After 35 Years, John Wagner’s Ministry Path Leads Back Home
If you’d told John Wagner years ago he would end up leading the church he grew up attending—First Christian Church in Union, Mo.—he never would have believed you.
Church & Ministry
Church & Ministry equips leaders and everyday believers to build healthy, gospel-centered congregations. Explore biblically grounded articles on church leadership, preaching and teaching, eldership, staff and volunteer development, discipleship systems, small groups, church planting, church growth, and ministry strategy. You’ll also find practical guidance for navigating transitions, cultivating congregational health, and serving your community with wisdom and compassion. Whether you’re a pastor, elder, ministry staff member, volunteer leader, or church member who wants to help your church thrive, this hub brings together resources to strengthen the local church and advance Christ’s mission.
March 1, 2021
Trustworthy Church Leadership
“The greatest source of power available to a leader,” said Dr. James O’Toole, founding director of Neely Center for Ethical Leadership at the University of Southern California, “is the trust that derives from faithfully serving followers.” Three decades earlier, Howard Hendricks, longtime professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, told a Promise Keepers rally, “The greatest crisis in America is a crisis of leadership, and the greatest crisis of leadership is a crisis of character.” During the past several decades, a proliferation of books, journals, degree programs, podcasts, online conferences, and DVD series have addressed the issues of character and trust in leadership in virtually all arenas
How to Preach with Biblical Authority
I grew up in a small church on the west side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. My mother, who loved to sing, was part of the church choir. This was during the days when there was a midweek service followed by choir practice. One Wednesday when I was about 10, I was in the sanctuary (there’s a word you don’t hear much anymore) waiting for choir practice to end so we could go home. While I was waiting, the preacher, Delmar Debault, came in and walked over to where I was standing. As he talked to me, he took my face into
February 23, 2021
Longtime Pastor Pairs Ministry with Sports PA Announcing Gigs
Mike Gillespie, who has served 55 years as a pastor, has also been the PA announcer for more than 4,000 high school and college sporting events.
February 10, 2021
NewThing Planted Nearly 1,000 New Churches in 2020
By Chris Moon Even in a pandemic, the work of church planting continues. Chicago-based church-planting organization NewThing reports it planted 982 churches in 2020, an increase from 855 in 2019. Most of those church plants occurred outside the United States—many of them in Africa and Asia. “COVID hasn’t slowed it down,” said Patrick O’Connell, global director for NewThing. NewThing is the church-planting mission of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Ill., which was founded by Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson. The organization has been around for about 15 years and has planted a total of 6,373 churches in 26 countries so
February 9, 2021
Integrity On Purpose
By Ron Clark, executive director of Kairos Church Planting — Reading and signing an Ethical Conduct Agreement or Covenant before a church not only serves as an encouragement to our congregations, community, and those who have been hurt by church leaders, but it also provides a level of accountability for ministers.
February 1, 2021
COVID-19, Elders, and Forgiveness
The challenges of COVID-19 have made it more important for elders and church staff members to manage relationships with great care and discernment. This has not been easy for leaders. Satan has attacked relationships between brothers and sisters in the body with full force. Breaking and shattering relationships has always been one of his greatest weapons. Here is the heart of the problem: COVID-19 and its ramifications have presented our church leaders with stormy seas that are dangerous and difficult to successfully navigate in our relationships in the body of Christ. In meeting with leaders in churches of all sizes
February 1, 2021
How to Change Your Church Scorecard (in an ‘AC’ World)
What’s the score? Who’s winning? Both are common questions during a sporting event. Fans of the winning team often point out the scoreboard to the opposing team’s fans at the end of a game. “Keeping score” can be a positive or a negative depending on the situation and the underlying intent. Churches have traditionally used metrics like the ABCs (Attendance, Baptisms or Buildings, and Cash) or the three Cs (Church attendance, Conversions, and Cash) to “keep score” and to measure their growth and effectiveness in accomplishing the mission. The new norm for many church leaders seems to be the sharing
February 1, 2021
Interview with Kadi Cole: How to Develop Female Leaders in the Church
In her book Developing Female Leaders, author and speaker Kadi Cole provides tools, coaching, and strategies for incorporating the development of female leaders into the leadership pipelines in our churches. After reading her book, I had the privilege to spend some time with her. QUESTION: Why should church leaders invest in developing their female leaders? KADI COLE: Young people have grown up in an age where diversity is the norm for them, so to walk into a worship experience and have everybody be very homogeneous is actually a deterrent. Not because they don’t agree with our beliefs, but because they
January 31, 2021
‘7 Reasons to Back Church Planters’
In Orchard Group's 2020-2021 Report, president/CEO Brent Storms shared these “7 Reasons to Back Church Planters” . . .
January 24, 2021
Small Church a Key Partner in Oregon Wildfire Recovery Efforts
By Jim Nieman A small church in a town of fewer than 2,000 in west-central Oregon is playing an outsized role in helping its region recover from wildfires that swept through large swaths of the Pacific Northwest last summer and fall. Mill City (Ore.) Christian Church initially helped by establishing a disaster relief store, but for the past few months it has partnered with a church from Washington state, along with area business owners and individuals, to help clear some of the more than 300 homes destroyed in the area. “I had spent a year asking God to use me
January 20, 2021
Longtime Sheriff in Ohio to Focus on Ministry During Retirement
By Chris Moon It is not every day someone retires from 50 years as a law enforcement officer, including 20 as the local sheriff . . . and decides to devote his retirement to lay ministry in the church. But that’s exactly what Dave Phalen has planned. “Wherever the Lord leads me. He kind of can surprise us sometime,” said Phalen, who just retired as sheriff in Fairfield County, Ohio, and serves as an elder with Fairfield Christian Church in the city of Lancaster. Phalen set aside his badge after 50 years in law enforcement and he did so with
January 12, 2021
RHM Residency Program a ‘Leadership Pipeline’ for Ministry in Northeast
By Chris Moon The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t dampened Restoration House Ministries’ efforts to bring young church leaders to New England. The church-planting organization in Manchester, N.H., is in the third year of its residency program which recruits young people from across the country to gain ministry experience in the Northeast. Five residents are nearing the end of their 11-month training cycle. “It’s a work in progress,” said Aaron Rathbone, residency program director for RHM. This year’s residency program came with its own challenges, he said. The current cohort started work remotely in April 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic was
January 5, 2021
Mark Scott’s Greatest Kingdom Impact
Since I first enrolled at Ozark Christian College, Mark Scott has been my kingdom hero, and I’m not the only young preacher Mark has shaped. Over his 35 years at OCC, Mark has inspired generations of students.
January 1, 2021
Opportunity and Open Doors
When the Pandemic Hit, Our Leaders Went to Work to Discover the Best Ways for Us to Serve Our Community . . . One of our pastors, while addressing the coaching staff at a local college last year, described Ekklesia Christian Church as opportunists. Any time God cracks open a door, even slightly, and we see a target that aligns with our core values and seems beneficial for the kingdom, we run at it. In our six years as a church, God has opened doors that have brought about immeasurably more than all we asked or imagined. Perhaps that’s why Saturday, March 14,
January 1, 2021
God Didn’t Stop When the Pandemic Started
When We Decided to Teach People in Our Community How to Study the Bible, God Provided Everything We Needed When COVID-19 first hit and life ground to a halt, I didn’t know what I would do with myself. As a volunteer outreach coordinator at Copper Creek Christian Church in Maryville, Illinois, as well as a leader with several independent outreach opportunities in the community, I was devastated when all events were unexpectedly and indefinitely canceled. Suddenly my involvement in two to three outreach events per month dropped to zero. No more events. No more kids’ activities. No more social gatherings.
January 1, 2021
How the Pandemic Impacted Planting Churches
7 Counterintuitive Ways to Interpret Reality By Phil Claycomb I’ve coached, mentored, and trained church planters since 2001, so I’ve been involved in many different crisis situations. I’ve sighed deeply and asked, “OK, what just happened?” more times than I care to remember. I’ve brainstormed through a host of “where do we go from here?” discussions. I’ve rolled up my shirtsleeves and jumped in to help “pick up the pieces and move on.” And I’ve discovered that while the causes of crises may vary, and churches are amazingly creative at finding ways to get into trouble, the one thing leaders
December 9, 2020
Myrtle Beach Church Launches Projects to House Vulnerable People
By Chris Moon In honor of its late pastor, Joel Wilson, Myrtle Beach Christian Church in South Carolina is working to help and house vulnerable people in its community. The church recently opened a shelter for mothers in crisis, such as those who come out of abusive relationships or who are homeless. The shelter is located in apartment units adjacent to the church. The church also is planning 24 senior apartments on its property. It plans to build the first 5 to 10 units next year. “To God be the glory. You write that,” senior minister Danny Banks told Christian
December 2, 2020
50 Things I’ve Learned in 50 Years of Preaching
Victor Knowles recommends you ask yourself these questions as you preach or prepare to preach.
December 1, 2020
Raders Persevere in Planting NYC Church During Pandemic
By Jim Nieman The launch of Reunion Church in the heart of New York City hasn’t gone off exactly as planned this year . . . but few things in life have escaped the far-reaching impact of COVID-19. “There’s no book on how to do what we are doing,” says Russel Rader, who is launching Reunion in the Union Square neighborhood with his wife, Katie, and the help of a core launch team, Orchard Group, and churches from across the country. “On Wednesday, March 11th, our community had an amazing evening of hospitality in our home with a group
