John Chandler

Geoff Surratt of Seacoast Church in South Carolina recently wrote on “The Five Scariest Trends that Could Shipwreck the Church.” John Chandler Indicating a “minor prophet-ish mood,” he warned of the dangers of a “Reformed Revolution,” “Planting Pandemic,” “Multisite Mania”…

What will the next 10 years of the North American church will look like? We’ve learned from people like Alan Hirsch and Philip Jenkins to look to the global South for megatrends, and to Western Europe for early indicators for…

What is trending from the pulpit?  Here are three current indications that might inform your preaching. 1. Charismatic leadership wanes; transformational leadership waxes. John Chandler By “charismatic,” I don’t mean Pentecostal theology, but charisma-fueled ability to captivate large groups. In a…

  1. “Oikos” grows. As Millenniels pass Boomers as the largest generation, LifeWay Research indicates that top priority among the Millennial generation is family. With the disintegration of nuclear family in North American life through proliferating divorce, extended family or…

The past three decades brought a proliferation of where congregations assemble in the United States. What can we expect in the coming decade? 1. Increasing importance of church buildings. John Chandler “Here is the church, here is the steeple; open…

Recently, the Rainer Research Group released a futurist study on what they believe to be 10 unexpected trends in church-life by the year 2020 (www.churchexecutive.com). In coming issues, I want to explore a few of those trends.  John Chandler Heterogeneity…

At UNC, I learned from the great Southern studies scholar Samuel Hill about the South’s general preference for extroversion, especially in evangelical Christian circles. From my mentors in ministry, I learned about how pastors need to “work the crowd,” take…

Between the end of World War II in 1945 (returning scores of men to America) and the advent of the birth control pill in 1964 came the largest population boost in history, the famed Baby Boom. Sociologists call this the…

Rugged individualism is the sea we Americans swim in. Our culture is about the rags-to-riches Horatio Alger, the pioneering Daniel Boone and more recently the iconic dissenter Steve Jobs. John Chandler Classic Baptist doctrinal distinctives of “the priesthood of every…