Word & Way

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — America’s rural churches were built upon and grew from a strong sense of community. Although many rural congregations are in decline now, that community reliance may be the key to spiritual renewal and to thriving ministry….

Christ’s Great Commission—to share the gospel with people of every language, nationality and culture—calls Christians to find ways to penetrate unreached areas. Planting new churches in places where none exists, or in specific cultural contexts, can result in changed lives…

Andrew Daugherty sees success where others might only have glimpsed failure when Christ Church Baptist in Rockwall, Texas, ceased to exist as a congregation four years after it launched. Should the death of a new church be considered a failure? That…

The missional church and emergent church movements are sweeping through many aspects of religious life — including church planting. While both most often are tagged as movements, they also function as foundations for birthing new congregations. “It’s easier to start…

Regardless of the method or process used to start them, all new church plants have one thing in common — the need for money. Sometimes a church planter will raise enough money through individual donations or start with a handful…

One characteristic of the robust religious freedom Americans enjoy is that the government doesn’t control the church nor the church the government. But that doesn’t mean churches are lawless zones. While houses of worship and other nonprofit religious organizations often…

Age can influence the career direction a youth minister or campus minister takes. Family transitions may lead to a ministry change, or the minister may feel age has separated him or her from students. “There may be a time when…

The death of a minister—or the minister’s spouse—marks a difficult phase in the life of both the church and the pastor’s family. Wil Tanner, pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, still struggles to fill the gap left after…

Whether the founding pastor of a church matures with the congregation or moves on once the new work is well established depends on a host of factors, according to three church-growth and church-planting experts. And either the initial focus on…