By Jeff Brumley General Assembly 2013 is expected to be one of the busier – and more historic – gatherings in CBF’s history, as participants welcome a new leader and vote to significantly streamline the organization to meet current and…
Mont. theology center has missional aim
By Jeff Brumley A Baptist-inspired project envisioned to inspire and retool pastors and congregations for the missional church environment is taking shape in Bozeman, Mont. The Yellowstone Theological Institute has secured $4.5 million in land and money pledges. While probably…
Recovering spiritual vitality
By Terry Maples I love the church. I committed my life to serving God through the local church. After 27 years as a congregational educator, I now find myself in more of a consulting/coaching role with congregational leaders. Like many…
Missional before missional was cool
By Jeff Brumley An expert on church leadership says Mission Arlington was missional before missional was cool. But founder Tillie Burgin doesn’t care much for the term. “It was always confusing to me, and we certainly never use it,” Burgin,…
Ministry gets artsy with fundraising
By Daniel Wallace The Christian mandate to fight poverty is as old as Scripture, but doing it requires constant creativity. “We recognize that we can’t rely on any one source of funds or any one way of doing things to…
A letter to the SBNR
By Amy Butler Dear Spiritual But Not Religious Friends, Are your ears burning? You’re causing quite a stir in my circles these days. Many of my colleagues claim you are the biggest challenge of the church today. You probably didn’t…
My Boston take-aways
These posts are truly difficult to write; partly because if you want to be real then you have to confess some things and partly because events such as occurred last week are not easy to process. I am not sure…
Small is big for Millennials
By Bob Allen “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many,” Matthew’s Gospel quotes Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. “The gate is narrow and the…
Pastor says stats not ministry measure
By Bob Allen During 25 years as a minister, every church where Jim Somerville has served had stories of a legendary pastor and glory days when they had to put extra chairs in the aisles to accommodate overflow crowds. Somewhere…