The Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting wrapped up last week. As usual there have been several statements and statistics which are causing at least minor stirs. Their announcement of a court petition to uphold the traditional definition of marriage may…
Congregations on the edge of Christian faith
We need more congregations on the edge of Christianity who avoid becoming a churched culture congregation, but rather focus on the edge where the “gones”, dones, and nones dwell. In a previous post entitled Are You Really as Progressive a…
Three signs of a healthy church
After thirty-seven years of working in and alongside churches, I believe church health may be the best lens available to assess the culture of today’s church. It doesn’t matter how sophisticated the strategy, how talented the staff, how plentiful the…
Are you really as progressive a Christian as your congregation?
Progressive Christian congregations I encounter are very proud of being progressive. Almost too proud. They are glad they are not like other congregations who are less liberated. They almost sound Pharisaical. When I have a strategic leadership coaching relationship with…
Ethics: Have you ever cheated on your taxes or your spouse?
[This is the fourth (ethics) of a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Already hospitality, evangelism, and missions have been explored.] Have you ever cheated on your taxes or your spouse? Have you ever disregarded…
Why liberal Protestantism should quit living in fear of its own death
By Derek Penwell I’ve grown accustomed to the popular ecclesiastical trope, which argues that liberal denominations are dying because they’re liberal. As somebody who writes about this stuff, I can spot the whole liberals-are-killing-the-church thing from a mile away —…
Welcome to the church of the Shark Tank
Have you ever watched the television program Shark Tank? It is a reality show on ABC television with re-runs on CNBC. I recently started watching it. Typically I do not watch reality television, but one night while channel surfing I…
8 topics that ought to be on every youth minister’s agenda
One of the hardest jobs in a church these days is that of youth minister. Not just because the schedule of activities can be grueling or the work can be physically demanding. The reason, instead, is ever-increasing demands placed on…
Let’s bring back blue laws to increase church attendance?
Should we bring back Blue Laws to increase our Sunday worship attendance? No, but the thought of it does raise some interesting questions. What were Blue Laws? Actually there are still some around so “was” is not in every place…