Christian Standard Updates

Christian Standard Updates shares news and announcements from The Christian Standard—including editorial updates, new initiatives, special projects, and important changes that affect readers. Here you’ll find timely information about the magazine and website, upcoming features, events and partnerships, and ways to engage with our work. If you want to stay current on what’s happening at The Christian Standard and how we’re serving churches and leaders, this category is the place to start.

September 27, 2010

Christian Standard

“˜Dirty Little Secrets” Series Under Way

By Jennifer Taylor If the cliché is true, we are “only as sick as our secrets.” Christ”s Church of the Valley (Royersford, Pennsylvania) created a new Web site and a sermon series to help people get well. The “Dirty Little Secrets” series kicked off September 12, but CCV launched the Web site, where anyone can anonymously confess a sin or share a secret, in July. The site received thousands of hits in just the first few weeks. “A woman in our church is an alcoholic who got sober five years ago,” says Ben Foulke, director of arts. “Her openness about

September 22, 2010

Christian Standard

Here”s What”s New on the Christian Standard Site

Welcome to Christian Standard’s redesigned Web site! Please take some time to explore it and discover some new features, which include . . . New Copy Every Day Visit our site every day to read new articles, new blog posts, news items from around the country, and new comments from readers like you. Speaking of Comments You can add them at the bottom of every article. If you prefer to write a letter to the editor, we”ll accept those too, and post them as quickly as possible. But not as quickly as your comments will appear if you decide to

September 1, 2010

Christian Standard

Downloadable Resources You May Not Know About

By Mark A. Taylor Communication is always a challenging goal. So I guess I shouldn”t have been too surprised when Christian Standard”s contributing editors suggested we offer something we”ve had available for several months. I”m speaking of the downloadable digital version of our popular booklet, What Kind of Church Is This? This eight-page “minimagazine” has existed in a couple of different versions for many years. Churches have bought hundreds of thousands of copies to use with visitors and new members. It explains to them the unique place of Christian churches and churches of Christ in the religious world. It gives

June 30, 2010

Christian Standard

Our Gift to You, Your Gift to Us

By Mark A. Taylor I have a friend who can”t wait till Christmas to give his wife her gift. He”s so excited about his “perfect find,” he wants her to see it immediately. His anticipation for her pleasure is greater than hers! We feel the same way about the “gift” we”re offering you this week. You”re holding it in your hands, a newly redesigned version of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. Our goal was to introduce our new look with the July 18 issue we”ll distribute at the North American Christian Convention. But the design was finished ahead of schedule, and we decided, “Why

June 13, 2010

Christian Standard

Responses to Lawson and Alexander’s Articles

By Our Readers These letters are in reaction to two articles that appear in the June 13, 2010, issue of CHRISTIAN STANDARD: “Two Views About the Future of the Restoration Movement: Let”s Keep Moving!” by LeRoy Lawson “Two Views About the Future of the Restoration Movement: Dissolve or Thrive?” by Dick Alexander Of Principles and Principals The principles of the Restoration Movement have remained firm and strong, but many of the principals of the Restoration Movement have not. A quote from Carl Ketcherside of some 30 years ago: “The Restoration Movement has become the Restoration Monument.” Why was/is that? We have pursued the leadings

April 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Register Today for Our Reports on Medium and Large Churches

By Staff Something New! We”re looking for churches of several sizes! What was your church”s average weekend attendance in 2009? If you averaged between 250 and 999, we want to hear from you. We”ll send you a survey to participate in one of two research projects this year, one for Medium-Sized Churches (250-499 average) and another for Large Churches (500-999). We plan two issues for later this year, each of them much like this one, to report on the growth and ministry of congregations in each of these categories. But we can”t do this without you! We”re seeking as many

March 10, 2010

Christian Standard

We Want to Help You Extend Your Ministry

By Mark A. Taylor Here”s one thing we”ve learned about recessions and local churches. Local churches may be slow to feel the impact of an economic downturn, but they”re also slow to acknowledge a recovery from one. This means even if the economy is picking up (and the experts don”t agree on that point), budgets at your church are likely still tight. Here”s one thing we know about ministry during recessions: It never slows down. In fact, needs usually multiply when finances fail. We want to help. We”ve come up with a plan that allows you to extend your ministry

December 30, 2009

Christian Standard

Leading the Discussion

By Mark A. Taylor As the new year begins, here at CHRISTIAN STANDARD we”re gearing up to serve you with 48 issues full of thoughtful insight, encouraging news, and prodding analysis. We”re committed to leading the discussion among Christian church readers about what”s happening in our movement and what it means to all of us. For starters, we”re once again planning 12 special, thicker issues to deal with timely themes: January 10: Vacation Bible School and Children”s Ministry February 14: NACC Preview March 14: Christian Colleges April 11/18: Megachurches May 9: Family June 6: Preaching July 18/25: “Beyond”””NACC Theme Issue

November 18, 2009

Christian Standard

Meeting the Needs by Providing the Wants

By Mark A. Taylor What people need and what they want are not necessarily the same. For example, children need their vegetables, but they don”t always want to eat them. Creative moms find ways to combine good food in dishes that taste good too. Church leaders do this too. People want practical help for everyday problems. They need instruction from God”s Word and the advice of experienced Christians. One way to provide both is by giving them CHRISTIAN STANDARD and our sister publication, The Lookout. For example, we saw the Sunday-morning bulletin from a small Christian church in Tennessee. The

April 1, 2009

Christian Standard

More Than One Way to Use a Magazine

By Mark A. Taylor Since 2003 we have recruited a group of contributing editors to help us make this magazine all it can be. One way we hear from them is at a brief retreat each January. The group gathers to brainstorm ideas for the magazine, not only what it should contain but how it can influence our whole family of churches. Of course, we can”t lead where we aren”t read, and our contributing editors have ideas for making that happen too. Randy Gariss, for example, reported that his congregation buys CHRISTIAN STANDARD for every elder, deacon, and staff member.

January 28, 2009

Christian Standard

Random Notes, Important Items

By Mark A. Taylor This week”s items have little relationship to each other except that (1) they”re important, and (2) they don”t fit anywhere else in the magazine. So, please forgive the somewhat random nature of this, but keep reading. The first is an apology, not for two articles we published, but for the way we illustrated them. William R. Baker”s comparison of emerging churches with Restoration Movement thought (November 23 and 30) is valuable to consider. But by positioning images of Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone over the shoulders of Dan Kimball, Brian McLaren, and Spencer Burke, we

January 7, 2009

Christian Standard

Something New”“-for All Our Readers

By Mark A. Taylor You can sort most CHRISTIAN STANDARD readers into one of three categories. Some read or at least skim every page every week. Some read some of the magazine some weeks, when they have time or when they see something that particularly interests them. They don”t feel bad about what they choose to skip. Some receive a copy every week and want to read it””but they feel guilty when they fall behind. Unread issues stack up beside them in an accusing pile. We”d like to serve those in all three groups, and we”d like everyone to feel

December 31, 2008

Christian Standard

New Year, New Theme, New Writers

By Mark A. Taylor We owe thanks to the National Missionary Convention and its 2008 president Doug Priest for the theme of this week”s issue. In fact, we”re so taken with the “Get Your Hands Dirty” idea, we”ll emphasize it throughout 2009. When Doug spoke to our annual contributing editors retreat about a year ago, he shared some of the material we”re publishing this week. We were so compelled then by his challenge we decided we had to share it more widely. As we considered the multitude of pressing needs around the world””and the creative ways so many churches are

November 12, 2008

Christian Standard

The Right Decisions in a Downturn

By Mark A. Taylor Faced with economic downturns like those we”re experiencing now, many businesses make their first cuts in the marketing department. The conventional wisdom (which is often anything but wise) says we can”t afford advertising and publicity when revenue is falling behind budget. Such thinking ignores the fact that we must work twice as hard to make the sale when economic times are hard. Sometimes business should up the promotion when income is down. Unfortunately, some churches make a similar mistake. Faced with falling offerings, they retreat and retrench. They miss the great opportunity before them when tough

September 10, 2008

Christian Standard

New Name, Consistent Service

By Mark A. Taylor You may notice a new name on our masthead. Or if you”ve contacted our office, you may have seen that name on the e-mail or heard a new voice over the phone. They all belong to Diane Jones, who began her service with CHRISTIAN STANDARD this summer. Hers was a gradual transition from her previous duties at Standard Publishing to this new role. She”s here full-time now, and we couldn”t be happier. Diane is sitting at the desk formerly occupied by Jennifer Holder, whose name has stayed on our masthead even though she departed for maternity

April 23, 2008

Christian Standard

Available Only from Us

By Mark A. Taylor This information isn”t available anywhere else. That was the comment one reader made about the expanded Christian college issue CHRISTIAN STANDARD published March 16. The same is true for this week”s issue. Hidden on the computer hard drives of several campus ministers, the directory we publish annually tells our thousands of readers about these ministries. Keep this issue or send it to college-age students you know. Or find the directory at our Web site and bookmark it for future reference. Hundreds of Christian students on secular campuses across the country are making life-changing commitments to God

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