Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church 9. Less Formal Formal Informal Dress up in Sunday best to attend Come as you are (wear what you normally do) Formal titles used when known, especially for clergy and church leaders (i.e. The Rev. Dr.) Names not titles are normative Extensive worship guides/bulletins Limited or no print materials used in worship Positional leadership Functional leadership Join the club Participate in the family or on Read More …
Review of Bright-Sided (#0031)
Release Date: October 2009. Ehrenreich, Barbara. Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America. Metropolitan Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8050-8749-4. Meet the Author Barbara Ehrenreich earned a Ph.D. in cell biology then decided to pursue a career of activism and writing. She has written articles for many respected publications including Time, New York Times, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Monthly. Additionally, she has Read More …
Go Swimming (and Get Wet in the Process) (#0030)
Tom Bandy, a church development guru and ecumenical pastor tells a story that is relevant to all believers: The retreat was being held in a lodge beside a lake. During the break, we all gathered on the beach to watch the kids play. One child was dressed in swimsuit, bathing hat, plastic flotation "duck", and snorkel. She kept running down to the edge of the water, dipping her feet into the lake, yelping, and running back to her towel. All the observers laughed heartily. Later during dinner at Read More …
The Future Church – Less Real Estate (#0029)
Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church 10. Less Real Estate Over the past fifty years, churches have sought to acquire more land and build more buildings as a growth strategy. For the average church, excepting office space and school space, most of the square feet within their campuses are used only a few hours a week. The cost to maintain these large campuses is significant. Any honest consideration of human resource (custodial Read More …
Review of Deliberate Simplicity (#0028)
Browning, Dave. Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less. Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-310-28567-0. Meet the Author Dave Browning is a visionary minimalist and the founder of Christ the King Community Church, International (CTK). CTK is a non-denominational, multi-location church that has been noted as one of the "fastest growing" and "most innovative" churches in America. Deliberate Simplicity is his first book. To learn more, read his Read More …
Review of Rediscovering New Testament Prayer (#0027)
Koenig, John. Rediscovering New Testament Prayer: Boldness and Blessing in the Name of Jesus. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1992. Meet the Author Koenig began in ministry in the Lutheran (LCA/ELCA) church as a pastor for twenty years before becoming an Episcopal priest in 1993. Since 1978, he has been on faculty at General Seminary, where he is currently Professor of New Testament. He has written six books all in the broad area of biblical theology Read More …
Review of Partly Right (#0026)
Campolo, Tony. Partly Right: Learning from the Critics of Christianity. Thomas Nelson, 1985 (rev. 2008). ISBN: 978-0-8499-2086-8. Meet the Author Tony Campolo is an ordained American Baptist pastor, professor emeritus at Eastern University, founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, author of 35 books, and popular speaker. He is a media commentator on religious, social and political matters, including appearances on television programs Read More …
The Changing Church – Looking into the Future (#0025)
The rate of change in the America culture is often far more rapid than within the American church. The church, however, must proactively and strategically consider and act to enable it to live into its purpose now and in the future. I created a Top 10 List of the changes I believe will be most helpful over the next several years. I revisit and revise the list often. The latest revision follows: Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church 10. Read More …
How Should a City Council Pray? (#0024)
Lodi, a town with 62,000 residents located between Sacramento and Stockton and the self-proclaimed Zinfandel Capital of the World is now famous for an entirely different reason: prayer. At the heart of the issue is how the council begins its meetings. For many years each council meeting has started with public prayer. This became an issue in May when the city received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that challenged the use of the words Jesus Christ Read More …
Review of The Heart of Prayer (#0023)
Barrs, Jerram. The Heart of Prayer: What Jesus Teaches Us. P&R Publishing, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-59638-10302. Meet the Author Since 1989, Jerram Barrs has served as Professor of Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture at Covenant Seminary. Previously he served the L’Abri Fellowship in England, where he also pastored the International Presbyterian Church. He is the author of several books including Learning Evangelism from Jesus and The Heart of Evangelism. Book Read More …