Thursday's Catch: "Why Some Pastors Aren't Ready to Lead in Church Revitalization" and More

Why Some Pastors Aren't Ready to Lead in Church Revitalization

I believe in church planting, and I also believe in church revitalization. We need to do both if we want to reach North America. I’m particularly interested in revitalization because of the people and property resources available for kingdom work, but I’m not convinced every pastor is ready to lead through a revitalization effort. Here’s why.... Read More

Five Reasons You Need a Thick Skin to Lead in Church Revitalization or Replanting [Podcast]

Revitalization takes thick skin to avoid the discouragements and criticisms. Today, Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe discuss five common criticisms and how to handle them. Read More

12 Spiritual Disciples That Will Make Your Faith Strong

Brandon Hilgemann surveys the twelve primary spiritual activities that Jesus practiced and the Bible prescribes for all believers. Read More

Have You Fallen Into the “Passionate Preaching Trap”?

If a pastor isn’t careful, they will only preach on the things they find important. This can be good and bad. Read More

What If I Can’t Sing?

If you can speak, you can sing. God designed you to sing and gave you everything you need to sing as well as he wants you to. He’s far less concerned with your tunefulness than your integrity. Christian singing begins with the heart, not the lips (Eph. 5:19). Read More

I have been reading Keith and Kristyn Getty’s new book, Sing!: How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church (B&H, 2017) and I definitely recommend it to Anglicans Ablaze readers.

The Oldest, Most Ignored Social Media Command

Not only did this rule start before AOL was handing out free dial-up minutes, it was established even before the printing press. But this commandment is perhaps more applicable today on social media than any other. Read More

Respectfully Engaging Animism [Video]

In this episode of The Table Podcast, Dr. Darrell L. Bock and Ken Nehrbass discuss understanding and respectfully engaging Animism. Watch Now

New Initiative Hopes to Bridge the Divide in Evangelicalism

A new body is being formed in an attempt to mend the rift that has developed in evangelicalism following the 2016 election. Read More

Is Your Christianity Superstitious?

The much maligned black cat

I was in Southern India several years ago and noticed an odd thing about most of the small children there: They all had little red strings tied around their bellies. These toddlers who were just learning to walk and run around were most often stark naked, save these shoelace-sized red bands tied around their middles.

I asked our host what they were for, and he replied rather matter-of-factly, “They are to keep the evil spirits away.”

Like many Asian countries, these Indians (even in Christian villages) observed ritual superstitions in order to ward off evil or bring good luck. In Thailand, for instance, every restaurant or business we entered had small shrines in the entryway with ornate ‘birdhouses’ with fresh food and drinks set before them. These, we found out, were to appease the evil spirits at the doorway and prevent them from entering the building.

It was kind of a demonic Passover. In the Western world, we may scoff at such petty superstitions, dismissing them as sophomoric or ignorant. Of course the world doesn’t work that way! We say from our lofty towers of science and reason. As Christians in the West, however, we must remember two things: That our culture—including our faith—is heavily postmodern and influenced by the Enlightenment in ways many third-world countries are not; and that we each have our own sets of superstitions which may not be as apparent as a red string or food shrine. Read More

Superstition is far more rife in our rationalist, humanist, secular, post-modern Western world than we may think. It is not confined to Christians or to other religionists.

Half of Your Church Struggles With Loneliness (and 4 Things to Do)

50 percent of Americans feel lonely some or all of the time, with younger generations reporting the highest rate of loneliness, according to a survey by health insurer Cigna. Using one of the best-known tools for measuring loneliness, Cigna polled over 20,000 respondents across the country. 40 percent of survey respondents said their relationships “lack companionship,” “aren’t meaningful” or leave them feeling “isolated from others.”

“Half of Americans view themselves as lonely,” David Cordani, president and CEO of Cigna Corp, told NPR. “I can’t help but be surprised [by that].”

For those who work in churches though, this research is less shocking. Whether through conversations with first time guests or pastoral counseling conversations with long-time members, most pastors are fully aware how common a sense of isolation is among their congregants. Many pastors feel the same. The question then is how can the church respond? Here are four ideas.... Read More

How to Cast Vision for a Church Building

Church buildings are a polarizing possibility. Some people love buildings. Other people hate them. Having been mobile now for 13 years, most of Coram Deo’s congregation is bullish about the potential of permanent space. But in earlier years, our church had a strong “anti-building” sentiment. And both points of view are always present within any congregation. So when it comes time for a church to pursue property, leaders must lead wisely and strategically, grounded in theological conviction. Here are five cautions I’ve had to learn along the way. Read More

Also See:
7 Church Building Design Trends for 2018

Churches Renovate Their Building, On Average, Every 30 Years? Really?!

A church building doesn’t have to be big, fancy or cutting-edge. But it needs to facilitate the mission.

Uh… Wow.

Every 30 years?

Yes, those are the stats, according to a church renovation expert I heard at a recent conference.

By the time his company is called in to help a church renovate their sanctuary, lobby, exterior or anything significant, it’s been three full decades since any part of their facility has been updated in any meaningful way.

That’s. Too. Long. Read More

The Rainer Report: Church Sickness # 7: Detrimental Defensiveness [Video]

Detrimental Defensiveness happens where the leaders are fearful to move forward because of memories of past conflicts and the presence of troublemakers and bullies. Watch Now

Three Types of People Who Help the Church

There is not a perfect church in all of the world. We can’t expect to find one this side of heaven. However, we must be consistently reminded of our need for the local church. Just as nobody ever makes it to the summit of Mt. Everest alone, God has not willed for us to journey to heaven alone. God has placed us within the fellowship of a community of believers that we know as a local church as referenced in the pages of Scripture.

In a recent article, I warned about three types of people who often hinder the local church. Today, I want to point to three very different types of people in the local church who are a great help to the building up of the body in love. If every church had these types of people, they would benefit greatly from their engagement in the body life. Are you a person who helps or hurts your local church? Read More

Also See:
Three Types of People Who Hinder the Church

Can the One Church Plan Save the UMC From Schism?

After a week of meetings in Chicago, the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church have come to a conclusion: Come 2019 when the denomination meets for its General Conference, they will recommend the UMC adopt the One Church Plan. The One Church Plan will effectively give individual churches the right to decide whether they will perform same-sex marriages and ordain LGBT people as clergy.

The Council cited the diversity and global presence of the UMC as big factors in its decision. “The Council’s prayerful deliberation reflected the diversity of the global denomination on the matter of homosexuality and many other matters. The Council affirms the strength of this diversity and our commitment to maintain the unity of the church,” Council of Bishops President Ken Carter said in a press release.

The Council of Bishops reviewed three plans—The Traditionalist Plan, the One Church Plan and the Connectional Conference Plan—as it met this last week as part of the denomination’s ongoing effort to prevent a schism over the issue of homosexuality. A separate council, the 32-member Commission on a Way Forward, formulated the three plans after the 2016 General Conference determined a workable solution was needed to address the question of homosexuality in the UMC. The Commission was asked to “do a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph of the Book of Discipline concerning human sexuality and explore options that help to maintain and strengthen the unity of the church.”

Details of the three plans presented to the Council of Bishops have not yet been released. The statement from the UMC indicated that an entire report of the three plans will be released no later than July 8, 2018. A Special Session of the General Conference is scheduled to meet February 23-26 in St. Louis, Missouri, where it is assumed the denomination will vote on whether to adopt the One Church Plan or not. Read More

Also See:
Where Have the Three Million Gone?
Why I’m No Longer a United Methodist

According to this article, "the One Church Plan will effectively give individual churches the right to decide whether they will perform same-sex marriages and ordain LGBT people as clergy." In other words, it would treat the issue of sexual activity between members of the same sex as adophora - a secondary matter of indifference to the salvation of the individual, a view, however, which is at odds with the teaching of Scripture.

Wednesday's Catch: "4 Causes of Discouragement, and 4 Cures" and More

4 Causes of Discouragement, and 4 Cures

Pastor Rick Warren shares what he has learned about battling discouragement. Read More


4 Keys to Communicating Changes

Change can be difficult on those we lead. Here are keys to communicating change in a way that will be well-received. Read More

The Importance of Volunteers in the Church

To all volunteers, thank you for the ways you serve Christ and his church. Read More

3 Reasons to Step Away from the Pulpit This Summer

Pastor, I want to try to convince you to step away from your pulpit for at least two Sundays this summer. I understand if you are reluctant to take a preaching break, but humor me by at least considering these three reasons for stepping away from your pulpit for a couple of weeks. Read More

Double the Trouble if You Ignore the Context

Never read a Bible verse. Never try to determine the meaning of a biblical text without reading its context. Always read a paragraph before and after. Even better, read the whole chapter or entire biblical book. Read More

10 Reflections on Worship Leaders

Over my years of church consulting, I’ve heard many, many stories about the person who leads the church to sing during a worship service. The title varies (e.g., Minister of Music, Worship Pastor, Song Leader, etc.), but the task is generally the same. Here are some of things others have most affirmed about worship leaders, followed by concerns most often raised. Read More

I have functioned in the role of service leader, preacher, music leader, and precentor (song leader) in a number of churches and I cannot overemphasize the importance of the persons occupying these roles closing collaborating with each other. It makes a real difference in the church service.

How to Make Evangelism Part of Your Culture

A few small changes can help you make evangelism a priority and lead to a bolder witness. Here’s how to do it. Read More

UFOs, Evangelism and Belief

There are several reasons why trying to do evangelism alone might not be as effective as doing it with other Christians. Take a closer look. Read More

Failure and Disappointment in Scripture

If we organized a conference on “Failure and Disappointment,” do you think anyone would come? If you wrote a book on that subject, do you think anyone would buy it? Failure and disappointment are not popular topics. They don’t sell tickets or books. They don’t generate clicks, as Internet marketers assure us. We don’t want to think about our own failures and disappointments, never mind hear about those of others. We live in a “success culture” that idolizes victory and fulfillment. But it’s all so unreal.

When we turn to the Bible, we’re given a deep dose of reality. Failure and disappointment are on just about every page. Whether we like it or not, that’s much truer to life than the success narratives that we aspire to and are trying to write for ourselves. By all means, aim high, but recognize that no one escapes failure and disappointment. So, we might as well plan on it and prepare for it with a view to profiting from it.

“Profiting from failure and disappointment? Are you serious?” Yes, like many of God’s people, I’ve found seasons of failure and disappointment to be some of the most spiritually productive times of my life.

Before we turn to the Bible to help us plan on, prepare for, and profit from failure and disappointment, we first need some definitions. Failure is a lack of success in doing something. It’s coming short of a performance standard that we have set for ourselves or that others have set for us. It may be something that we are accountable for and blamed for (e.g., we fail an exam because we did not study enough), or someone else may be to blame (e.g., our marriage may fail because our wife or husband committed adultery). And sometimes we can have a sense of failure when we have not actually failed (e.g., we lose our job because of a merger or reorganization). Disappointment is the sense of sadness and frustration that results from failure, either from our own failure, the failure of others, or both. So, with these definitions in hand, what does the Bible teach us about failure and disappointment? Read More

Jesus and Joysticks: Why the Church Should Stop Making Fun of Video Gamers

Church leaders could be insulting more than half of the homes in their congregation and community without even realizing it.

That’s exactly what happens when you malign people simply because they play video games in their spare time.

Video games have grown from a niche industry to one that generated more than $108 billion in revenues in 2017—yet video gamers are a popular target of Christian angst and aggression. I’ve seen prominent and not-so-prominent pastors portray video gamers as stereotypical, lazy college graduates.

These video game players refuse to get a real job. They live at home in their parents’ basement and never take responsibility. We need men to grow up. This may elicit chuckles and high-fives from some, but it may also hurt a faithful family in the church or keep a visitor from ever coming back. Read More

Gen Z, Let’s Prioritize the Gospel as We Pursue Justice

In junior high, I became friends with a social justice warrior. She wasn’t a Christian, but she had an extravagant and sincere concern for people and was driven to eradicate suffering and bring relief. She was the first teenager I met who was actively involved in collecting food for the homeless, donating her hair to cancer research, attending rallies for refugees, and raising awareness for human trafficking, child soldiers, and global famine. She woke me up to some of these issues for the first time.

But her love for justice wasn’t rooted in spiritual realities; it was intertwined with simple idealism and a search for self-fulfillment in temporary humanitarian relief. More than anyone else I know, she lives out the dominant and defining belief of Generation Z: social justice is our god. Read More

The image shows a matron in her pearls serving soup - symbolic of an earlier generation whose love for justice was also not rooted in spiritual realities.

5 Simple Ways We Can Show Appreciation to Ministry Volunteers

All pastors and church staff depend on volunteers to keep the gears of ministry turning. Only a bad leader thinks volunteers are not necessary; a foolish leader treats them that way.

We love to relate stories of people who have served in the nursery for 50 years because they love those babies. We know, though, such volunteers—blessing they are—are few. Many volunteers are serving for the same reason they ended up coaching their kid’s softball team: no one else was available or no one else would do it.

Today’s ministry volunteers—even among those who genuinely sense a call to lead a Sunday School/LifeGroup—are often faced with already-overflowing calendars before they say “yes” to that last volunteer opportunity we are trying to fill.

I’m personally better at some of these ideas than others, but I’m striving toward the mark because all of them are important. Read More

What the Word of God Says About the Word of God, Book by Book

What God says about his word is a deep, complex, and staggering thing. And each book of the written word testifies to the wonder of his revelation. I decided to take a look, book by book, selecting a representative passage from each to highlight many of the things God's word says about God's words.

The word of God is . . . Read More

How the Exodus Connects to Baptism & the Lord’s Supper

The task of the church can be described in all sorts of ways, but one of the most evocative is this: we are called to live the exodus. As Christians, we have a dramatic backstory—of slavery and deliverance, or Passover and escape. But the people around us, going about their daily business, don’t recognize the Pharaohs and the plagues, the manna from heaven and the chariots in the deep. They—and oftentimes we—don’t see how the story plays itself out in the life of the church, let alone the world. So part of the task of the church is to amplify the music of God’s redemption, so that they—and we—might hear it for what it truly is. Read More

One-on-One with Glenn Daman on ‘The Forgotten Church’

The presence of the rural church is critical if the gospel is to make an impact in the community.

Ed: How did you come to write The Forgotten Church?

Glenn: I was initially approached by Moody Publishers in 2016 to write a book highlighting the struggles and issues that are confronting rural America and how the rural church is an important part of the universal church community. It is my hope and prayer that this book would accomplish three purposes. First, that it would help raise the awareness in the broader evangelical community of the needs and issues confronting rural America. Rural communities are facing many struggles that threaten the social and spiritual health of the community.

Second, that it would bring the rural church back into the conversation and strategic planning of the broader evangelical church. And third, that it would provide those who are being called to serve, or currently are serving rural churches a better understanding of the issues and needs confronting their communities.

Ed: What are the primary factors that stop pastors from pursuing rural ministry?

Glenn: Rural churches are faced with a crisis of leadership. In a study of Presbyterian churches, it was found that over 50% of small (under 100) rural churches lack a full-time pastor. While there are a number of reasons for the struggle of rural churches to recruit pastors, there are three that are major contributors. The first is the inability to compete with the larger churches salary structure. While the rural church can often provide a sustainable salary, they cannot match the urban and suburban congregations.

Second, there is a lack of visibility and presence of rural ministry in the educational process and lack of exposure the rural church receives. Finally, there is a lack of prestige and recognition of rural pastors. To be dedicated to rural ministry is to sentence oneself to obscurity. Read More

7 Easy Ways To Ruin An Otherwise Great Sermon, Message Or Talk (And How To Fix It)

I’m writing from the perspective of a Christian who speaks. And as I wrote about here, I realize that the Holy Spirit is involved in a special way when we speak. He redeems terrible talks and converts people through his power, not our persuasive words. I get that.

But that shouldn’t be your fall back week after week.

The Holy Spirit’s work is not an excuse for laziness. It’s also no excuse for failing to develop a skill set that supports your gifting.

So if you’re at all interested in honing your gift set, identify and then address the 7 mistakes communicators make that almost always ruin a message.... Read More

Also See:
Stop Worrying: 5 Ways To Calm Your Nerves Before Your Next Message Or Presentation

The Notes I Have With Me While I Preach

In my last post I responded to a question from a reader regarding how I outline my sermons. This week I want to answer the second part of his question about and what I use for notes while I preach. Here is the original question:

Good morning Lane,

First off want to thank you for all of the work put into the blog and podcasts. I’ve personally found a lot of the content very helpful. I preach on close to a monthly basis and am a volunteer youth leader, so I teach youth on a monthly basis as well. I was interested in learning more about your method of outlining your sermon. I’ve been following a manuscript method because that’s how I’ve learned, however I find I never really stay on it and have a difficult time finding my place afterward. So my question is, what do you find to be the most useful outlining method? What do you take into the pulpit with you? Also, do you have an example of your outline you preach from? Thanks! Read More

Also See:
My 4 Step Method for Outlining Sermons
So You Think You Can Preach? 6 Steps to Get Started Preaching – Part 1 of 2
So You Think You Can Preach? 6 Steps to Get Started Preaching – Part 2 of 2
How to Preach Without Notes – Part 1 of 2
How to Preach Without Notes – Part 2 of 2

5 Keys To Having Meaningful, Life-Giving Conversations With Non-Christians

At some point, if you are sincere about your Christian faith, you are going to have a conversation with someone about it. Or are you?

Let me back up a minute, if “being a Christian” is something you take seriously, you are probably going to THINK about having a conversation with someone about it. AND – you may wonder HOW to have that conversation.

Listen, I have been a Christian my whole life and have also been a thoughtful student of the human art of conversation for years and I find this thing – “sharing my faith” – incredibly hard to do.

But I WANT to – I really want to. I actually believe that meeting Jesus on this side of heaven will make life richer and more joyful and more peaceful than anything else available to us. There is a tenacity and fierceness to God’s love through Jesus that holds people firmer in the face of life’s struggles than anyone can imagine.

I want everyone to know this.

Everyone.

Well, the key is figuring out how to start, how to continue the conversation and eventually, how to let it go.

Join me here:

Relationships are complicated. Communication between two individuals is often fraught with misunderstanding. The timing isn’t always right and sometimes you are just not in the mood.

But despite all that, I want to let you in on a few key principles that you absolutely need to know before you take this type of conversation on.

Here they are.... Read More

10 Dangerous Myths About Christian Persecution

Myths can be dangerous. False narratives can slip into our minds through the news, casual conversations or even social media. The problem is—if we believe these myths, they have the potential to change the way we think, behave and engage the world.

I’ve fallen for many of the myths you’re about to read relating to the persecuted church. In some ways, this article is more of a confessional. But I believe many of these are widespread, and we need to call them out to embrace the full picture of persecution. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are counting on our prayers and support—and we can’t afford to follow false narratives. Read More

Catholic Ireland is Dead and Gone

Irish voters are almost certain to repeal their constitution's prohibitions on abortion. What then?

On May 25, voters in the Republic of Ireland will go to the polls in a referendum on whether access to abortion should be widened. The Eighth Amendment, which was added to the constitution in 1983, “acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right,” and so permits abortion only to preserve the life of the mother. It is this amendment that Irish voters are being asked by their government to repeal, with the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, calling upon his supporters to “trust women.” This implies that women share a single position on the matter and also implicitly admits that Varadkar did not trust women during the many years he did not support repeal. Whatever the ironies of his campaign, the polling indicates that the Eighth Amendment will be repealed and that legislation will follow to overturn one of the last distinctive features of Catholic Ireland. Read More

Are You An Organizational Leader Or A Shepherd? (10 Easy Ways To Tell)

A 12th century Nordic chess piece from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides

So are you an organizational leader, or are you more of a relational leader—a shepherd?

It’s an interesting question, and a highly polarizing one in the church today. Ditto for this blog. Just check out the impassioned comments on this post, where I argue the church today needs more entrepreneurial leaders, not more shepherds.

Why does this matter?

Well, it matters for a few reasons. Read More

7 Things You Can Do To Get Visitors To Come Back To Your Church

Pastors and church leaders put in A LOT of time, effort and resources into getting people to visit their church. A recent experience taught me a lot about what is needed to get people to come back.

Chuy’s in Kennesaw, GA has become my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant. It has very good food but the reason my wife and I return every weekend is because of a waiter named Anthony. I have been paying for service at restaurants for over 30 years and he is the best service provider I have ever encountered.

As I thought about my initial experience with Anthony and Chuy’s, I realized it has tremendous application to those who make return visits to your church. The following are 7 Things You Can Do To Get Visitors To Come Back To Your Church.... Read More

Also See:
Here Are the Essentials of Good Visitor Follow-Up

7 Strategies to Develop Leaders in Your Church

If you want to lead a dynamic, growing ministry, you must develop leading and dynamic leaders. “Leadership development” is a phrase that sounds great in a blog post, in a meeting, or in a seminary classroom, but how do you actually (practically) develop leaders? Here are seven strategies to make it happen.... Read More

Also See:
Inspiring Millennials to Lead
A Great 2-Word Coaching Tool
6 Traits of Great Coaches and Mentors

Saturday Lagniappe: "What Season Are You In?" and Much More

What Season Are You In?

Discerning what season you, and your ministry, are in right now is one of our most important leadership tasks. Read More

Four Lessons I’ve Learned From the Puritans

Dave Arnold shares four lessons from the Puritans that impacted him personally. Read More

Pastors in Silence: A Lost Spiritual Discipline

Brian Croft explores the practice of silence and solitude as a spiritual discipline for pastors. Read More

Preach A Crisp, Clear Gospel Message

Larry Moyer: "For me, it all starts by communicating ten words: 'Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.'" Read More

Start With A Bang! Crafting A Memorable Sermon Opener

If you lose your congregation at the beginning, you will have to work twice as hard to get them back by the end. Why not give your message the best possible chance to connect with people at the outset? Read More

Why You Should Preach to Motivate People to Change

If you’re a pastor, you’re a motivator. In fact, motivational preaching is one of the most powerful and persuasive tools for change our culture knows. Read More

A Six-Part Checklist for Churches: How to Select Mission Partners

How do you begin to select a mission partner with so many out there? What do you say when you’re inundated with requests? I’ve created a six-part checklist to help our church begin the decision process. Read More

The Best Weapon Is an Open Door

Rosaria Butterfield explains why an open door is the Christian's best response to a post-Christian world. Read More

Multiple Faces of India

If religious nationalism is at the heart of India’s social and political uprising, what then is core to the spiritual renewals taking place in so many places and among so many peoples? Read More

What Do Americans Mean When They Talk about ‘God’?

According to a new survey, almost all Americans believe in a higher power, but only a slim majority believe in God as described in the Bible. Read More

Generation Z Is Loneliest Generation, Study Finds

Nobody is lonelier than Generation Z. That’s the surprising conclusion of a new study that finds younger generations—across the board—are lonelier than older ones. Read More

Americans Are A Lonely Lot, And Young People Bear The Heaviest Burden

Loneliness isn't just a fleeting feeling, leaving us sad for a few hours to a few days. Research in recent years suggests that for many people, loneliness is more like a chronic ache, affecting their daily lives and sense of well-being. Read More

Raising Up Disciplers

Disciples Need Leaders

I wonder how many church leaders don’t even realize the success of ongoing discipleship depends partly on how well they develop leaders.

God didn’t design the church to have one person lead everyone else in spiritual formation—far too often the model of evangelical churches. Throughout the New Testament, we see leadership development and delegation—or mass participation—of discipling others.

Paul repeatedly told young pastors to entrust the ministry to spiritual people who could then pass it on to the next generation.

I’m convinced one of the reasons we struggle with discipleship is because we aren’t raising up leaders to make more disciples.

You don’t need a priest because you are a priest.

Most people who are reading this are going to be Protestants of some variety. Protestantism was in part a rediscovery that individuals do not need a priest to communicate with God.

This is a key theological issue. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9 that we are a “royal priesthood” who are to proclaim the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness. We correctly assert that we don’t need another human as a priest for us to have access to God.

Protestantism universally holds this axiom—it’s a defining biblical view.

What’s interesting is that while it may be a universally held theological understanding, in practice most churches have a talented leader who explains the Bible. Otherwise, we can’t understand it. The congregants, who are supposedly priests themselves, end up asking this person what God is trying to say.

Functionally, we have adopted a very non-Protestant idea of a priesthood, as if we can’t approach God ourselves. We function as if God’s people cannot engage God’s word.

No Christian should think that.

You mass produce cars, not disciples. Read More

A Response to Andy Stanley on “Theological Correctness”–With Help from Jonathan Edwards

Andy Stanley just made waves. At the recent Orange Conference, Stanley spoke on John 17 and said that oneness in the faith is “more important than being theologically correct.” The broader context of his remarks was the need for church unity, as seen in this summary:

“He prayed for our oneness, that we’d be on the same page,” said Stanley. “This is mission critical. If they are not one, we will not win … unity is mission critical and disunity disrupts the mission. … Will we prioritize our oneness over our doctrinal peculiarities? Our baptism, our communion, our style of worship, our preaching?” According to the Christian Post, Stanley said of Acts 15 that the early church was willing to make “theological and cultural concessions for the sake of unity and so should you and so should I.”

Read the whole report. Let me offer three quick responses to these comments on being “theologically correct” and unity. Read More

Also See:
Andy Stanley: Church Unity Is More Important Than 'Being Theologically Correct'

Why Your Church Members Don't Pray Much

Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer in the United States. My evidence is anecdotal, but it seems to me that most church members don’t pray much, despite efforts like the Day of Prayer. In general, they talk about prayer much more than they actually pray. Here’s why that happens.... Read More

Also See:
What Makes Prayer So Difficult. And Why We Keep at It.

Walking the Labyrinth

The labyrinth is clearly meeting a need that our own traditional forms of worship are not meeting.

During Lent members of my parish church walked a canvas replica of the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth on the floor of the church on Wednesday evenings. The same thing is happening in other Episcopal churches throughout the United States.

Those involved in the labyrinth movement present the labyrinth as a form of meditation that transcends the limitations of still meditation. But that is only part of the story. The labyrinth is much more than a tool for meditation. Read More

This article was originally published in The Living Church on August 27, 2000. I wrote the article after doing extensive research into the origin and history of labyrinth-walking. Since that time the labyrinth movement has made deep inroads into the Episcopal Church and other denominations. My former parish has an outdoor labyrinth as do a number of Episcopal churches, including at least one here in the Jackson Purchase. Labyrinth-walking has even gained a following in evangelical churches. A number of theories have been propounded for how the labyrinth works. Hindu practitioners claim it re-tunes the chakras, the centers of spiritual power in the human body. As readers will see, I am not a proponent of labyrinth-walking. I explain why in the article.

The 10 Commandments of Progressive Christianity #2: Are We Born Sinners in Need of Salvation?

“At the very root of the modern liberal movement is the loss of the consciousness of sin.” –J. Gresham Machen (p.64)

I’ve been working my way through a new series entitled “The 10 Commandments of Progressive Christianity.” It’s an examination of 10 core tenets of progressive (or liberal) Christianity offered by Richard Rohr, but really based on the book by Philip Gulley.

We come now to the second of these tenets: “Affirming people’s potential is more important than reminding them of their brokenness.”

The core issue in this second tenet is the issue of sin. Are people sinners? If so, how big of a deal is it? And, more than that, how important is that people know they are sinners? Should we tell them? And how we do balance people’s sinfulness with their potential as God’s image bearers?

There are few issues that divide progressive Christianity from historic Christianity more than this issue of sin. Indeed, as the above quote from Machen indicates, it is the loss, downplaying, ignoring, or sometimes even the outright rejection of sin that fundamentally defines progressive Christianity. Read More

Recipes for Failure in Revitalization - Revitalize & Replant #039

Not every revitalization effort succeeds. Many fail, and they often fail because of the leader. Today we look at the types of leaders who will fail at revitalization. Listen Now

Jeff Lockyer On Ministering To LGBTQ, Young Leadership, Women In Leadership And Reaching The People And The Poor In A City [Podcast]

Jeff Lockyer has been the Lead Pastor of what is now Southridge Church since he was in his early 20’s. He talks about what that journey was like, team leadership, ministering to LGBTQ in his city, and how his church has made reaching the poor part of their mission of reaching people. Listen Now

This is an extract from Carey Nieuwhof's email about this podcast:

"There are few issues that have been more divisive and contentious over the last few years than how the LGBTQ community and the church interact.

That's why I'm so appreciative of how Jeff Lockyer, a friend who leads a large church near Niagara Falls, talked about his congregation's unique relationship with LGBTQ people. Jeff's congregation isn't affirming, and yet many LGBTQ attend every week and love his church.

Jeff and I also tackle young leaders (he was in his early 20s when he became the Lead Pastor), co-leading, women in leadership, and reaching the poor and the unchurched at the same time."

Listening is Not Compromising

God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen more than you talk. – Momma, c. 1970

It seems among the Christian family there is a strong desire to talk before we listen.

Perhaps that is not exactly accurate. There is a strong tendency to talk before we listen. We have a habit of responding before we have understanding, as if listening is a sin. As if seeking clarity through humility and quietness are compromising the truth. Read More

Keep The Momentum In Your Preaching

Does your sermon keep building momentum as you progress or does it stall out in the middle or end? Peter Mead offers encouragement for preachers to avoid the common pitfalls to message momentum.

When you are preaching, your listeners are looking for unity (a single focus to your preaching), order (a clarity of structured presentation), and progress (a sense that you are moving forward and getting closer to the end). It is this progress that can be easily lost causing the message to feel like it gets stuck in the mud.

What causes momentum to be lost? Could be one of several things.... Read More

Also See:
How To Plan A Preaching Calendar
How To Teach Old Testament Characters
A Road To Somewhere
2 Rules For Transparency In The Pulpit

How the Spirit Ignites Our Supplication

Beyond our mental and physical capacities exists a spiritual dimension that we must grasp if we are going to learn to pray by the power of the Holy Spirit. Worship-based prayer brings our hearts into intimate harmony with the person of the Holy Spirit and enhances our surrender to His control, wisdom, and power for our prayers. The Spirit then enables us to worship more fully. This worship, in turn, brings us into a deeper reality of the Spirit’s life, thus continuing the circle. Read More

15 Things the Best Church Websites Do

What can we learn from the best church websites?

I have always been wary of reinventing the wheel and hungry to learn from others who have done the hard work and created something great. So what are the best church websites doing? What sets these websites apart from the rest?

Not surprisingly, church websites vary greatly but I have observed that the best church websites.... Read More

Recommended:
Church Website Providers – A Comprehensive Comparison of Pricing and Features
10 Quick Things You Can Do To Improve Your Church Website
3 Simple Steps to Planning A Guest-Friendly Church Website
58% of Church Websites are Missing Christmas Service Times

Steven Kryger's Communicate Jesus website is one of those invaluable websites that you find from time to time on the internet. I definitely recommend his articles to readers.

Why Lay People Can (and Should) Plant Churches

We should remember that it is God (not boards or faculties) who raises up leaders.

The desire to plant churches using lay people is not new, but it is finding a renewed emphasis. This is partly because we’ve found that when we primarily go the Bible college/seminary route to find all our church planters, we don't naturally develop bi-vocational paths to plant churches, which are also necessary for us to reach the world for Christ.

Roland Allen, a well-known Anglican missiologist in the last century, wrote some books on the issues associated with certain models of missiology. The titles give away the point of his books.

His first book was called Missionary Methods, St. Paul's or Ours. It’s subtle, I know.

He dealt with the idea that missionaries in China, for instance, would send future missionaries off to England to attend college and seminary, then years later they would come back as pastors. By then, they were more English than they were Chinese, so they would say that they were useless for the work.

He also wrote a book called The Case for Voluntary Clergy. Again, subtle.

One more book to consider, from the title alone, is the The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes that Hinder It, which suggested that educational attainment and missiological engagement were, at times, inversely proportional.

So, the titles make the case: We need a path to raise up church planters from outside of educational institutions.

Now, to save some time in the twitter conversation that always follows these articles:

1.I don’t like using the term laity, as it reinfornces the laity/clergy divide, but I use it here to make this article clear.
2. I can’t tell you what everyone considers laity compared to clergy. The case I am making here is for church planters and pastors who are not formally trained (but often receive informal training on the job).

Read More

What Churches Reaching Hispanics Need to Know

There is a mistake many American church planters among Hispanics make. They assume that our cultures aren’t all that different (we simply speak different languages). So the common approach to church planting among Hispanics has been to hire a Spanish-speaking pastor. Shortly thereafter, a Spanish service is underway. To be sure, this is done by well-meaning people who want to reach the Spanish-speaking communities in their city.

But church planting among Hispanics requires much more than offering a Spanish-speaking service on Sunday. We must be thoughtful and attentive if we are to reach the Hispanic communities around us with the gospel.

"Church planting among Hispanics requires much more than putting on a Spanish-speaking service on Sunday."

Read More

One Burning Question for Ministry Among the Poor

I learned the hard way what NOT to do in poor communities.

When I first came to Cambodia 22 years ago, the place was a mess. People were poor. Dirt poor.

Frankly, you’d have had to be a heartless zombie not to respond.

And the missionaries came flooding in. We were full of compassion and big dreams. Some were here to plant churches. Others were here to bring development. Some ambitious souls wanted to do both.

Every one of us was here to see transformation.

Now 20 years later it’s easy to see what worked and what didn’t work. And more tellingly—what worked while the foreigners were here, and what fell apart after they left.

In this circus of good intentions, no-one wants to waste their efforts. And no-one wants to prop up something that will inevitably collapse. Read More

Church Attendance Patterns Are Changing And We Have To Adapt

It’s not enough be an attractional church, a caring church, or even a teaching church. We need to become an equipping church.

Church attendance is changing.

As recently as 20 years ago, if ten people became church members (either formally or informally) the average attendance grew by eight or nine people.

Not any more.

Today, if ten people become church members, average attendance grows by five or six.

Here’s why.

According to Thom Rainer, “About 20 years ago, a church member was considered active in the church if he or she attended three times a week. Today, a church member is considered active in the church if he or she attends three times a month.” In many places, it’s even lower than that.

These are not fringe people who are attending that infrequently. And these are not folks who have quit going to church. This is the pattern for active church members.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon, of course, as Thom Rainer goes on to explain in this post. Carey Nieuwhof has a different, but also helpful take on why this is happening in a series that starts with this article.

Since they’ve covered the “why?” so well, I’m not going to try to add to it. Instead, I want to make a couple observations about what it means for the average church. Read More

Also See:
Five Reasons Church Members Attend Church Less Frequently
10 Reasons Even Committed Church Attenders Are Attending Church Less Often

The Rainer Report: Church Sickness #6: Purposeless Prayer

Purposeless Prayer is when corporate prayer is nonexistent or steeped in non-useful tradition. Watch Now

This particular sickness often besets Anglican and Episcopal churches. Corporate prayer is perfunctory and not from the heart. There is also little particularization - perhaps a list of the names of individuals for whom prayer is desired. Very often the congregation does not have an inkling why prayer has been requested for these individuals. Candidates for ordination may lumped together with the terminally-ill and so on. Biddings may be inserted into a prayer without any regard for its text. At fault is not the use of set forms but rather the failure to use them properly. Paul's counsel on the importance of praying with understanding is largely ignored.

Give Protestants a Taste of Catholic Communion, German Bishops Tell Vatican

Proposal to let non-Catholic spouses share the Eucharist goes before Rome’s theological watchdog on Thursday.

For all the progress made toward bringing evangelicals and Catholics together, the notion of a shared Communion table between the two traditions—each with their own theological and ecclesiastical understanding of the Lord’s Supper—has pretty much always been off the table.

Yet, a recent proposal by German bishops aims to allow the Catholic Church to offer the sacrament to certain Protestants—those who are married to practicing Catholics and desire to participate in Communion together.

Though the Vatican initially rejected the notion last month, officials will meet in Rome Thursday to, as its press office said, “deal with the theme of the eventual access to the Eucharist for non-Catholic spouses in mixed marriages,” according to a Catholic News Service report. Read More

Violence Against Women Begins in the Womb

Why female feticide threatens the social order.

Sabu George, a Delhi-based researcher, has spent the past quarter-century exposing what he calls “the worst kind of violence” in Indian history—the elimination of millions of unborn girls. He regards it as nothing less than genocide and describes the first few months in the womb as “the riskiest part of a woman’s life cycle in India.”

For the last two decades, reports have consistently illustrated the extent of the problem. After investigators uncovered 400 pieces of bone believed to be of female fetuses, reporters gave graphic details: “Last September,” wrote Raekha Prasad and Randeep Ramesh in The Guardian, “remains of dozens of babies were exhumed from a pit outside an abortion clinic in Punjab. To dispose of the evidence, acid was used to melt the flesh and then the bones were hammered to smithereens.”

Although it’s easy to relegate this story to the remote regions of the developing world, India is representative of a global problem of epic proportion. In the year of the #MeToo movement, the practice of female feticide offers us a powerful depiction of the institutionalization of violence against women. Sex-selective abortions perpetrate violence against the most vulnerable, unseen victims. What emerges is an alarming picture of mass termination: prenatal offspring, aborted for no other reason than they happen to be female. Read More

Why the picture of a cow? Just a reminder that cattle may receive better treatment in India than unborn and newly-born baby girls.

The Preacher and Politics: Seven Thoughts

This post is addressed to preachers and is about preachers. While many of the reflections may be useful for all Christians, I’m writing specifically with my fellow pastors in mind.

We live in a day where politics is everywhere, and everything is about politics. On one level this has always been true. Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. That’s a political statement. Every sermon touches on the polis, on the city of man, on our earthly citizenship. But that’s not what I have in mind, at least not entirely. What I mean by “politics” are the elections, the elected officials, the political parties, and the endless stream of policy debates and legislative, economic, and judicial controversies that so much of our daily news and social media feed comment on constantly.

What is a pastor supposed to do with these controversies and debates? That’s my question.

When preachers are quickly criticized for saying too much (you’re not gospel-centered!) or saying too little (you’re not woke!), it behooves us to think carefully about the relationship between pastoral ministry and politics.

Here are seven thoughts. Read More

Also See:
Standing in the Pulpet
Protect Your Church in One Simple Step
10 Preaching Questions With Ray Ortlund Jr.

Our Call: Missionaries in a Secular Land

The reality is, Christians are interlopers. We are strangers and foreigners.

As Christians, I believe we should always be more driven by our missionary identity than we are by our national identity, our political identity, our environmental identity, our social identity, or even our church identity.

Don’t get me wrong. We ought to love our church. (I know I love my church.) And the Church (with capital C) is the bride of Christ, destined for eternity with God. But here on earth we must face the reality that our culture is not to be our primary identity.

Our culture is a mission field. We must see ourselves as people on mission. This is not our home. This is our mission field. Therefore, we all must see our vocations as mission—as kingdom work. Read More

Also See:
Does Discipleship Lead Naturally to Evangelism?
5 Ways to Elevate Evangelism

How To Live In A Fragmented World

It is no question that we are living in a fragmented world. Even though we’re more technologically advanced, globalized, and seemingly more tolerant and open-minded than ever before, it seems as though there are more things that are dividing us and more disagreements in our world than ever before, too. The Church is not exempt from this, and sadly, it can be even worse in a lot of ways. So how do we handle so many disagreements within the Church and tensions between the Church world and the broader culture we live in? I think there are three things to consider that can help guide us to these sorts of questions. Read More

Also See:
The Dangerous Allure of Being a Cultural Warrior

What Really Happened at the Wheaton Meeting?

It’s been two weeks since the invitation only Wheaton meeting of evangelicals was held at Wheaton College but both Christian and secular media are still running op-ed pieces about the gathering.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the state of evangelicalism since the 2016 election but many news accounts described the sessions as “Trump-bashing” and political. The latest editorial pieces appear aimed at refuting those characterizations. Read More

Also See:
A New Fissure in the Evangelical Movement
Study: Clinton Voters Twice as Likely to Leave Evangelicalism as Trump Voters