COVID-response team comprising pastors and elders with varying skills and backgrounds appropriate to the challenge.

Since then, the leadership provided by this team, working with the pastors and elders, has helped keep our body of Christians from tearing each other apart. Our church’s response has been imperfect, and we have lost a few families amid tensions, but our team minimized conflict. The team was empowered to make decisions and provide guidance for our church under the supervision of elders. Our intent was to use clear practices that slowed the spread while the church continued to make more disciples.

When a church faces a crisis, gathering a team with diverse talents and spiritual gifts beats autonomy and solo heroism (Rom 12:4–5). Read More






Here are some of the ways we responded to COVID, and lessons we learned along the way.

Three Reasons Churches Resist Change

We often hear that people resist change. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate.

We’ll tackle that partial truth another time. For now, let’s focus on why pastors and churches are so resistant to change. Read More

4 Groups the Church Must Reach in a Post-Christian Era

“What’s church?”

That’s one question my kids weren’t used to hearing. But one morning, a boy who lived down the street knocked on the front door to play with our sons. Because it was a Sunday, our young neighbor was informed that they’d have to take a rain check because they were headed to church.

Not long before this event, our family had arrived in Denver to start a church. We were surprised at how little common knowledge about Christians could be found on our street.

It won’t be long before streets all over America—even in the Bible Belt—are filled with children who don’t know “church.” Their parents have never taken them to a worship service or even mentioned the word.

While this reality is frightening for us as Christians, it’s also a wake-up call for relationship evangelism. The outward-focused church will have an enormous opportunity to reach the non-religious—and religious, for that matter—in the season to come. Read More

Christian Meditation

"I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways."— Psalm 119:15 

Reading through the Bible in a year is a good practice, but one can easily fall into the trap of reading merely for distance. While there is value in covering the vast mountain range of Scripture, one must not neglect the important work of Christian meditation. Some may balk at this term, since it often refers to pagan or new age disciplines (like yoga), but the Word of God clearly teaches that meditation has a vital place in the Christian life. In this article I will define, explain, and offer some helps for Christian meditation.

I propose the following definition: Christian meditation is the focused contemplation of the renewed mind upon the treasury of divine truth. The Old Testament uses two primary words that our English Bibles translate as meditation. The blessed man of Psalm 1 delights in the Lord's Law and upon it “meditates (הָגָה, hâgâh) day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Most basically, this term means to murmur or ponder, that is, to mull over carefully. The word translated meditate in Psalm 119:15 (שִׂיחַ, śı̂yach) seems to refer a bit more to a preoccupation of the mind, often spilling over into speech. The NKJV translates the word as pray (Ps 55:17), complain (Ps 77:3), and even talk (Ps 119:27). Psalm 143:5 includes both words in parallel, showing their close thematic relation, “I remember the days of old; I meditate (hâgâh) on all Your works; I muse (śı̂yach) on the work of Your hands.”

Practically speaking, meditation is to the soul as marination is to a fine cut of meat or as soil assimilation is for healthy crops. For the process to have its full and ideal effect, it simply cannot be rushed, skipped, or replaced. So how should we think about this discipline of Christian meditation? Read More

A Penitential Service for the First Day of Lent, also Known as Ash Wednesday, Is Now Online

For those who are unable to attend an Ash Wednesday Service at their own church or who do not have a church at which they can attend an Ash Wednesday Service, an online penitential service has been posted on the All Hallows Murray website. This service is an adaptation of the penitential service from The Book of Common Prayer (1956) of the Free Church of England, traditionally read on the first day of Lent, also known as Ash Wednesday. The service has been rendered into modern English and some alterations and additions have been made to the service. The service may be read at any time of the day.

The opening song is Jack Noble White’s arrangement of the Second Song of Isaiah for SATB voices, assembly, piano, and hand bells. It is available from J. W. Pepper.

The reading is Ezekiel 33: 10-20 God’s Justice and Mercy.

The dismissal song is Marty Haugen’s Lenten hymn, “Return to God,” available from GIA Publications.

The link to the service is https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-penitential-service-for-first-day-of.html.

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

May you and your loved ones have a holy Lent.

If I Were Starting A Denomination From Scratch

As many of you will know, our church is in the process of leaving our denomination. It has been a long and exhausting process. If you want to read about it you can find a string of articles here, here, here, here and here. There are more, but trust me, that ought to be enough.

Our process has been delayed by COVID19, but over the next 6 months we will be engaged in the fairly elaborate process of disengaging from our historic association. As the timeline above indicates, this was not a decision we arrived at lightly. We’ve enjoyed over 140 years of friendship and partnership with these people. We’ve invested in kingdom work together, we’ve prayed together and we’ve worshipped together. But now it is time to go our separate ways.

But that doesn’t mean we intend to walk alone.

To be clear I don’t think that churches have to associate with other churches, but I think it is dangerous and generally unwise not to. Churches that don’t associate are more vulnerable to doctrinal novelty, pastoral bullying and general isolation. Association is complicated and painful, but over the long haul it is worth it.

To be clear, I’m not planning on building a denomination from scratch. I don’t think I have the time, the headspace or the necessary expertise. What I do have is almost a decade of thinking, praying and repenting under pressure. The following observations have arisen largely out of that context.

Based on what I’ve read in the Bible and what I’ve experienced over the last 10 years, if I were building a denomination from scratch in 2021 I would.... Read More

Don’t Fill Every Open Moment with Content

When I’m waiting in line to order my drink at a coffee shop, my automatic instinct is to grab for my phone. Not to do anything necessary, of course; just to scroll aimlessly for the minute or two before it’s my turn to order. Maybe I can catch a few tweets, headlines, or Instagram stories.

It’s the same impulse that leads me to grab my phone first thing in the morning, right before I go to sleep at night, and throughout the day as I’m in between tasks. Sometimes I find myself checking an app in the roughly 20 seconds it takes for me to walk from one side of my house to the other. In none of these cases do I have a clear reason or defined goal. It’s just a habit I’ve gradually been conditioned into, as have most of us in the smartphone age: a disturbing Pavlovian impulse to fill every open moment of life with some form of mediated “content.”

The more I’ve become aware of this often unconscious habit, the more it disturbs me. The main problem isn’t that what I find in those snippets of scrolling is largely foolish (though that’s certainly a problem). It’s that the elimination of every last shred of unmediated space in our lives makes us foolish. To become wise, we need emptiness in our days; time to think; space to synthesize; moments to be still; mental breaks. Yet the smartphone era is quickly obliterating these things, beckoning us to fill every spare second of life with something. Click this! Watch this next! Listen to this podcast! The algorithms are designed to commandeer our attention not just partially, but totally. And it’s making us fools. Read More

Key Signs of an Abusive Pastor #1: A Long Track Record of Broken Relationships

I’ve been making my way through a new blog series on spiritual abuse in the church which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. In the prior installment, I offered a definition of spiritual abuse:

Spiritual abuse, then, is when a spiritual leader—such as a pastor, elder, or head of a Christian organization—wields his position of spiritual authority in such a way that he manipulates, domineers, bullies, and intimidates those under him, as a means of accomplishing what he takes to be biblical and/or spiritual goals.

But just having a definition doesn’t answer all our questions. After all, there’s a level of subjectivity in applying this definition. Some may think certain behavior is abuse, others may not. And, as we observed in the prior post, our world is often inclined to label any offensive Christian statement as “abuse.”

In many ways, rightly identifying spiritual abuse is not that different than rightly identifying child abuse. Just because a parent disciplines or corrects their child, doesn’t make them abusive. But, there are some parents who clearly cross the line. Discerning which is which is the tricky part.

While there’s not an air-tight, infallible system for identifying genuine abuse, I think there are some key signs of an abusive pastor to look out for. Over the next few posts I will lay out several of these key signs.

Let’s begin with the first sign. And it’s first for a reason. A classic, defining mark of an abusive pastor is a long track record of broken relationships. Read More

Why Your Church’s Chat Box Is Essential

Reasons to have someone engaging with your online audience during your services.

As a result of worship being online for many churches and even those churches across the nation that can meet in person, it isn’t the same as before COVID-19. We see many more people online now than ever before. As a result, the chat box on all of the platforms has become even more essential. I know someone is saying that many people don’t even bother to use the chat box, which is true, but several of those watching do. Here are some thoughts on why the chat box is essential and how to staff it.... Read More

During the last eleven months I have participated in numerous webinars. Based upon this experience, I believe that is definitely a good idea to have someone engaging with your online audience during your services. It is a standard practice on webinars and provides a flow of information that is useful to both the webinar leaders and the webinar participants. It can provide you with a similar flow of information which will be useful to you and your online audience. 

Top Advice from Audio Techs, Technical Directors, and Worship Leaders

In the early days of Behind the Mixer (way before the podcast), I interviewed a number of people and today, I’ve consolidated those interviews into the following highlights. Many of them have moved to new churches, retired, or even moved on to something new, but their words remain relevant and helpful. Oh, and there’s also a great “nightmare story” mentioned. Read More

VIDEO: What Is Christianity?

The message at the heart of Christianity is pretty simple. This three-minute video introduces what it's all about. Watch Now

A resource from Christianity Explored

Confessional Anglicanism and Prayer Book Revision

By Robin G Jordan

Historic formularies such as the Articles of Religion of 1571 and The Book of Common Prayer of 1662 have no inherent authority of their own. They only have the authority that we choose to give them. We may recognize a formulary as authoritative because it conforms in its principles with the teaching of the Bible or more accurately with what we believe the Bible to teach. Other Anglicans, however, may not recognize that particular formulary as authoritative in matters of faith and practice as we do. They may give more weight to church tradition or some other form of consensus. This is one of the reasons that the Anglican Church is divided on many key issues. There is not agreement on what is most authoritative in matters of faith and practice—the Bible, church tradition, a particular consensus, special revelations from God, and so on.

Confessional Anglicans maintain what has been the historical position of the Anglican Church since the English Reformation. The Bible is the Church’s primary authority in matters of faith and practice. Second are the Articles of Religion, the Anglican Church’s confession of faith, whose authority is derived from the Bible. The two Books of Homilies are also authoritative because they further expound upon principles articulated in the Articles and are recognized by the Articles as containing “a godly and wholesome doctrine” and “necessary for these times.” It is noteworthy that the Articles make no mention of The Book of Common Prayer, only the Ordinal of Edward VI.

Being a confessional Anglican does not require using a particular Book of Common Prayer in our services of public worship But it does require using forms that embody the teaching of the Bible and the doctrinal and worship principles of the Articles of Religion or conform to them. Where the official Prayer Book of a jurisdiction does not conform to the teaching of the Bible and the principles of the Articles, it is incumbent upon confessional Anglicans to revise the forms in that Prayer Book so that they conform to the teaching of the Bible and the principles of the Articles. This includes historical Prayer Books like the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book as well as more recent service books like the Anglican Church in North America’s 2019 Proposed Book of Common Prayer. If we do not undertake their revision, we are giving them more authority than the Bible and the Articles and violating our theological integrity as confessional Anglicans.

We cannot argue that since the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is a formulary of the Anglican Church, it is sacrosanct. If it does not fully uphold the teaching of the Bible and the principles of the Articles, it must be revised to bring it into conformity with biblical teaching and Article principle. Otherwise, we are giving it more authority than the Bible and the Articles. Its revision is a measure of our commitment to confessional Anglicanism.

What is more important is that the forms that we use in our services of public worship embody biblical teaching and Article principle or conform to them. The use of the vernacular in these forms is a biblical requirement as the congregational and participatory nature of the forms. The invocation of God’s blessing or the descent of the Holy Spirit upon inanimate objects like bread and wine and water is not a biblical practice and conflicts with what is the biblical practice—to invoke God’s blessing or descent of the Holy Spirit upon people. Consequently it cannot be regarded as something that is not forbidden by the Bible and therefore we are at liberty to do it. While it may not be expressly prohibited by the Bible, it does not conform to what the Bible recognizes as acceptable practice.

To be true to the teaching of the Bible and to the principles of the Articles, confessional Anglicans need forms which embody the teaching of the Bible and the principles of the Articles or conform to them—forms for the Daily Offices, the Service of the Word, the administration of the gospel sacraments, confirmation, matrimony, ministry to the sick, the burial of the dead, and the ordination of new ministers and their installation into office. They also need a catechism that meets the same requirements. They should not be expected to “make do” with liturgical books that uphold “strange and erroneous doctrines contrary to God’s Word.”

The ongoing revision of the forms that we use in the rites and services of the church to make them more useful in the twenty-first century and in a particular culture is a principle implicit in the Bible and recognized by the Articles. Most Anglicans have a passing acquaintance with Paul’s teachings about orderliness in the church’s gatherings, the importance of doing things for edification, and the need for what we say to be understandable to the unexpected visitor. They may be less familiar with what he wrote about all members of the assembly having different gifts, participating in the gathering, and making a contribution to the gathering. To fulfill or achieve what Paul taught requires the use of forms that are not static but are tailorable to changing local circumstances. We cannot reach and engage a new generation with a Prayer Book that is almost 360 years old and that is written in a language with which only a tiny segment of the English-speaking population is acquainted, a Prayer Book that in a number of places does not live up to the standard of embodying the teaching of the Bible and the principles of the Articles or conforming to them.

This does not mean that we must reinvent every form in The Book of Common Prayer, change everything for the sake of being “new-fangled.” But it does mean that we should not cling to forms that do not really meet this standard and which are not serviceable in this century. We need to make necessary changes in these forms or replace them with new forms that do meet these requirements.

It also does not mean that we should reject the old for its age. We may use the old where it may be “well-used.” This means not using the old simply because it is old but using it where it can still be put to good use. When Cranmer articulated this principle, he had in mind old texts and practices that embodied the teaching of the Bible or conformed to it or which could be changed to embody biblical teaching or conform to it. He was not talking about using the old due to its antiquity or its long-time use regardless of whether it is scriptural. This is a misinterpretation and misapplication of his principle.

Cranmer was not as careful at applying this principle as he might have been. The result was the inclusion of problematic texts and practices in the reformed Book of Common Prayer of 1552.

What may be a good use for the old in one century may not be a good use in a later century. An example is Cranmer’s placement of the Nicene Creed before the sermon in the 1552 Prayer Book, a position that would be replicated in later Prayer Books up to the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book. This is not a good position for the Nicene Creed because it creates a lengthy gap between the proclamation of the Word in the readings and its exposition in the sermon. It may have made sense in the sixteenth century when there was a shortage of licensed preachers. However, it does not make sense in the twenty-first century in which congregations are better served when there is no gap between the proclamation of the Word and its exposition.

Some confessional Anglicans may resist the revision of The Book of Common Prayer out of an irrational fear of change. Change is not always negative. It can also be positive. A Prayer Book that more closely embodies or conforms to the teaching of the Bible and the principles of the Articles and which is more serviceable in the twenty-first century is a positive change, a change for the better. Our Lord commissioned his first disciples to make disciples of all people groups, to baptize the new disciples, and to teach them what he had commanded. He gave that commission not just to them but to future generations of his followers. Our Lord did not commission his disciples to promote the use of a particular Book of Common Prayer.

Indeed, the carrying out of the Great Commission in every generation is a Biblical warrant for Prayer Book revision. The Church has a responsibility to provide every generation with the tools to reach and engage the next generation and the generation after that. If the Church fails to provide those on the front line of mission with the right tools for the task, then confessional Anglicans must step into the gap and equip themselves with the right tools. They should not let a sentimental attachment to an older Prayer Book hinder them in carrying out the task that the Lord has set for them. The younger generations are faced with enough obstacles to their coming to faith. They do not need our preference for an older Prayer Book to further hamper them.