Now Available: Songs from The New City Catechism 3

Last March we released the first batch of Songs from The New City Catechism, which covered Questions 1–15, followed by Questions 16–31 in summer 2017. As I wrote then,

When The Gospel Coalition, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and Crossway decided to bring The New City Catechism (NCC) to print, we knew we wanted to commission brand-new songs that followed the exact wording of The New City Catechism children’s questions and answers. What might take weeks to learn through repetition could take minutes to memorize when set to the right tune.

That has indeed been the case as both children and adults have responded enthusiastically to learning the catechism through song.

Today, we are pleased to release a third set of songs covering Questions 32–41, set to music by Frank Hernandez and arranged by Fletch Wiley. There are a several ways you can stream and download.... Learn More

Why We Should Still Grieve the Divorce of Public Honor and Private Morality

I grew up as a child of the religious right.

I came of age in the 1990’s during the peak of Focus on the Family’s political influence and the drama of President Clinton’s sex scandals. I was taught that we could not and should not separate private character from public office. In 2000, before leaving the country to spend several years in Romania, I remember watching a debate on TV at my grandparents’ house when George W. Bush promised to restore the honor of the presidency and bring character back to the White House. Everyone cheered.

I wasn’t cheering during the 2016 election. The first big letdown came during the primary season, when I watched watch leaders and organizations who had once championed the importance of character pass over other Republican candidates in order to support Trump. That sense of disillusionment was reinforced by surveys after the election, when white evangelicals swung from being the group most likely to say that personal character mattered for public office to being the least likely group to say so.

To be clear: I sympathized with those who felt pressed to make a pragmatic choice between two unacceptable, unprincipled candidates. What grieved me was not the reluctant evangelical voter but the way so many Christians justified their choice by saying the principles they once held regarding high moral standards for people in public office had been wrong or were no longer relevant. Read More

The Relationship Between Inviting and Church Health [Video]

In this Rainer Report Thom Rainer talks about the relationship between inviting and church health. Dr. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Prior to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. Watch Now

The One Person Who Can't Be Themselves in Our Culture

The modern age may be described as a quest for the authentic self.

Watch any amount of television aimed at children and you will be inundated with calls to “be yourself.” The hero discovers who they really are and their true identity is what they needed to achieve success.

But it’s not only on cartoons and kids’ shows, adults are overwhelmed with the message as well. The term “authentic” has doubled in usage among books since the 1920s and “authenticity” has nearly tripled.

But in this age when everyone is allowed to be themselves to the fullest extent imaginable, there’s one person who constantly doesn’t get that opportunity: Jesus. Read More

‘Taste and See’ Evangelism

Evangelism—even the word has negative connotations for the unconvinced. Though it literally means the telling of “good news,” our approach to evangelism rarely comes across as “good” to those who are not yet following Christ. What if we changed our approach to mirror the pattern I often see Jesus demonstrating in Scripture—an experiential approach, inviting people to “taste and see that the Lord is good”?

In the gospel of John, Jesus issues that invitation to skeptics and believers: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38). Did Jesus really mean anyone? Did He really mean the Good News is so good that anyone willing to come and drink can experience a taste of living water? What difference might it make to our evangelistic approach if we believed this?

Maybe the reason we don’t see more people following Christ is that we’ve put ourselves in the way of them coming to God. Read More

9 No-Fault Reasons Some Local Churches Close Their Doors

Is it an admission of defeat or disobedience to acknowledge that congregations have a finite life-span?

Jesus’ church will never die.

But individual congregations are never given that promise. No matter how faithful they may be. Read More

How to Serve Your City When You Aren’t a Megachurch

Our resources are limited, but that hasn’t stopped us.

Our church is located in the second-most affluent county in the state of Tennessee. As a new pastor in the area, I struggled to discern the most helpful ways our church could serve our city. We aren’t a megachurch, so our resources are limited. Random acts of kindness are wonderful, but I envisioned our church becoming an indispensable partner in the community through compassion and gospel proclamation.

Although we are located in a Bible-belt town, almost 80 percent of our community is not connected to any church. Most people do not care that we exist and are not interested in what we do.

These dynamics tempted us to assume what people needed, meet those perceived needs, and call it a win. But we knew God was calling us to more. Read More

Tuesday's Catch:" 7 Crucial Insights for Church Planters" and More

7 Crucial Insights for Church Planters

Seven words of wisdom for church planters and leaders from Ron Edmondson. Read More

Why Hospitality Is Vital to Church Planting

In many ways, church planting is about learning to practice hospitality well. It’s about meeting, welcoming, listening to, and loving people. Read More

Registered Sex Offender: A Sample Church Membership and Attendance Policy

In this post, I have drafted a policy for how a church would think through the attendance and membership stipulations for someone who is under Registered Sex Offender (RSO) status. The enactment of this policy assumes that both (a) the sexual abuse episode has been reported and (b) that the legal process has concluded resulting in RSO status as the verdict; meaning the individual under RSO status has paid, or is currently paying their debt to society. Read More

10 Things You Should Know about the Cross of Christ

Whereas I affirm the need for a proper self-image, I fear that many are fast becoming so impressed with themselves that they can't help but wonder why Jesus had to die for them at all! But when we look at the Scripture, we realize that the God-man, Jesus, was on the cross suffering the eternal penalty we deserved because of the infinity of God's holiness and the depths of our depravity. Read More

The Wise Leader: Navigating Ethical Storms

Former U.S. Attorney contributes to an ongoing series. Read More

What Forced Conversion and Poor Discipleship Have in Common

Teaching about Jesus’s commands increases people’s knowledge about God and Christian life, while teaching them to obey equips them to live out the Christian life. Read More

Call It What You Like, God Calls It Sin

We have created a myriad of ways to justify sin, but the episode of David and Bathsheba reminds us that God takes our sin very seriously. So should we. Read More

10 Things Hidden Sin Does to Us

I assume we’ve all been there at some point, even as believers – that is, in a place where we’re losing the battle with hidden sin. We continue in the darkness despite what hidden sin does to us.... Read More

7 Things That Will Drive Future Church Growth

So you want to reach more people? Here are 7 factors that will drive almost all future church growth. Read More

The Gospel Implications of The Golden Rule

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12).

This is arguably the most famous passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and it is perhaps the only Bible verse you can still quote in a political or social setting without rejection or repercussion. Often called the “Golden Rule,” it is one of the few teachings of Jesus with which almost everyone agrees—at least on the surface.

Most would agree today that we should be thoughtful and considerate of others, maybe even practice “random acts of kindness” toward strangers. Tolerance—for every religion, lifestyle, and moral persuasion—is the god of our culture, and this verse is frequently quoted in order to encourage us to worship at her shrine.

Sadly, this widespread, warm-and-fuzzy reception to Jesus’ command is owed to how broadly it is misunderstood and misapplied. Consider at least three aspects of the Golden Rule that we often don’t bother to notice or to remember. Read More

Monday's Catch: "Three Intentional Steps to Reaching Your Goals" and More

Three Intentional Steps to Reaching Your Goals

Someone, somewhere once said, “Goals are dreams with deadlines.” What then are some ways we can keep our dreams alive? Read More

Preacher’s Toolkit: How Do I Teach Difficult Doctrines without Splitting the Church?

Doctrine does not have to divide, however, if a pastor will employ a few basic strategies when he encounters a difficult or controversial doctrine in the Bible. Read More

10 Distractions Regarding Worship Music

A few weeks ago, I posted findings on common worship distractions. Since that time, some readers have questioned me more specifically about our findings regarding the musical component of worship. So, the goal in this post is to respond to that request. Read More

10 Common Worship Distrations

Based on my work as a church consultant, reports from our consultation “secret shoppers,” interviews with church members, and my own experiences, here are ten far-too-common distractions during worship services. Read More

“I give them communion because it does them good”

My dad tells the story about a church he attended where the vicar would ensure the choir boys were given communion because “it does them good.” Shortly after taking communion, the boys would troop out of the service, kicking each other, swearing etc. The communion did not seem to have done them much good at all. Read More

The Doctrine of the Sacraments in the Thirty-Nine Articles

This article was originally published in the January 1991 issue of the Churchman, the journal of the Church Society. In the article Roger Beckwith, librarian of Latimer House, Oxford, and eminent Anglican scholar, examines the doctrine of the sacraments in the Thirty-Nine Articles. This doctrine has bearing on whether children should be admitted to the Lord's Table and when. What has been a chronic problem in the Anglican Church is that children have been allowed to receive communion on the grounds that they have been confirmed and more recently on the grounds that have been baptized before they have evidenced a vital faith and can benefit from receiving communion. The Articles, however, do not teach that the rite of confirmation or the sacrament of baptism confer faith - a decidedly unscriptural view. Read More

A partial list of Roger Beckwith's articles may be found a the Gospel Coalition's Resource Library.

4 Grave Dangers in Every Sin

Tim Challies identies four grave dangers to the sinner that every sin presents. Read More

The Critical Role of Name-Calling in Our Witness: You Are ‘Beloved’

Perfectionism is just chronic insecurity in disguise. Read More

Saturday Lagniappe: "Fitness Lessons for the Church" and Much More

Fitness Lessons for the Church

I’ve been on a bit of a fitness kick of late. In the process, I’ve been introduced to four fitness truths that have proven to be extremely important to remember....Interestingly, these four truths are extremely relevant to the church. Read More

Words Can Kill (Or Give Life)

Be careful how you use your words. They have exceptional power to hurt or to heal. Read More

Thinking About Expository Preaching – Part 1

...the preferred form of preaching is that which is driven by the text and where the text sets the agenda. Read More

I Preached a 'Dud'... Now What?

You just stepped down from the stage and you know it. Your wife knows it too. You preached a dud.... what are you to do? Read More

3 Tests of Pulpit Plagiarism: Do You Pass Them?

“In a world of preaching, a pastor who takes sermons from other preachers—word-for-word—without giving credit is guilty of plagiarism. That is stealing what is not yours.” Read More

The Hidden Reason Churches Nail Worship

It’s you. You’re the reason—hidden in plain sight. I’m writing to you, lead pastor. The hidden reason churches nail worship is because the lead pastor leads out in worship. Read More

I Love a Church That Sings Badly

I am drawn toward a church that sings poorly and am a little suspicious of a church that sings really well. Read More

5 Temptations of the Social Media User

How can a Christian seek to honor God, benefit from social media use and be aware of the temptations that may accompany his or her social media use? It is this question that we will look at briefly while considering five potential temptations for the social media user. Read More

How the Gospel Shapes Our Children for Mission

“We face a crisis in parenting in the church today, and until we correct it, all of our efforts to engage the culture will fail.” Read More

Est.Church Podcast: Engaging the Established Church Evangelistically [Podcast]

Micah Fries interviews Dr. Alvin Reid and uncovers some of his insights into evangelism and local missional work. Listen Now

Order Sharing Jesus without Freaking Out: Evangelism the Way You Were Born to Do It from LifeWay. Visit the Sharing Jesus Landing Page.

Who Is the God of Mormonism?

One thing you’ll discover as you’re talking with your Mormon (LDS) friends is that though we use the same terms, we often mean very different things. Read More

Who Brought the Gospel to Korea? Koreans Did.

The spread of the gospel is usually attributed to foreign missionaries, but the story is different on this Asian peninsula. Read More

Getting Small Churches on Mission (Part 2)

Three ways smaller churches can serve their communities

Numerically, smaller churches dominate U.S. life. They should also be key parts of the mission.

There is much benefit, therefore, in identifying various ways that smaller churches can reach their communities and beyond for Christ. This chapter will identify and briefly expound a few ways small churches can be mission-minded, both locally and globally. They are in no particular order of preference or importance, and there is certainly no expectation that a church on mission would only select one of these opportunities. Many coalesce together and can be seamlessly integrated to form a more fully orbed missional church. Read More

Going, But Not Forgotten: A Tribute To Those Who Help Local Churches Die With Dignity

Whatever your past, present or future as a congregation may be, we are grateful for the kingdom work you have done.

Local churches have a life-cycle.

Some barely make it out of the starting blocks. Some last a generation or two. Some are still active after hundreds of years. But, even with constant renewal, the evidence from 2,000 years of Christianity shows that every congregation will, at some point, cease to exist.

If you are currently attending or leading a church that is in its final years or days, this short article is for you. Read More

Why We Need a Missiological Edge in Church Planting

Bigger and better AND deeper and further

North American church planting has grown up a lot since I first planted in 1988 as a 20-year-old who grew a beard to look older.

You’ll often hear those of us who planted churches 30 years ago lament to church planters today about how little we had in terms of resources and training—especially compared to what’s available to them now.

It almost seems bizarre to me—I had a series of cassette tapes, a notebook, and some training. Read More

Five Reasons Pastors and Worship Leaders Should Meet Weekly - Rainer on Leadership #405 [Podcast]

The relationship between pastor and worship leader is one of the most important church staff relationships there is. Today, Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe discuss a post by Sam Rainer on why it’s critical for the two to meet weekly. Listen Now

I posted a link to Sam Rainer's article on Anglicans Ablaze on January 20, 2018. I am a firm believer in pastors and worship leaders planning worship services together. I have experienced worship services in which the music was chosen in isolation from the other elements of the service with disastrous results. 

How to Foster a Praying Church [Podcast]

“Do your congregants really sense that you need Jesus? That you are currently being dealt with by the Spirit of God?” — Scotty Smith Listen Now

Neglect the Great Commandment, Hinder the Great Commission

American Christianity is becoming less compelling to the rest of our society. Many people cringe when we mention our faith. Now, we might like to think such rejection is because we’ve imitated Christ and sought to advance his kingdom on earth. After all, didn’t Jesus promise that all people would hate us for his name’s sake?

But it isn’t always faithful witness causing people to turn up their noses at Christians. Many are responding negatively to the church’s sins and failures. I don’t think they are expecting perfection, but they are expecting consistency. And so often we don’t even clear that low bar.

If we suffer, it should be because of integrity, not heresy and hypocrisy (1 Pet. 4:14–16). And yet in so many ways, the American church is suffering for the wrong reasons. Read More

Nine Reasons I'm Hopeful for Church Revitalization and Replanting in North America - Revitalize & Replant #027

A church revitalization movement is sweeping across North America, and I’m encouraged about the hopeful direction in which many churches are moving. Today we cover nine reasons for this encouragement. Listen Now

Why You Desperately Need the Holy Spirit

When is the last time you begged God for help? Whether it is understanding Scripture, or applying it to your life. Or whether it is a desire to kill a particular sin, or asking Him for an open door to share the Gospel, how often do you spend a little time begging Him for help?

I mean, are we able to do anything spiritual apart from the Holy Spirit’s help? Read More

10 Things No One Ever Told You about Being a Pastor

I hate to see a young pastor get disillusioned by his first experience or two. But it happens, sad to say.

Those of us who have been in the field throughout all our adult years wish someone had told us a few things about this work. So, assuming we are speaking to beginning pastors, here are a few things we’d love to share.... Read More

I may have previously posted a link to this article by Joe McKeever on Anglicans Ablaze. However, a search of the blog failed to produce the post. It did, however, produce three posts that were unrelated to the subject matter of the article. It is a good article and if you have read it before, I believe that you will benefit from reading it again. We often pick up from a second or third reading of an article, things that we did not pick up the first time we read the article. I often revisit articles to refresh my mind as to what it is about and what helpful insights it may offer.

Paul Tripp on the Dangers Facing Every Bible Teacher [Podcast]

Nancy Guthrie interviews Paul Tripp

Those of us who stand up in front of people, or sit down in front of a computer, or gather in a circle to teach the Bible to others face some unique spiritual dangers—dangers that have the power to rob us of rich and real relationship to Christ even as we go about teaching about Christ. In his book Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry, Paul Tripp helps those in ministry face up to hidden motives and harmful habits.

In this episode of Help Me Teach the Bible, I asked Tripp to talk about five things of particular importance for those of us who teach the Bible.... Listen Now

3 Questions to Ask Before You Start a Podcast

Podcasting seems to be the latest branch of the Internet vine. In March of this year, Nick Quah at Hot Pod noted:

The share of Americans who report being monthly podcast listeners (the key metric in my mind) is now 24 percent (67 million), up from 21 percent (57 million) the year before. That’s a 14 percent (or 3 percentage point) growth year-over-year. The story is more dramatic if you take a longer view: Over the past two years, monthly podcast listening has grown by 40 percent.

Podcasts are audio (closer to an audiobook), rather than video or text. Podcasts can supplement rather than supplant reading and research material done online; two blogs might be mutually exclusive. A podcast and a blog need not be.

You congregation (and others) can listen to podcasts while driving, exercising, taking an elevator, or mowing the lawn. Podcasts provide the opportunity to do two things at once.

Podcasts are easy to start (and relatively inexpensive to create and maintain), but they are not for everyone. Depending on the type of podcast you might consider, there is time involved researching, recording, editing, and publishing. So, before you start a podcast, ask yourself these three questions.... Read More

Why Student Ministry Is Failing in Most Churches

Unless you’ve been there yourself, you’ll never understand a student pastor’s burden and why many don’t last long.

There are exceptions to what I’m going to share, but I’m afraid it’s a growing problem. I’ve heard from a lot of student pastors who feel the same.

Here’s the big problem: Most churches either don’t value the student ministry enough, or they value the wrong things.

And because of this, far too many young people are abandoning the church after they graduate. Read More

Died: James W. Sire, Editor Who Brought Us Francis Schaeffer and Os Guinness

‘The Universe Next Door’ author used worldview as a tool for evangelical apologetics.

James W. Sire, the InterVarsity Press (IVP) editor who introduced Christian readers to works by Francis Schaeffer, Os Guinness, C. Stephen Evans, and Rebecca Manley Pippert, died Tuesday at age 84.

As chief editor for IVP, Sire advanced the Christian worldview movement through the books he edited and wrote, most famously his 1976 title The Universe Next Door, which was named one of CT’s books of the year more than 30 years later.

“Sire was a keystone in the intellectual renewal of evangelicalism in the 1960s and 70s,” wrote Andy Le Peau, a longtime editor at IVP, noting that “Sire was first to publish a number of influential figures.” Read More

See Also:
James W. Sire, “A Keystone in the Intellectual Renewal of Evangelicalism,” Dies
Master Apologist & Winsome Mn of God: James W. Sire

James W. Sire's Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways Cults Misread the Bible has strongly influenced my thinking since I first read it in the 1980s. The reading errors that he identifies in Scripture Twisting are not only made by interpreters of the Bible on the fringes of Christianity but also Bible interpreters in a number of mainline denominations. Our responsibility as Bible teachers is not only instruct our fellow Christians in how to "rightly divide the word of God," to interpret it properly, but also to recognize the various ways that Scripture may be twisted and misinterpreted.

The Turpin Case and the Urgent Call to Neighbor

The recent discovery of 13 siblings allegedly neglected, starved, and tortured by their parents embodies the essence of human depravity. Disgust churns in our stomachs as we consider the deplorable conditions that prosecutors claim Louise and David Turpin “raised” their children in—shackled to beds, deprived of food, beaten, compelled to wallow in filth. We balk at the thought of parents discarding the children God entrusted to them as rotten and expendable. We wonder how they could withdraw all affection from their children, and dote on their dogs instead. If true, this case of child abuse exemplifies raw sin. It exposes evil at its most horrific. We recoil from the sight of it, because the soul knows no other response.

These shocking findings in Perris, California, have appropriately sparked outrage. As desperation spurs us to act, the public dialogue has focused on homeschooling, with a flurry of articles debating the need for tighter regulation. As a homeschooler myself, I’ve read these arguments with interest, but I can’t ignore the greater issue lurking between the lines. A more sinister question, fundamental to Christian identity, hovers in the squalid hallways of the Turpin house.

Why did no one report this abuse? Read More

An article I posted in January, "Behavioral Science Catches Up to the Bible," explains in part why people do not report abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation. Another common reason is that people do not want to "get involved." They fear the consequences that they might suffer if they report abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation. A third common reason is that people do not recognize the signs of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation for what they are - indicators of a serious problem that requires intervention. I read this week about the case of a 2-year-old child who was found "frozen" on a back porch. The cause of death is yet to be determined. A neighbor had repeatedly found this child and a sibling wandering the neighborhood and had returned the children to their mother. No one, however, reported the wandering children to the police or the local child protection agency. The case has all the indications of a lack of supervision case that borders on criminal neglect. The neighbor was well-meaning but if a very young child is found wandering a neighborhood more than once, the police or the local child protection agency should be contacted to investigate the situation. A fourth common reason is a particular group, religious or otherwise, may protect a member of their group who is abusing, neglecting, and/or exploiting a child because that individual is a member of their group.

The Modern Myth Of The Persistently Growing Congregation

The addition or multiplication of small congregations has always been the typical way the church has grown.

The persistently growing congregation is a relatively new phenomenon – and an even more recent expectation.

Aside from the grand cathedrals of Europe (which were often the result of politics and power more than faith), it wasn’t physically possible for local congregations to become massive until very recently in history.

It’s not a coincidence that megachurches came after the arrival of cars, highways and public transit. The regular gathering of massive crowds requires the physical ability to move huge numbers of people safely, consistently and inexpensively.

Until the mass transit era, people built church facilities that suited their immediate environment – as in their small town or neighborhood. Then, when more people came to faith in Christ, they’d build another meeting place close by, within walking distance of the people in the next neighborhood or town. Read More

Wednesday's Catch: "7 Reasons Young Men Raised in Church Still Struggle with Church" and More

7 Reasons Young Men Raised in Church Still Struggle with Church

I spend much of my time with seminary students, but I also spend time with young men who have been raised in church, but who aren’t preparing for ministry. Often, I connect with this group when I speak in collegiate ministries or serve as an interim pastor. Many of these young men, I’m learning, struggle with church. Here are some of the reasons why.... Read More

5 Keys To Sorting Through The Crazy And Conflicting Opinions You Hear As A Leader

One of the most challenging tasks of leadership involves sorting through seemingly endless opinions you hear almost every day about pretty much everything. Some of the opinions are crazy. Even the ones that aren’t are conflicting. Read More

A Great Commandment Pastor

The Great Commandments have been familiar to me for as long as I can remember: Love God and your neighbor. About ten years ago I was studying in a remote Arkansas mountain-cabin when God gave me fresh eyes on the text. They immediately brought much needed clarity into my life and ministry. Read More

The Importance of Churches Having Audio Resources

Last week marked the start of a new video series on the blog—Rainer Report. Each Wednesday I’m providing you with a new video specifically geared toward helping you grow a healthy church. I pray that these will encourage and motivate you in your ministry to your church and its community. Read More

Don’t Let Your Children Choose Your Church

People are shopping, and churches are selling. Yet, the statistics continue to point to disturbing trends. “Youth programs and parenting routines designed to pass on religious practice appear to be failing, and 1 in 4 Americans are considered nones today, compared with 12 percent 20 years ago, PRRI reported.” The “none” category is a reflection of what it means to not identify with any religion and it continues to grow. Read More

5 Signs You Are a Mature Christian

The Bible makes it clear that we can grow in our faith and in holiness. It’s not a linear path, in which we are continually helpless and have no part to play. God tells us we can make steps forward in our relationship him, and is always calling us closer, deeper into his ways. Read More

Ministry in Small Towns: Worth a Lifetime Investment

There’s been a recent renewal of evangelical attention given to ministry in rural areas and small towns. The Vineyard’s Small Town USA Initiative plants churches around the country, and Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center for Evangelism has launched the new Rural Matters Institute. Helpful books have been published, including Donnie Griggs’s Small Town Jesus [read TGC’s review], Aaron Morrow’s Small Town Mission, and Brad Roth’s God’s Country, and articles about small-town ministry have appeared in WORLD magazine and on sites like The Gospel Coalition.

This renewed evangelical interest is part of a broader cultural curiosity about rural areas and small towns—the parts of the country largely responsible for the 2016 election of Donald Trump.

It’s uncertain whether this current interest (both from the broader culture and from evangelicals) will continue. So long as it does, what might be done to nurture it into an enduring and effective movement toward the millions of Americans who live outside urban centers? There are numerous answers to that question; but one of the most important, I believe, is the development of a theological vision for ministry in small places. Read More

Also Read:
Small Towns Need Jesus Too

Getting Small Churches on Mission (Part 1)

Small church pastors should view their congregations as an elite force

In today’s church culture, we seem to focus a larger percentage of our writings, thoughts, and conferences on larger churches and how they are reaching people for Jesus. Their pastors seem to be the go-to public figures for speaking invitations, and their model(s) of church growth are extolled as something for all churches to emulate.

But while there are many reasons to celebrate the things larger churches have already done (and continue to accomplish), sometimes we fail to overlook (at best) and neglect (at worst) the work that small churches can do and are doing. Small churches (250 or less members/attenders) make up the vast majority of evangelical churches in the United States. Read More

Tuesday's Catch: "The Effective Leader: Five Essential Habits" and More

The Effective Leader: Five Essential Habits

Jenni Catron, founder of the 4Sight Group, identifies five indispensable disciplines that differentiate an effective leader. Read More

Seven Keys to Growing as a Pastor - Rainer on Leadership #404 [Podcast]

Today, Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe examine seven areas to focus on as a pastor that will help you serve your church better. Listen Now

J.D. Greear on the Sermon Prep Process

In this For the Church video J. D. Greear describes how he writes his sermons and what goes into his sermon preparation process. Watch Now

Greear's first statement may describe the sermon preparation process of a number of preachers. Rather than preparing a sermon from scratch, they take another preacher's sermon and "make it mine" as Greear puts it.

Paul’s Experience on the Damascus Road

It was Christ’s purpose that the one who would bring the gospel to the nations would have firsthand experience of the saving power of that gospel in his own life. Read More

Plenty of the ‘Nones’ Actually Head Back to Church

Americans who identify as agnostic or “nothing in particular” are four times more likely to change their religious affiliation than Protestants or Catholics. Read More

"Turns out, individuals who religiously identify as nothing in particular are just as likely to tilt toward returning to a Christian tradition as they are to become even more entrenched in having no religion. On the other hand, once an individual affirmatively denies a belief in a specific deity (i.e. describing themselves as agnostic or atheist), it’s rare for them to go back."

The Power of De-Conversion Stories: How Jen Hatmaker is Trying to Change Minds About the Bible

The de-conversion story that Michael Kreuger examines in this article has been used in the Episcopal Church and other mainline denominations to persuade Christians in these denominations to change their views on marriage and human sexuality. Read More


The Lord Is on the Move in the Muslim World—Here Are Five Ways Satan Seeks to Undermine That Work

This article on Muslim missions was written by Greg Livingstone, founder of Frontiers, a mission to the Muslim world, and was originally posted in Desiring God earlier this month. Read More

3 Trends In The Call To Vocational Ministry

My call to ministry was not a flash of light, an audible voice, or a burning bush.

It was a process over time. In fact, after sensing God’s call I “ran” from it for a little over a year. Instead of pursuing full-time ministry, I followed my college degree program in Criminal Justice and worked as a Private Investigator.

Over the course of that year God’s voice became clear and my call inescapable. God’s loving and patient hand wrestled me down to a lifetime call in full-time ministry. Read More

Pastor, Don’t Be Afraid to Lead

Pastors are called to lead! We can’t hand over leadership to the biggest giver in the church or succumb to the pressure of a couple of key people in the body who desire to see things done their way. For some of us this means breaking free from the fear of man, so that we can effectively lead to the glory of God. Here are some ways you can lead for the glory of God. Read More

Related:
3 Vital Skills You Won’t Learn in Bible School

Monday's Catch: "Caring for the Poor and Weak" and More

Caring for the Poor and Weak

Even though his solution represents a worse disease, Nietzsche had a point about the idea of helping the weak being uniquely biblical. Read More

Why Most Mission Statements Fail In Smaller Churches

In a smaller church, instead of uniting people, a mission statement can feel controlling and manipulative. Read More

Who Watches Porn? 3 Key Predictors of Porn Use

I recently completed research on over 3,600 men and women struggling with unwanted sexual behavior, be that pornography, an affair, buying sex, etc. I found that the sexual fantasies, porn searches, and sexual behaviors we pursue are not random. They are a direct reflection of the parts of our story–past and present–that remain unaddressed. If you want to find freedom from pornography, you must identify the reasons that bring you to it. Read More

Why do Churches cover up sin?

I’ve seen and heard of multiple occasions on both sides of the Atlantic where good people (and some not so good) have made horrendous decisions about how to handle complaints against individuals within the church. Time and again I’ve found myself utterly perplexed: “Why are they doing this? How can they do that? What is their motivation?” Read More

Worshiping a Limitless God with Limited Resources

How we can encourage our 8-chord guitarists facing 10-20 musically impartial believers to strive on in tough circumstances where there is little to no encouragement and new believers who come from zero congregational singing cultures? Read More

While picking the best songs and sing them more often is good advice, limiting a congregation's repertoire to about 25 songs underestimates a congregation's ability to learn and master new songs. A much better approach is to be more intentional in building up a congregation's repertoire, choosing new songs that are biblical and theologically sound and which are accessible to the average singer in the congregation, introducing them to the congregation in a systematic way, taking the time to teach them to the congregation and practice them with the congregation, and then repeating them frequently until the congregation has mastered them. After the congregation has mastered one new song, then another new song can be introduced to the congregation. Some new songs are easier to learn than others. The ease with which a new song is learned will determine when the next new song is introduced. If a congregation struggles with a new song, the song should be set aside and another new song substituted for it.

3 Ways to Pass on Faith to the Next Generation

It is impossible to lay blame neatly when one generation fails to pass its faith on to the next one. Did the first generation fail to reach out, or did the second generation just harden their hearts? The answer is usually both. Mistakes made by one Christian generation are often magnified in the next, nominal one. Read More

Puerto Rico: 3,000 Churches Damaged, Fewer Christians Left to Rebuild

Attendance drops as 400,000 island residents move to the mainland. Read More

10 Suggestions for the Shepherd of a Stagnant Flock

How many churches in this country—in your denomination, of your church-type, in your county or parish or town—have stopped growing? It depends on whom you ask. Go online and you’ll soon have statistics coming out of your ears on this subject. In our denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, the most significant number—one that seems to have held steady for over three decades—is that some 70 percent of our churches are either in decline or have plateaued.

Plateau. Funny word to use for a church. One wonders how it came to be in use. Why didn’t they say “mesa,” “plain,” “delta” (ask anyone who lives in the Mississippi Delta—flat, flat, flat!), or even “flatline.” Of course, in the emergency room to “flatline” is to die. No one (to my knowledge) is saying a non-growing church is dead, just that some things are not right.

Healthy churches grow. Non-growing churches are not healthy, at least in some significant ways. If it’s true that seven out of ten pastors in our family of churches lead congregations either in decline or stagnation, this is a situation that ought to be addressed. And to my knowledge, everyone is addressing it. Everyone has an opinion.

My single contribution to this discussion is directed toward the shepherd of a stagnant flock: “If your church has plateaued, make sure you haven’t.” Read More

Joe Mckeever hits the nail on the head. Our church may be stagnating but we do not have to stagnate with it!

The Comeback Church [Video]

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Asheville NC

The Kentucky Baptist Convention has posted five videos on YouTube, in which missiologist Ed Stetzer explains the findings and conclusions of the research that he and his co-author, Mike Dodson, published in their book, The Comeback Church: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can, Too. These videos are quite informative. Their principal drawback is that Stetzer is speaking very fast and even viewers for whom English is their native language may have to view the videos several times to fully grasp what he is saying. I have guessed at the order in which the videos were posted on YouTube.

Comeback Churches: Renewed Focus on Jesus Christ and the Mission of the Church
Comeback Churches: Intentional Evangelism
Comeback Churches: Visionary Leadership
Comeback Churches: Lay Mobilization
Comeback Churches: Celebrative Worship

Image: Suzanne Tourtillott CC BY-SA 3.0

Should Churches Handle Sexual Abuse Allegations Internally?

The Andy Savage case should lead us to question the way many churches are handling the issue.

Many observers were troubled when Andy Savage, a pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, received a standing ovation from his congregation for his admission of a “sexual incident” with a 17-year-old high-school student when he was a youth leader at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church in Texas. They have reason to be troubled.

Though the congregation was probably unaware that the woman involved described the “incident” as an assault, at least one pastor at Woodlands and the leaders of Highpoint were aware. The alleged victim claimed that Larry Cotton, an associate pastor of Woodlands at the time, urged her to stay quiet about what happened. And only after the alleged victim made the case public did Highpoint’s pastor Chris Conlee admit that the information was not new to him or to the church leadership. Conlee went on to support Savage and his continued ministry at Highpoint Church.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for churches and religious organizations to try to handle sexual assault allegations internally. Bob Jones University, Sovereign Grace Ministries, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, and the Institute in Basic Life Principles have all come under fire in recent years for not adequately addressing sexual abuse within their communities. Some of these organizations have been accused of blaming the victims—even those who were children at the time of abuse—and pressuring them to forgive their abusers rather than report them. Read More

Called to Preach

Preach Better: Identify and Expose the Tension

If we’re not intentional with identifying and exposing the tension in a text and in the life situation it speaks to, we’ll lose our listeners and the sermon won’t take root in their minds, let alone their hearts. Read More

Why Pastors Should Use More Historical Illustrations in Sermons

Likely, you need more historical illustrations in your sermons, not less. Most of us preachers tend to use real-life examples, current news, pop culture, or biblical examples more than historical illustrations. Read More

Five Key Sources for Sermon Illustrations and Why They are Important

Illustrations also help the listener to understand your points, especially the more abstract or theological ones. You know those technical manuals that “help” you put together cheap furniture? That’s your sermon without any illustrations. They may get the job done, but nobody will enjoy them. Read More

Combating Creative Killers in Sermon Prep

When I’m overwhelmed and getting nowhere fast, here are some practical things that I do to get unstuck. Read More

When Saturday's Overwhelming for a Preacher

I’ve been there. It’s Saturday, and you still have much to do to get ready for Sunday – including, sometimes, getting a sermon ready. If you’re a preacher or teacher, here are some steps that help me in those situations. If you’re a layperson, take some time to pray for your pastors today as you read this post. Read More

“Saturday Night Specials” Versus When Pastors Really Prepare

“Saturday night special” is preacher slang for a sermon that is half-baked on Saturday night, the day before the sermon is delivered. Most pastors have been forced into a “Saturday night special” at some point in their ministry. Read More

Don’t Forsake the Public Reading of Scripture

Bible reading has become a largely private practice—something we do in our own personal “quiet time.” A few verses, or perhaps as much as a chapter, are often read before the sermon on Sunday morning. But when was the last time you heard multiple chapters or, better yet, a whole book of the Bible publicly read aloud from beginning to end?

This has become a relatively rare experience in the church. However, the public reading of Scripture is one of the most ancient, time-honored practices of God’s people that is recorded in Scripture. It is a practice that is repeatedly described and commended at crucial moments in redemptive history, from the very beginning to the very end of the Bible. In fact, it is something that God’s people are specifically commanded to do with devotion. As Paul told Timothy, his young pastoral protégé, “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Tim. 4:13, emphasis added). Read More

Anglicans should not be too quick to pat themselves on the back for maintaining the practice of public reading of Scripture in their churches. From using older translations of the Bible whose language people no longer understand to using lectionaries that shorten and edit lections for public reading and alter their meaning Anglicans have their own share of problems in this area.

Developing a Culture of Service [Podcast]

Daniel Ims and Todd Adkins discuss the importance of creating a missional culture, along with effective ways to do so. Listen Now

Serving the community in which a church is located is one of the keys to its reaching and engaging the unchurched in that community.

Why Are Younger Evangelicals Fascinated by Roman Catholicism?

In recent decades there have been some “conversions” of well-known evangelicals to Roman Catholicism, from Thomas Howard in 1985 to Francis Beckwith in 2007, followed by significant numbers of younger intellectuals attracted to Rome. After acknowledging the primarily North American context of this phenomenon, Stewart also readily points to the fact that the “traffic” of those leaving Roman Catholicism for forms of Protestantism far exceeds the movements in the opposite direction. There is no sign of a massive turn of evangelicals to Roman Catholicism. Nonetheless, what is happening is worth investigating.

A number of reasons are offered to explain the phenomenon. For some, it is simply a return to the church of one’s upbringing. These are people who were born in Catholic families and left Rome at some point in their life out of personal dissatisfaction, then returned to it at a later stage. For others, it was the search for the “historic church” as a haven from sectarianism. After experiencing naïve forms of evangelicalism characterized by isolationism and localism, some young evangelicals looked to Rome as the “mother” and universal church. For still others, it was a desire for the liturgical and doctrinal stability promised by Rome, in contrast to sectors of evangelicalism that tend to run after what is new and creative and therefore lose any sense of tradition. Finally, an admiration for the Catholic intellectual and theological traditions caused some to distance themselves from the apparent shallowness of the (lack of) evangelical thought. Read More

Longing for likes: How to capture the hearts of Gen Z with a greater love

The message appears on the big screen: “Please silence your electronic devices.” And amazingly the people obey. Moments before, they were texting, tweeting, and posting pictures on Instagram. But now they’re putting their phones in airplane mode. Ironically, the middle school girl, an iconic representative of the most tech-savvy, hyper-connected generation in history, is elbowing her dad: “Put it away. The show’s about to start.” When they go to the theater, even Generation Z, the iGeneration, stops to sit still. They’re transfixed by a story. Read More

Overcoming Mission Driftin Your Church - Rainer on Leadership #403

An inward focus often leads to an unhealthy church. Unhealthy churches drift from their mission. Today, Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe discuss how to combat mission drift. Listen Now

Enneagram: The Road Back to You, Or to Somewhere Else?

If you haven’t heard of the Enneagram yet, it won’t be long before you do.

After being used for several decades in Catholic retreats and seminars, the nine-type personality tool has seen an explosion of popularity in evangelical circles. Since 2016, evangelical publishers have released at least three-full length books on the Enneagram: The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery(IVP 2016), The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth (Zondervan 2017), and Mirror for the Soul: A Christian Guide to the Enneagram (IVP 2017). A new book—The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships (IVP)—is set to release in April.

Beyond books, the Enneagram (pronounced any-a-gram) continues to receive a warm reception on a number of blogs and evangelical media outlets with articles like: “What All Christians Need to Know About the Enneagram” and “The Never Ending Quest to Know Ourselves.” In particular, Christianity Today has been a frequent advocate of the Enneagram, touting what the Enneagram has to offer Christians, how evangelicals can use it, and, just recently, how it can be a tool for pastors. On a personal note, I have good friends who swear by the Enneagram as the means by which God showed them their blindspots and helped them overcome weaknesses in their personality.

So what should we make of this new (or ancient?) personality wheel with a strange name? Read More

Earlier this week I passed over the most recent Christianity Today article on the enneagram. "The Enneagram for Pastors," in which Suzanne Stabile who co-authored The Road Back to You with Ian Morgan Cron promotes the enneagram as a self-assessment tool for pastors and wannabe pastors. The article included a link to a 2016 Christianity Today article on the enneagram, "An Evangelical's Guide to the Enneagram." I tend to be leery of such tools due to my past experience with the human potential movement in 1970s and 1980s and the quasi-therapeutic language used in promoting them. The underlying message is discover your personality type and in doing so maximize your potential, which is the "gospel" of the human potential movement. I decided to post a link to Kevin DeYoung's article because it also points out the spiritual dangers associated with this increasingly popular self-assessment tool. I am inclined to classify enneagrams with labyrinths and the practice of labyrinth-walking, a spiritual practice that, in the words of Kevin DeYoung, "presents an approach to spirituality that is alien to, and often at odds with, the language and contours of Scripture." See The Living Church article, "Walking the Labyrinth" I wrote on labyrinths and labyrinth walking in 2000.

Image: The Gospel Coalition 

Constructive Criticism: The Day A Staff Member Told Me I Was Preaching Too Long

A healthy church fosters an atmosphere where people feel free to express their ideas openly – especially at the leadership level.

It was a sunny, California Wednesday morning.,br/>
We were having our weekly staff meeting, innocently sorting out the details for an upcoming service, when I mentioned an illustration I wanted to close out my sermon with.

Then it happened.

One of the staff members spoke up. “We already have a lot going on in the service agenda for that day. We can only do that if you shorten your sermon a bit, because the last couple weeks you’ve gone long.”

No one in the room gasped, averted their eyes, or thought “Oh, that’s too bad, I’m going to miss working with you.” It was just another piece of honest feedback, and we all took it as such.

I responded with, “yeah, I’ll have to cut back if we’re going to add that illustration.” Then we moved on to the next agenda item.

The moment meant so little to us that no one thought anything of it. In fact, they’re probably scratching their heads as they read this, trying to remember when the meeting in question happened.

Every healthy staff should be able to offer constructive criticize to other members, including the lead pastor, with that little amount of concern. Read More