Shifting from membership to missionary engagements When the world we are called to reach is increasingly secular, unchurched, de-churched and non- interested in church, it’s time to reframe membership policies and practices. ‘Membership’ served a church culture fairly well. Today,…
Welcome to the church of the casserole
Many non-mega congregations mistakenly believe they do not have any competitive advantages over a nearby mega church or one of its satellite campuses. Once again they are wrong. Their first mistake is the believing they have to compete. Beyond that…
How do we get along when there’s no middle ground? Part 1
The other day, as I was reading one of the daily news emails that arrive in my inbox, I came across a story that I thought surely must have been ripped from the pages of The Onion. Two New York…
Missions: Almost an out-of-body experience
[This is the third (missions) of a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Already hospitality and evangelism have been explored.] You’ve been there before. It’s that place of connection and you realize God is surreptitiously…
Welcome to the church of the rationalization
Surely you have heard of congregations with names such as The Church of the Resurrection, The Church of the Redeemer, and The Church of the Reformation. But, have you heard of The Church of The Rationalization? You may not know…
Do churches allow space for us to interact with God?
There is no lack of information in a Christian land; something else is lacking, and this is something which the one man cannot directly communicate to the other. Soren Kierkegaard Our job as pastors is to create space for people…
Churches can rightsize staff, but they cannot blow up a building
As difficult as it is for congregations to RightSize staff, it is nothing compared to trying to blow up a building. I have helped congregations and other Christian ministry organizations RightSize their staff, or to deal with what happens after…
Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’
Rachel Held Evans is a blogger and the author of “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.” Bass reverberates through the auditorium floor as a heavily bearded worship leader pauses to invite the congregation, bathed in the light…
Is It Too Late for Evangelical Christians to Honestly Discuss Same-Sex Marriage?
As speakers take the stage at Q Ideas, an annual conference for Christian “culture-makers,” a large digital timer facing the audience starts to tick down the time remaining in their nine- or 18-minute talks. That clock lends a certain urgency…