Educational Ministry is Changing In recent years, educational ministries in the local church have changed in significant ways. These changes impact not only what is taught, but also when and how. Additionally, there are now a number of ways churches refer to this ministry, including Christian education, discipleship, enrichment, growth, religious education, and spiritual formation. Meet Bruce Stewart Bruce Stewart is a Church of Christ minister who currently serves as Preaching Read More …
Trends
Tweeting in Worship (#0086)
Tweeting in Worship For years, church growth teams/committees (also known as evangelism, marketing/public relations, and outreach) have struggled with how to invest limited dollars to market the church to the larger community. Interestingly, research continues to show that word of mouth produces far greater results than direct mail, television/radio/newspaper ads, or other traditional marketing. Of course, this means motivating those already active in the community to share their experiences Read More …
Review of Tribal Church (#0077)
Merritt, Carol Howard. Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation. The Alban Institute, 2007. Meet the Author Rev. Merritt is an ordained Presbyterian Church, USA pastor. She has served congregations in Louisiana and Rhode Island. Currently she serves Western Presbyterian Church - an intergenerational church in Washington D.C. She and Bruce Reyes-Chow co-host the Internet talk radio show The God Complex. Tribal Church is Merritt's first Read More …
Review of Changing the Conversation (#0070)
Robinson, Anthony B. Changing the Conversation: A Third Way for Congregations. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008. ISBN: 9780802807595. Meet the Author Anthony Robinson is an ordained United Church of Christ pastor who currently serves as President of Congregational Leadership Northwest. He travels throughout North America as a speaker, teacher, preacher, consultant and coach serving congregations and their leaders. Robinson has taught at several schools Read More …
The Future Church – Top 10 Changes (#0066)
Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church Over the last few months I have posted about each of the Top 10 Changes I view as important for the American Church over the next several years. It is my hope that this list will challenge individual disciples, leadership teams, and congregations to think proactively, prayerfully, and strategically about not only what it means to be the church today, but also what changes are needed to be effective in the Read More …
The Future Church – Discipleship (#0065)
The future church is focused on discipleship, not membership. Shown below is a helpful set of comparisons between these two models developed by Michael Foss in Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church. MEMBERSHIP MODEL DISCIPLESHIP MODEL Pay dues Follow the way of Jesus Take care of members Equip disciples for ministry For members only For all God’s people Pastor does the praying Disciples are fervent prayers Bring a guest on occasion Inviting is a way of Read More …
The Future Church – Experiential (#0064)
Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church 2. Experiential (Doing/Practicing the Faith) The future church knows Christian education is important as an empowering tool, not an end unto itself. Gone are the esoteric classes on matters of intellectual curiosity with little or no connection to living as a disciple of Christ. Christian education, faith formation, discipleship or whatever term you may prefer is a lifelong Read More …
Too Much Misinformation (#0063)
Stetzer, Ed. Chicken Little was Wrong. Christianity Today, January 2010. Meet the Author Ed Stetzer is the President and Missiologist in Residence of LifeWay Research. Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine and Catalyst Monthly, serves on the advisory council of Sermon Central and Christianity Today's Building Church Leaders, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. Additionally, he Read More …
The Future Church – Relational (#0057)
Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church 3. Relational For many years the trend has been that larger churches are continuing to grow larger while smaller churches continue to decline in membership. In some megachurch settings it is very easy for someone to attend worship and remain anonymous and have little or no interaction with other people. Another trend that has now spanned a few decades is that of emphasizing programs. Many congregations place Read More …
Online Churches Draw Believers, Critics (#0051)
Earlier this week, Anne Hammock wrote an article for CNN about online churches. Online Churches Draw Believers, Critics explores a topic that is drawing increased attention from both sacred and secular media as more and more people participate in online worship and discipleship experiences. She writes, "Internet pastors and parishioners cite their 24-hour access to interactive tools and social-networking platforms to show their online experiences are as meaningful as those that take Read More …