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
Two south Tampa churches explored a merger, paused, then reunited around a shared vision. Learn how leadership, a transition team, and trust-building helped form New Beginnings Christian Church.
August 5, 2007
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
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
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
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
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
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 1, 2007
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 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
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 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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
A practical checklist for starting a church food pantry, with guidance on visibility, volunteer involvement, safety, accountability, respectful care, and relationship-building with recipients.
April 29, 2007
A university professor explains why campus ministry matters—from spiritual formation and daily encouragement to crisis care, fellowship, and mission-minded growth as students navigate college’s biggest transitions.
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June 3, 2026
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