August 5, 2007
Two Became One: The Story of a Florida Church Merger
John A. Meisenbach recounts how two south Tampa congregations merged into New Beginnings Christian Church, navigating prayer, leadership unity, trust, transition, and shared vision.
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 5, 2007
Still Alive
Using the “bilge pump” parable, Phil Scott warns that maintenance can’t stop long-term decline and urges congregations toward courageous leadership, innovation, and aggressive evangelism beyond the safety of the harbor.
July 29, 2007
Portraits of Mentors: Intentional Tending
A childhood gardening lesson becomes a picture of church planting. Three seasoned leaders intentionally mentor weary planters with prayer, questions, encouragement, and permission to take faithful risks when the early excitement fades.
July 29, 2007
A Much Needed Ministry: Reflections of a New Consultant
When a struggling church finally sought a consultant’s help, it was too late to recover. Closing the doors brought peace—and sparked a new calling to help other churches seek help sooner.
July 18, 2007
Interview with John Wasem
John Wasem explains how healthy New Testament churches naturally reproduce through church planting, what success looks like beyond numbers, and why assessment, motivation, and theological faithfulness matter for planters and sending churches.
July 8, 2007
Coming Soon: Faith Café
Coffee culture is booming—but the bigger draw is community. Faith Café is a multisensory, interactive resource designed to help churches and small groups build authentic connection, spiritual formation, and practical next steps for faith.
July 8, 2007
For the Church . . . for Today
Faith Café highlights Standard Publishing’s growing line of Bible-teaching tools for adults. Explore new small-group guides, practical leader helps, Genesis video studies by Bob Russell, and the new Standard Reference Library.
July 3, 2007
Interview with Matthew Lockhart
Matthew Lockhart reflects on joining Standard Publishing, the call to serve local churches, emerging trends in church resourcing, and how partnerships and innovation can strengthen ministry across children, youth, and adult programs.
July 1, 2007
Saturday Night Church: What Were We Thinking?
After launching a Saturday night service with major volunteer effort and advertising spend, this church found most attendees were transfers from Sunday. The added service strained staff, programming, and family life—so they ended it within four months.
Christ In Youth: A New Chapter
Christ In Youth and Standard Publishing are partnering to create SuperStart!-based curriculum for fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders, with plans for complementary junior high and high school resources.
June 20, 2007
Interview with Eleanor Daniel
Eleanor Daniel reflects on Christian education as disciple-making, the need to equip lay teachers, the strengths and limits of small groups, lessons from global believers’ prayer, and the ongoing debate over women in leadership.
June 17, 2007
A Day in the Park
A teaching series sparked Manchester Christian Church’s “A Day in the Park,” mobilizing small groups and hundreds of volunteers to give away clothing, furniture, and household goods—an ordinary weekend turned extraordinary through community outreach.
June 17, 2007
Just the Beginning
After “A Day in the Park,” a small group listens to a Somali family’s story, then takes practical steps to help them find a safer home—discovering deeper friendship and lessons about God’s love along the way.
Our “Easy” Sacrifice
A Georgia Tech student’s dream became “Eggs in the Easy,” a student-led Easter weekend that built a playground in Chalmette, Louisiana, and hosted a massive egg hunt for children after Hurricane Katrina.
June 17, 2007
Needed
Moving a piano becomes a vivid picture of why believers need community. Chris Travis explains how God’s grace often reaches others through our gifts—and why a small group may need you more than you realize.
May 23, 2007
Interview with Dan Clymer
Dan and Linda Clymer share how Restoration House Ministries grew from internships and training into a church-planting effort across New England—equipping leaders, launching new congregations, and reaching diverse communities in the Northeast.
Will Work for Food
By Mike Faust Jagged hair framed the haggard face of a 30-year-old woman. She wore no cosmetics. Her bulky pants matched her XXL gray sweatshirt. I stopped to take a second look. In front of her she held a cardboard sign with four words scrawled on it: “Will work for food.” As I hurried into McDonald”s for lunch, my heart pounded as if I had just witnessed a car wreck. Who can think of food at a time like this? I spoke in chopped sentences: “There”s a woman . . . and a sign . . . she”s in trouble.”
May 20, 2007
Professor Jack
A “love feast” in Detroit’s Cass Park becomes a holy classroom as Joshua Graves learns from “Professor Jack” what it means to see the poor with authenticity, dignity, and true solidarity.
Gifts from the Heart
By Ruth Herron and Anita Smelser The young mother hesitated as she and her toddler stepped quietly into the foyer. She sat down quickly on the closest pew, shushing him and pulling him near her. She smiled tentatively as a worker greeted her and asked a few questions for record keeping. “Yes, it”s just me and my son. . . . Yes, we have transportation. . . . I got a job and someone to watch my little boy. . . . I start tomorrow.” The young mother answered each of our questions, but we knew from experience the most
When You Begin a Food Pantry
A practical checklist for starting a church food pantry, with guidance on visibility, volunteer involvement, safety, accountability, respectful care, and relationship-building with recipients.
