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.

August 6, 2012

Christian Standard

10 Ways to Encourage Your Minister

By Victor M. Parachin   So this is the pastorate? Is this the ministry? To be misunderstood, unappreciated, alone, and misquoted with no hope of correction? This is a painful, lonely business. That lament was a journal entry made by pastor David Fisher shortly after he began ministry. Fortunately, Fisher, author of The 21st Century Pastor, weathered that difficult time. Other ministers, however, are not as fortunate. Recent polls reveal high-level dissatisfaction and discouragement among those in the ministry: “¢ 1,700 ministers leave ministry every month, an annual exodus of more than 20,000 “¢ 50 percent of ministers quit within five years of

August 5, 2012

Christian Standard

Hanging with Naughty Matt

By Tim Harlow Imagine the party when the tax collector got some friends together to meet Jesus. Matthew was a tax collector. The Jews hated tax collectors because they were usually swindlers and “sellouts” who worked for the Romans. You couldn”t get any lower than a tax collector. They even had their own category: there were “sinners,” and there were “tax collectors.” Jesus and the disciples came upon Matthew one day and Jesus said, “Why don”t you quit your job and follow me?” Matthew said “yes,” and the next thing you know Jesus was at a party at Matthew”s house.

August 2, 2012

Christian Standard

What Do You Say about Church Music?

By Randy Gariss Within the American church, few topics have brought out more absurdity, immaturity, and blind passion than the discussion of “what shall the music in our worship services be like?” Of course, there are exceptions, but if one listens to the discussion in blogs, small groups, church hallways, and around Christian family dinner tables, let”s just say our finest behavior is seldom on display when we are discussing worship music. Why has the style of music in a worship service been such a lightning rod for disagreement? What has caused this issue to tower over the landscape of

July 30, 2012

Christian Standard

He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need

By Joe Bliffen Your initial reaction to hearing about a terrible sin someone has committed indicates immediately whether you are developing the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16*). “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). What was Jesus” attitude toward sinners as he walked among us? In Zacchaeus, Jesus saw a man who had really messed up his life and needed a friend. On the cross, Jesus saw two criminals and the Roman soldiers, people who mocked him and blasphemed God. Yet Jesus looked beyond their faults and saw their need; he died for

July 29, 2012

Christian Standard

The Wisdom in Meat Loaf

By Daniel Schantz Hunger is a great teacher. The lessons I learned as a lad in Sunday school were immediately reinforced by the potluck dinner that followed services. It was at the potluck dinner that I learned just how hard it is to master the virtues of patience, self-control, and acceptance.   Patience Church dinners always started late, and the bowl of corn flakes I had at sunrise would not sustain me till noon. During the morning sermon, the fragrance of coffee and hot rolls would drift up from the church basement, and my stomach would begin to ache. I

July 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Church “˜Blessing Teen Parents” from Area Schools

By Jennifer Taylor When Caleb Kaltenbach became the senior pastor at Valley View Christian Church (Dallas, TX), he challenged members to get more involved in local outreach. “My wife, Marla, and I led a life group and began discussing what we could do,” says John Latvatalo, an elder at Valley View. “My daughter, who is a teacher, told us about a teen mom who was struggling to stay in school. We wanted to help but didn”t know where to start.” The couple contacted the school district”s parenting program, planning simply to give money. “But the school told us these girls

July 25, 2012

Christian Standard

Is Your Church Bloated?

By Brian Jones In all my years of following Christ, there are only two prayers I really regret praying. The first was a prayer asking God to direct me where he wanted me to serve as a missionary. “OK God,” I remember praying. “I”m going to lean back, close my eyes, and the first country that pops into my head””I promise you that I will move there and spend the rest of my life trying to reach those people.” With all the impulsive recklessness a newly converted 18-year-old with the gift of evangelism could muster, I leaned back, cleared my

July 24, 2012

Christian Standard

An Important Step Forward

By Mark A. Taylor This is one for the history books! After being published weekly since April 7, 1866, Christian Standard will become a monthly magazine in September this year. It will be in the mail mid-August, 68 pages of information, encouragement, news, and commentary””all of it by, for, and about our dynamic fellowship of Christian churches and churches of Christ. We”re looking forward to the change! Here”s why. The new monthly will be more appealing. Each month”s edition will provide several articles around important themes, and longer, more substantive articles when the subject warrants it. You”ll read and keep

July 19, 2012

Christian Standard

Preaching, Prevailing, and Seeking

By LeRoy Lawson The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock Fred B. Craddock Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011 When You Come Home: The True Love Story of a Soldier”s Heroism and His Wife”s Sacrifice Nancy Cavin Pitts Kingsport: Christian Devotions Ministry, 2011 The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West . . . AGAIN (10th Anniversary Edition) George C. Hunter III Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010 I”ve known of Fred Craddock almost as long as I”ve been preaching, but I”ve never met him. When I was a guest preacher at the Christian Church in Newport, Tennessee, his ghost filled the church. He wasn”t dead,

July 15, 2012

Christian Standard

Megachurches: Storm Clouds Ahead?

By Brian Maris It”s not all smooth sailing for the megachurches. Church leaders I interviewed foresee some storms on the horizon. In my previous column (May 27), I shared seven positive trends megachurches are experiencing. These were gleaned from interviewing nine authors, academics, megachurch pastors, and missional church planters. These nine were overwhelmingly optimistic about the future of megachurches. But not everything they see is positive. Today, we”ll look at three concerns that were mentioned in those interviews.   1. Overfishing in Other Churches” Ponds “There are two kinds of megachurches,” states Eddie Gibbs, senior professor of church growth at

July 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Meeting Needs & Saving Souls

By Randall R. Childress A recent movement among churches is “Don”t go to church””Be the church.” The idea is that instead of gathering for worship, the church should be out in the community doing good in the name of Christ. But sometimes well-meaning Christians focus on “doing good” and forget the “in the name of Christ.” The church is not a humanitarian society so much as an evangelistic one. I thought about the church meeting needs and saving souls when I read a comment by Drew Dyck, managing editor of Leadership Journal, in the Winter 2012 issue. “My church is big

July 12, 2012

Christian Standard

Barnabas Day

By Tyler Edwards It”s no secret in the world of restaurant employees that Sunday morning is the worst shift. The problem is not missing church, it”s serving the people who went to church. Sunday morning consistently boasts the rudest, most demanding, least patient, and cheapest people.1 I once heard a waiter say, “When I work Sundays and I see a group bow their heads to pray, I know I can kiss my tip good-bye.” Having been a server for five years, I can say these critics have a point. I”m embarrassed that we, “the church crowd,” have earned this reputation.

July 10, 2012

Christian Standard

Externally Focused AND Evangelistic?

By Staff Most churches have heard about the “externally focused” emphasis that has prompted Christians everywhere to get out of their church buildings and into their communities to serve. Meanwhile, the attractional/missional debate has also prodded the push to be about going out instead of inviting people into the church. We talked about this trend at the annual CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editors retreat to explore the effect of this service emphasis on the church”s vision and mission. Can we effectively help and heal bodies AND save souls? CHRISTIAN STANDARD editors gathered the following leaders for this discussion: Ben Cachiaras, senior pastor

July 8, 2012

Christian Standard

How a Good Team Is Getting Better

By Barton Shaw This is my sixth year serving as an elder in our church, Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois, and I can honestly say it is one of the most challenging and rewarding roles I have. Over the years, I have had the pleasure to serve with 14 other men””all of them godly and devoted Christ followers whom I deeply respect. Though we are united in a common love for the church, it probably comes as no surprise that we are a collection of men from different stages of life with varied careers, temperaments, and perspectives. This is a

June 27, 2012

Christian Standard

Church Pounds Pavement with Positive Chalk Talk

By Jennifer Taylor Rich Gorman, pastor at the Edgewater campus of Community Christian Church (Naperville, IL), was praying for the area and wondering how to share the love of Christ with such a large population. As he watched people walk to and from the “L” trains one day, he hit on an idea: everyone is looking down, so put the message there! Rich, his wife, Dori, and a small team from CCC Edgewater now meet every other Tuesday evening to pray and then divide into teams to write the messages on sidewalks leading to and from the L stations. Team

June 17, 2012

Christian Standard

First Voice

By Daniel Schantz I paused by the open door of a Bible college preaching class. A nervous young man was delivering his first sermon. The video camera glared at him like an electric dragon, and the students were busy filling out evaluation forms on his performance. Thanks to accreditation, Bible college is now all about evaluation””meticulous, relentless evaluation. It may be a boon to bureaucrats, but it can be brutal to a tender young spirit. As I watched the boy, my mind drifted back to my own first sermon, when I was just a 15-year-old preacher”s son, attending the Sabina

June 7, 2012

Christian Standard

Seven Positive Trends for Megachurches

By Brian Mavis I asked nine authors, academics, megachurch pastors, and missional church planters “What”s next for megachurches?”Â The nine shared enough opinions and insights for several articles, and I will develop those in upcoming issues. Several of the leaders I contacted mentioned some concerns, but this month let”s focus on identifying and distilling seven positive trends.   1. Deeper Discipleship Megachurches are growing less content with measuring attendance alone. David Faust, president of Cincinnati Christian University, said at a megachurch leaders conference he was . . . encouraged to hear a number of megachurch leaders talking about how their plans for the

June 3, 2012

Christian Standard

How Long Should a Sermon Be?

By Mark A. Taylor The question came to me when I discovered Peggy Noonan”s On Speaking Well at a $5 book table. The very first piece of advice from the most famous of President Ronald Reagan”s spreechwriters? “No speech should last more than 20 minutes.” I remember all the sermons I”ve heard””and delivered””that have been way longer than that. And I wonder if Noonan”s advice should apply to sermons too. Her rationale:   Reagan . . . knew twenty minutes is more than enough time to say the biggest, most important thing in the world. The Gettysburg Address went three

May 31, 2012

Michael C. Mack

Eight Vital Characteristics of a Life-Changing Small Group Leader

By Michael C. Mack One of the fundamental differences between healthy and unhealthy small groups is the spiritual vitality of the leaders. Healthy leaders have a soft heart that God can use to accomplish his will. While imperfect, they are highly committed first to God, and then to the group. Healthy leaders have the following attributes:   Healthy small group leaders have been transformed. One of your main functions as a small group leader is to build an environment where spiritual transformation is experienced. This happens best when you have first experienced transformation yourself. What happened to Peter and the other

May 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Woman Launches Mentoring Program for Teenage Girls

By Jennifer Taylor When Trinia Arellano was in high school, her four Sunday school teachers were a huge influence in her life. “They loved us, they were the type of women we wanted to be, and we always knew we had a safe place to go with people who would bring us back to God”s Word,” she says. “I have always wanted to be that to another young lady.” When she moved to Germantown, MD, in 2010, she began attending Journey”s Crossing: A Christian Church, and serving as a volunteer leader with youth group. “I was overwhelmed by the things

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