Looking over the landscape of Baptist churches, there are days when we might rightly cry out, “Lord, give us a bishop!” Too often, churches use their full autonomous rights to make awful hiring decisions. Not all the time, but not…
Lord, give us a bishop
Church will gift its property to become ‘ministry incubator’
By Jeff Brumley Challenged by financial and membership declines, some congregations choose merger and some become satellite campuses while others sell to developers or simply close the doors and turn off the lights. Hillcrest Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., chose…
Vulnerability in the Body of Christ
Dear church, here’s why people are really leaving you
By John Pavlovitz Being on the other side of the Exodus sucks, don’t it? I see the panic on your face, Church. I know the internal terror as you see the statistics and hear the stories and scan the exit…
Andraé Crouch, Expensive Pianos, and Church Priorities
Unless I slept walked through it, I never had the chance to see Andraé Crouch perform live. I heard plenty of his music. But I was never in his presence. I have been places where he performed, but only years…
Ministers staying in the game
What to do when your Christian education ministry needs a boost
Christian education ministry was held in high esteem in denominations and churches from the 1950s to 1970s. In the mid 1970s traditional Sunday schools began to experience decline in participation during traditional time slots. Small groups emerged at different times and…
Nine observations about announcements in worship services
To have or not to have announcements in the worship services? That is the question many church leaders ask today. And indeed there are several tendencies or trends related to announcements, and they are often related to the size of…