Our five-year-old granddaughter recently shared with her parents her Christmas wish list. Leading off, was this simple request: “a REAL magic wand”. She’s serious about this. She also asked for “a real fort”. We’re enjoying watching this exchange from a…
Loving Accountability
We might think of accountability in one of three ways. A politician speaks before ravenous reporters and promises that “going forward there will be greater accountability.” We like the idea, and our community’s anger may be somewhat mollified, but deep…
Authors say worship’s revival could be key to revitalized churches
By Jeff Brumley Worship wars have existed throughout Christian history — the experts will tell you that. They’ll also tell you that the debate has increased in significance as the modern church struggles to attract and retain members in a postmodern…
Why do we have all these church programs?
My colleagues hate it when I read, especially something that isn’t religious, theological or churchy! For instance, when I read Googled: The End of the World as We Know It I ended up in a conference in California, and we…
Mundane work, internal politics drive many from church, experts say
By Jeff Brumley A team of sociologists in Colorado say they were stunned recently by data showing a growing wave of once-dedicated church goers leaving their congregations. Their findings inspired the now-popular term “dones,” denoting Christians deciding to go it alone on…
When It Comes to Congregational Vision May You Be With the Source
“We need to get a new pastor who will bring us vision and get us moving in the right direction”, or something similar, is the number one statement I hear from lay leaders of congregations during the transition from one…
Engaging ‘nones’ is challenging but possible, say church leaders
By Jeff Brumley American “nones”— people who claim no religious affiliation — come with a variety of stories. Some were raised without any religious education at all. Most of them have few opinions on faith and wouldn’t know the Bible…
On megachurches, Millennials and modernism
In my hometown there is a church. This church has a sanctuary. A steeple. A large staff of religious professionals. A jet. A hashtag campaign for each sermon series. A fleet of boats. A “membership” of over 8,000. And at…
Cultivating an attitude of gratitude
By Bill Wilson Thanksliving. Grady Nutt introduced us to this delightful word in his epic book Agaperos a generation ago. In each chapter he blended two ideas into one integrated and complete whole. In doing so, he taught us to…