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.

December 21, 2012

Christian Standard

Examples of Collaboration, Sacrifice

By Jennifer Johnson Earlier this year, as part of a project with Kairos Legacy Partners, I researched stories of dying churches that merged with another congregation or recycled their resources and energy into a new church. Many, like Central Christian Church in Tampa, FL, were once-thriving churches that had declined due to aging members and changing neighborhoods. Others, like Capital City Christian Church in Raleigh, NC, knew major change was needed to reach a young, growing community. In each case, the story was worth telling because the church wanted to be part of something bigger than slowly dwindling while hanging

December 15, 2012

Christian Standard

Interview with Ron Payne

By Paul Boatman   For 46 years Ron Payne has served as minister with the 173-year-old Ingraham (Illinois) Christian Church.   How did nearly a half century of ministry with one church begin? When I was a Bible college freshman, I was asked to fill in [at Ingraham] until they found a preacher. They never found one, so I”m still here.   Was there anything about the church to predict such a long ministry? Since 1839, only the founding minister, Mr. Ingraham, stayed longer than four years. The 16 preachers who served before me stayed an average of just 11

December 7, 2012

Christian Standard

Church”s Leaders Recast Gospels into 14 Chapters

By Jennifer Johnson After working through The Story, a popular new curriculum that organizes Scripture into 31 chapters to tell the story of the Bible, Chandler (AZ) Christian Church was ready for more. “We wanted to study Jesus for an extended amount of time,” says pastor of changing ministries Matt Myers. “It makes new disciples out of seekers and better disciples out of believers.” Instead of buying another ready-made resource, Myers, senior pastor Roger Storms, and executive pastor Don Anderson used the research of Robert Thomas and Stanley Gundry (A Harmony of the Gospels), as well as The Chronological Life

December 2, 2012

Michael C. Mack

How (Not) to Kill (or Split) a Small Group

By Michael C. Mack   Question: How do you kill an unhealthy group? Answer: I believe this question begins with a faulty premise. I agree that some small groups are unhealthy, but I don”t think that warrants killing them off. Perhaps the person who asked this question read Brian Jones”s controversial column in the January 23, 2011, Christian Standard titled, “Why Churches Should Euthanize Small Groups.” “Modern-day small groups are led, for the most part,” Jones wrote, “by people who have attended the church, had a conversion experience, led a reasonably moral life, and can read the study-guide questions, but

November 25, 2012

Michael C. Mack

Big Picture Questions about Small Groups

By Michael C. Mack QUESTION: What is the purpose of small groups? Are they to evangelize or edify? Is the emphasis on fellowship (helping people in the church get to know one another better), assimilation (getting new people connected into the body so they don”t leave the church), ministry (serving others outside the group), or multiplication (growing the church by growing the number of groups)? Can small groups meet at the church building on Sunday morning (like Sunday school), or must they meet at a different time in a different place? ANSWER: These are all great questions, but I think

November 3, 2012

Christian Standard

Biblical Qualities of an Elder (Part 2)

By James Riley Estep Jr. With blamelessness, the center piece of our puzzle, in place, what other pieces fill out the portrait of a spiritual leader? After reviewing the lists in parallel, the other four major pieces come to light: Being “blameless” before God, others, family, and self.   Blameless Before God How would you assess your relationship with God? This piece is best reflected in several qualities of an elder. Peter expresses this when he describes that an elder (shepherd) must be capable of being affirmed by the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). An elder must have theological blamelessness

November 2, 2012

Christian Standard

Biblical Qualities of an Elder (Part 1)

By James Riley Estep Jr. The New Testament qualifications for elders are like pieces in a puzzle. When we put them together we see a beautiful picture of God”s ideal for what an elder should be. I like puzzles. At first, there is chaos. 200, 500, 1,000 pieces scattered on the tabletop; but then it begins to take shape, drawing a portrait that is revealed one piece at a time. Everyone has a puzzle-solving strategy. Maybe it is to find the edges or corners first, or to focus on the central image. Whatever the strategy, its goal is to give

October 30, 2012

Michael C. Mack

Does Your Group Have the GUTS for Community?

The New Testament describes a kind of community we experience too seldom in the church today. Your group can take steps to correct that problem. By Michael C. Mack Did you see any of the Tour de France in July? One of the most remarkable elements in the race is the peloton, when cyclists ride in tight packs to save energy by drafting. In a well-formed peloton, there is up to a 40 percent reduction in drag. But there are many more advantages of the peloton, including the encouragement from other riders and the teamwork involved. I enjoy cycling in

October 26, 2012

Christian Standard

A Place to Stand

By Daniel Schantz A church pulpit is just your basic wooden box, but sometimes it can turn into Pandora”s box. A good pulpit should provide a desktop for the preacher”s notes, hide his bodily imperfections, and give him something to lean on when his knees give out.   Desk The first thing I do when I step up to the pulpit is to clean house. A pulpit is a magnet for everyone”s junk, from lost-and-found keys and cellphones, to old sheet music, Bibles, and offering baskets. Some days it looks like a table at a rummage sale. A country church

October 20, 2012

Christian Standard

Google Is My Best Friend: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 5)

By Chuck Sackett “What”s in a name?” “What does the Bible say about God”s honor?” “Taking God”s name in vain.” Those recent searches resulted in an abundance of usable illustrative materials. Which is my way of saying, I don”t use the web for the substance of the sermon, I use it for developing creative means of communicating what the text has revealed through the hard work of Bible study. Google is not the only search engine, but it represents a category of tools every preacher must become adept at using. The fact that the web abounds with material is both bane

October 20, 2012

Christian Standard

Many Resources””Use Them Well!: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 4)

By Caleb Kaltenbach My favorite tool for sermon writing is Logos Bible Software. As far as the exegesis of a sermon, nothing can beat it. Logos works quickly and has multiple resources within the program. Not only that, you can download the program onto your smartphone, enabling you to access Logos no matter where you are. A couple of years ago I joined PreachingToday.com. Some of the best illustrations I”ve used (that aren”t personal) come from this great website. It costs a little each month, but it is worth it. Type in your passage and you”ll find many illustrations to choose from.

October 20, 2012

Christian Standard

YouTube for YouTeaching: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 3)

By Joseph C. Grana The venues of media are mind-boggling, mind-numbing, and virtually limitless. At our fingertips is a virtual world filled with lessons and illustrations to assist our preaching and teaching. I have chosen to briefly discuss the use of YouTube, which I find to be educational and entertaining. My students are usually riveted to the relatively short videos available on a myriad of topics. Name a topic””you will find it on YouTube. The quality may not be the best because many presentations are produced at home. The advantage is that the topic is seen as well as heard. And in

October 19, 2012

Christian Standard

My Two-Pronged Strategy: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 2)

By Bert Crabbe It”s a widely held maxim among students of church growth that churches tend to rise and fall on their preaching. While it”s not the only important thing, it seems evident a church can get a lot of things wrong and still thrive if the preaching is good. Conversely, a church can do everything else right and still fail if the preaching is bad. So how do preachers keep coming up with great ideas? Assuming the preacher is already spending regular time in God”s Word, I think a two-pronged strategy works best. First, read WIDELY. Begin with periodicals.

October 19, 2012

Christian Standard

The Web World I Travel: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 1)

By Greg Lee I preach . . . so the Internet has become a great friend of mine. Yes, it”s fraught with potential pitfalls. You should avoid wasting time there viewing bad content or downloading a full sermon as a “Saturday Night Special.” But the web at its best is a place I use for the following:   Living in the Present Throw away your shoebox of news clippings set aside as illustrations you might use someday. Isn”t it almost always better to have an example from last Tuesday instead of 1998? No shockers here: cnn.com,news.google.com, people.com, espn.com, and the website for a local

October 11, 2012

Christian Standard

Leaders Are Readers

By Mark A. Taylor Buying books is cheaper than changing ministries. So goes the advice often attributed to Russ Blowers when he was minister of East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. But are young leaders today heeding the advice? All of us following a leader hope so! We want our leaders to know more than what they find on Facebook or ESPN. We need to hear more from our preachers than their own experiences. We expect our teachers to challenge us with ideas loftier than their own. We need those helping us live the Christian life to examine the

October 2, 2012

Christian Standard

Planting Churches, Sponsoring Children

By Jennifer Johnson In 2011, church planting organization Stadia (Irvine, CA) partnered with Compassion International and Ecuadorian and U.S. church partners to plant four new churches in Ecuador. In 2012 they”re starting another dozen churches. Compassion offers its child sponsorship program and other initiatives through each church, and Stadia Executive Director Tom Jones estimates more than 4,000 children will be helped through the work by the end of this year. In January, Compassion President Wess Stafford asked Stadia to expand the ministry into other South American countries. While continuing to plant churches in Ecuador, Stadia plans to start two churches in

October 1, 2012

Christian Standard

One-Day Project or Sacrificial Service?

By Jennifer Johnson “The church has left the building!” “Don”t miss our great day of service!” “This Sunday we”re not going to church, we”re going to BE the church!” These churches mean well. They want to show God”s love to their communities in practical ways while making it easier for church members to practice serving others. And some, like the annual ServeFest coordinated by Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland, have grown into very effective partnerships with dozens of other area churches in a common cause. (Check it out at www.servefestmd.org.) But I often wonder about the recipients of these

September 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Encouraging Healthy Controversy

By Brian Giese We live in an age when the world invites Christians to keep their faith to themselves and out of the limelight. This is also a day when no one wants to confront anyone, and nobody wants to be confronted. The rule seems to be: “Let each person make his own choices, and don”t judge him or her. Don”t make waves, just love everybody.” No one can deny that the world needs more love, but what kind of love? When one reaches adulthood, he can look back and see that the correction and punishment his parents gave him

September 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Inspired by Nehemiah, Church Repaints the Walls

By Jennifer Johnson For several years, Journey Christian Church (Greeley, CO) has helped meet a number of needs at nearby John Evans Middle School, from volunteering at sports events and feeding needy families to providing school supplies and coordinating an annual Christmas party for students. After studying the book of Nehemiah, lead minister Arron Chambers and the church began praying about a “great work” (Nehemiah 6:3) they could begin this past July. Just a few weeks later, when the John Evans principal asked Chambers if church members could paint the school”s hallways and cafeteria, he knew the church had found

September 16, 2012

Christian Standard

Why We Believe in Faith Promise

By Jim Bird What”s faith promise? I had never heard of faith promise and now I was expected to lead it! I became the lead minister at Fort Caroline Christian Church in Jacksonville, Florida, in summer 2009. Soon I asked how we fund our missions giving and was told we do it through faith promise giving.  It is an approach I didn”t know, but I soon decided I would preach two sermons on missions and stewardship, and then, on Faith Promise Sunday, our folks would make God-directed commitments to support our missions. With that in mind, I determined to learn

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