Church &amp; Ministry

Richard Baxter: Timeless Advice

E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We publish it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By Larry Carter Richard Baxter, a preacher who lived in the 1600s, wrote a book to help church leaders understand the nature and task of ministry. Among his many wise instructions and observations in The

September 25, 2018

3 Keys to Effective Ministry in a Small Town

By Richard M. Crabtree Jesus has commissioned the church to “go into all the world” and make disciples, and all the world certainly includes small towns. According to the 2000 Census, a population of 1,000 to 10,000 constitutes a “small town.” The majority of us in Christian ministry will spend a lifetime investing in small towns, so the question is: How can we allow God to make the most of our time in small-town America? Of my 47 years of ministry, all but five have been in the small-town, rural setting. I have found the following keys most effective while

September 21, 2018

Jim Estep

Change

E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We publish it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By Jim Estep Putting it simply: Change is hard. We try to change our diet, exercise more, adapt to new technology, change our routines . . . but it’s hard to take the risk of

September 19, 2018

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

Small Church Takes Big Leap, Buys Crossroads College Site

By Jim Nieman A church of 150 in Rochester, Minn., has purchased and relocated to the former Crossroads College property, is renting apartments on the 37-acre site for below-market rates, and is revamping “commercial space” for use by nonprofits. Bear Creek Christian Church lead pastor Aaron Wager and outreach pastor Jeff Urban refer to this undertaking as the church’s “Big Holy Audacious God Goal” (with apologies to Jim Collins, author of Good to Great). So far, it seems to be working—though not without some bumps. From Conversation to Reality When the property was up for sale, Wager and Urban mused

September 19, 2018

David Roadcup

‘Feed My Sheep’

By David Roadcup It was probably one of the most impactful moments of Peter’s life. John 21 tells the story. After Jesus’ resurrection, while the disciples are fishing from a boat, Jesus appears on the beach, starts a fire, and fixes breakfast for them. After another fish-producing miracle, Jesus calls the disciples in for breakfast. After they eat, Jesus engages Peter in a powerful discussion. Three times, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Three times, Peter emphatically states that he does. Three times, Jesus exhorts Peter to fulfill a specific task. Jesus concludes round one of this exchange by

September 19, 2018

3 Imperatives for Healthy, Effective Rural Church Planters

By David Dummitt The U.S. Department of Agriculture quantifies rural areas as the 14 percent of the U.S. population that lives on 72 percent of the land. That 14 percent sounds deceptively small, but in reality it’s 46 million people . . . real people with real lives, real joys, real problems . . . and a real need for the gospel. It’s fanciful to think rural areas are saturated with picturesque, steeple-laden churches where everyone in town gathers for potlucks, prayers, and tight-knit biblical community—Mayberry, if you will. But the realities of modern, rural America are more sinister than such stereotypes.

September 19, 2018

Jerry Harris

Rural and Small-Church Best Practices: Pastoral Networking

How several smaller churches and congregations in rural or small-town areas are overcoming isolation through intentional interaction and working together with other area ministers By Rick Lowry Pastors who minister in rural areas or smaller towns can sometimes feel isolated. Most have good friends who are members of their church, but it often takes a pastor to understand a pastor. Interaction with other ministers can be a source of encouragement, a place to discuss problems, and a great way to hear new ideas. Many pastors of smaller churches have found creative ways to get together with one another for support

September 15, 2018

Kansas Church Heads in New Direction

LEBANON, KAN.—Compass, a Christian church in Lebanon, Kansas, has changed its name to The Second Independent Christian Church of Lebanon. (“First Christian Church” was already being used.) The name change came after lengthy consideration by a “new” group of elders who rotated back onto the board after 15 years. “The novelty just wore off,” explained elder Gerald Girrard. “And anyway, many of our members got tired of trying to explain the name to our non-Christian friends.” “I was wearing my Compass T-shirt one day in Walmart,” said Girrard, “and a guy I’d never met before asked me where the Compass

August 27, 2018

Gary L. Johnson

Three ‘Plays’ for Elders in Urban Churches

By Gary L. Johnson The very first church was in the heart of a world capital. Thousands of people were part of “First Christian Church—Jerusalem.” In every sense of the word, FCC—Jerusalem was an urban church. Members worked and lived in close quarters, on streets teeming with thousands of people who were not fellow believers in Jesus Christ. These first-century believers were strong salt and bright light to their family members, neighbors, coworkers, and friends who had rejected Jesus. Some things never change. Many of us live in cities teeming with people who are far from God. The churches we

August 24, 2018

Faith vs. Sight

E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we will publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. This is our second installment. We are publishing it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By Larry Carter I often tell people that Great Lakes Christian College is “a faith-based organization.” We believe that we exist because of God’s faith in us and

August 17, 2018

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

From Unanimous . . . to Unity

E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Starting today, each Friday we will publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We are publishing it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site every Friday. As you may know, the leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! We are grateful to the leaders of E2—Gary Johnson, David Roadcup, and Jim Estep—as well as operations director Jared Johnson for their ministry partnership. Both

August 12, 2018

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

StoneBridge Christian Church: Building Bridges to God and the Omaha Community

By Mel McGowan StoneBridge Christian Church in Omaha, Nebraska, strives to serve as a metaphorical bridge to God, one another, and the community. Omaha is a vibrant, thriving community situated between prairies and mountains. StoneBridge’s visionary leadership team wanted to capture Omaha’s uniqueness as part of their story and reflect that energy through their facilities. StoneBridge’s team is dedicated to social compassion, relevance, authenticity, friendliness, and approachability; they desired to bring their facilities into alignment with their philosophy. They wanted to create a space that was inviting, comfortable, and fun. My journey with StoneBridge began in 2009 while I was

August 11, 2018

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Next-Door Urban Ministry

By Lancelot Schaubert “I understand that Haiti is hurting: It’s the whipping boy of the world.” My friend winced, and I immediately knew I’d used a poor metaphor. “It’s that,” he said, “but it’s all of these people”—he pointed to fellow Christians leaving a church—“going to Haiti on extravagant mission trips and doing nothing for the Haitian next-door.” We were standing on a street in Manhattan while eating pastrami sandwiches and kettle chips. He offered me the final piece of a puzzle that has slowly formed over the last few years of our bizarre ministry in New York City. It

August 11, 2018

Jerry Harris

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Reaching Out to the Homeless and Hurting in Hollywood, Florida

God pulled a neighborhood kid with a rough upbringing out of that life into a new one at Hope Church of Christ By Jerry Harris “Jehovah-jireh means, ‘in the mountain it shall be seen.’ You have to climb the mountain first,” says Alvin Daniels, senior minister of Hope Church of Christ in Hollywood, Florida. “It will take power, effort, and strength to get to the top. But once you’re up there, God will provide the vision for which you had to go up there in the first place. You can’t see it from the foot of the mountain.” Daniels wasn’t

August 11, 2018

Church & Ministry Leadership Development

Search Firm Creates Fake Candidates to Scare Lead Pastor

By Caleb Kaltenbach SACRAMENTO, CA—In an effort to increase effectiveness of lead pastors who have grown too comfortable, a search firm has been created for the purpose of scaring them into working harder. “Basically, when an elder board hires us, we make it look like they’re considering candidates to replace the lead pastor,” said Ben Campbell, president of The Faux Search Group. “The anxiety and stress naturally scares their lead pastor into giving more effort and working longer hours.” “I guess I’m candidating for the job I have,” said pastor Chris Hayden of First Christian Church in Silmore, Kentucky. “One

August 10, 2018

Church & Ministry Youth & Children's Ministry

The Changing Face of Youth Ministry

4 key transitions over the last 40 years . . . and what the future holds By Nick Tomeo In 1975, a month after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in ministry, my wife and I filled our Chevy Nova and a U-Haul truck (driven by my brother-in-law) and drove through the mountains of West Virginia to begin our first full-time youth ministry at the First Christian Church of Covington, Virginia. I was armed with a new Bible college degree, two “Ideas” books from Youth Specialties, experience working for Christ in Youth, a background of serving on outreach teams for

August 3, 2018

Church & Ministry Youth & Children's Ministry

7 Tried-and-True Strategies That Made Our Youth Ministry (and Students) Flourish

By Matt Cameron In the summer and fall of 2006 our church lost all three of our full-time youth staff members within six months. The ministry was suffering, and we couldn’t find the right person for the job. I was on staff as preaching associate. That October one of my good friends from high school with whom I grew up in church passed away, and I began to reevaluate my own life and ministry. For months during these tough times, the thought kept coming back to me: Is God prompting me to step back into youth ministry? And not just

August 2, 2018

Church & Ministry Youth & Children's Ministry

A Fall Kickoff to Keep People Coming Back

By David Dummitt Back-to-school season is a natural time for people to create new routines and rhythms, which makes fall a strategic time to not only attract new people to your church, but also to encourage them to come back week after week. As we plan for fall, we should consider how to maximize our opportunity to connect with people in relevant ways that make them want to call our churches their churches. Although there’s no formula for introducing people to the church and weaving them into community, we can create enticing environments that meet felt needs, provide opportunities that

July 27, 2018

Jerry Harris

Youth Ministry 180

By Jerry Harris I remember the way youth ministry used to be. (Yes, I’m one of those guys.) It was a time when adults wanted to create a space for young people so they wouldn’t be bored in the adult service. Back then, church services didn’t connect to students. The deacons, wearing suits and ties, marched in and sat in the front row while the preacher took his place behind the pulpit. The organ would drone an instrumental call to worship until the song leader instructed the congregation to stand, then he would beat out 3/4 or 4/4 time with

July 23, 2018