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…
10 reasons even committed church attenders are attending church less often
It comes up in a surprising number of conversations these days. And no one’s quite sure how to respond to it. The issue? Even committed church attenders are attending church less often. Sure, the trend has been happening for years…
Beatific: An order of worship of the life – and death – of a Baptist church
Bridgewater Baptist Church, Beatific Prelude Listen reverently as Charlie Haden and John Taylor play “Bittersweet,” the sound of this story. Greeting Imagine a young man, newly arrived in America, suitcase in hand. He strolls through Electric Park as fireworks…
RIP, average attendance
Average worship attendance was once such an important number. With it, I could predict the size of the church staff, the informal patterns of decision-making, most of the stresses on the pastor’s time, the leadership required for small groups, and…
A birthday party on our deathbed: Pentecost and the Pew study
Last week, the Pew Research Center reported that between 2007 and 2014, “the Christian share of the population (in the U.S.) fell from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent, driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics.” Evangelicals are in…
Healthy beginnings matter for pastor search process
In a recent training event for congregational conflict interventionists, one of our CHC team members heard Richard Blackburn, a Lombard Peace Center trainer, say this: “When I look into the history of churches I go into for a conflict intervention,…
Reframing church membership
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…