Series: Columns

October 1, 2019

Laura McKillip Wood

Laura-McKillip-Wood

Partnering for Change

By Laura McKillip Wood The 75-year-old, one of few literate Roma women in Ukraine, had read the Bible for years in Russian and Ukrainian. She spoke both languages, in addition to her own dialect of the Roma language. When translators presented to her the story of the prodigal son, newly translated into the Roma dialect, a smile spread across her face. With tears in her eyes, she said, “I have read this story many times, but this is the first time I have understood it!” This reaction underscores the importance of a new project underway that partners a Ukrainian college,

October 1, 2019

Rick Chromey

When Life Gives You Leamons

By Rick Chromey It was a blustery, cold Thursday in January 2005. My meeting with Bill Leamon—the maintenance manager for Kentucky Christian University—was scheduled for 3 p.m. I initiated the meeting to announce my resignation from the youth worker team for Bill’s mission trip to Mexico. My daughter had roped me into going. Our church youth group annually traveled to Ciudad Acuna to serve impoverished families. The trip of 1,400 miles was a grueling, nonstop, 24-hour, one-way drive from Grayson, Kentucky. My daughter’s enthusiasm had proven contagious. I said yes. But I never wanted to go. Mission work, I believed,

October 1, 2019

David Roadcup

It’s Time for a New/Old Approach

By David Roadcup I love the pioneering personality. Such a person can blaze new trails and find new horizons in education, business, the arts, and the church. A rare breed, indeed. They should be prized for breaking ground that many others would not attempt. Micah Odor is one such pioneer. Odor serves as minister of spiritual formation with Whitewater Crossing Christian Church in Cleves, Ohio. A few years ago, he was a student in my seminary class, “Assimilation and Development of Church Members.” I had challenged students to come up with an approach to their ministry that would not only

October 1, 2019

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

The Mainstreaming of Online Church

By Kent Fillinger If Paul were still preaching, would he have an online church live-streaming from Jerusalem? It’s entirely possible. After all, Paul said, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:22, 23). All that to say, Internet worship services are becoming more mainstream. In July, I provided an overview of how Christian churches and churches of Christ are using various social media platforms to communicate. I want to go

August 22, 2019

Laura McKillip Wood

Laura-McKillip-Wood

Jesse Yangmi: A Lifetime of Service in Southeast Asia

By Laura McKillip Wood “We knew your father,” the old man said, “and we have heard about you for many years. We’ve been waiting for you.” Jesse’s lifelong dream had been to return to his father’s remote village, where he too had lived as a child. He had thought about his father’s people, the Jerwang, many times through the years, wondering when he would get a chance to return. But the Jerwang live in a very remote area where China, Myanmar, and Tibet share an ill-defined border area, and visiting them is difficult. To reach the villages, Jesse traveled from

August 22, 2019

Christian Standard

A Little Boy’s Prayer

By Micah Stephen Bedtime is one of my favorite times of the day. Not because of my kids going to sleep, but because I get to wrap up the day with them. On one particular evening, however, as I walked across that squeaky old floor toward the kids’ bedroom, I was hoping bedtime would be easy. The routine includes a story, a quick prayer, kisses goodnight, and saying “I love you” to one another. At bedtime, I can forget my daily stress. No bills. No problem-solving. But, for whatever reason, on this night I just wanted “me” time. Little did

August 22, 2019

Michael C. Mack

The Challenges and Hope of Small Rural Churches

By Michael C. Mack It’s no secret that many small churches, especially small rural churches, face numerous challenges. How will the church respond? I asked Jerran Jackson—who for 40 years has served Clarksburg (Indiana) Christian Church, a small, rural congregation—to lead a team of writers to provide analysis, stories, and recommendations. As Jerran and I planned the package of articles, “The Challenges Facing Small Churches,” we discussed a list of issues leaders in struggling churches may be facing. You might use the following questions based on those issues as discussion starters with your team; each is addressed in the articles:

August 22, 2019

Christian Standard

No Town Like Hometown (Part 1): Sage Hills Church

By Mel McGowan If you consider your church to be in competition with the church down the street or across town, you might need a missions lesson. And I know of two homegrown, down-to-earth churches in Wenatchee, Washington, that can help. In 1908, a small group of Wenatchee folks planted Sage Hills Church. One hundred years later, in 2008, another small group decided to open Grace City Church just a couple of miles away. When Mike Wilson, senior pastor of Sage Hills, moved to Wenatchee a few years ago, he met senior pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City. They immediately

August 22, 2019

Jerry Harris

New Leases on Life in Rural Churches

By Jerry Harris I love rural churches and communities; I have devoted virtually my entire ministry life to them. The bulk of Restoration Movement churches have been rural over our more than 200-year history. The church I serve operates in 11 rural and micropolitan communities, but the stories of two of them—Lima and Mount Sterling, Illinois—can provide hope for many others across the country. The Federated Church of Lima, located in a town of 125 about a half hour north of Quincy, Illinois, was the beneficiary of a literal windfall. After a tornado struck the church on May 10, 2003,

August 22, 2019

Jim Estep

Leading through Rural Church Challenges

By Jim Estep When I hear the word rural, I have flashbacks to my childhood. Not because I was raised on a farm, but because I watched Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and The Beverly Hillbillies while growing up. I found those shows humorous, but they weren’t documentaries of life in rural America. Elders in rural congregations face many challenges their counterparts in urban and suburban churches do not, but country churches can be very vibrant and successful. Declining Population The rural population has declined over several generations. It’s common for once lively rural communities to now be half their previous

August 22, 2019

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

2018 SPECIAL CHURCH REPORT, PART 3: Small and Very Small Churches

By Kent E. Fillinger This is the final installment of a three-part series sharing the research findings from our annual church survey. The May issue focused on 2018 data from megachurches and emerging megachurches. The August issue covered large and medium churches, and now we conclude the series with statistics from 78 small churches and 47 very small churches. This was the second year of surveying small and very small churches, so I will include some year-to-year comparisons, while acknowledging more data is necessary before identifying trends. Statistical Snapshot Small and very small churches had the slowest growth rates of

July 22, 2019

Jared Johnson

Develop the Art and Skill of Listening

By Jared Johnson The “headquarters” of e2: effective elders is in Indianapolis, a metropolitan area of nearly 1.5 million people. Whether in the bustling downtown or in suburban neighborhoods, one never fails to see someone running around—literally and figuratively—wearing those all-too-familiar earbuds. Music, podcasts, audiobooks, and more flood the auditory canals of our fellow Hoosiers. Of course, ubiquitous earbuds also communicate this strong nonverbal message: “Don’t talk to me; I’m occupied with something more important than conversing with you.” People who wear earbuds aren’t listening to us, but they are listeningto someone. Could that change? What would it take for

July 22, 2019

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

The Debt Debate

By Kent E. Fillinger September is a prime time for churches to start planning next year’s budget, as most use a calendar year (January to December) budget cycle. To assist in your church’s budget projections, I’ll share some statistics and summaries on giving and debt from our 2018 church survey. Among church leaders, there are two distinct schools of thought about debt. Some are anti-debt and make being debt-free a primary goal of their church, while others see debt as a strategic tool to help finance the church’s vision. Whatever your thoughts, my hope is this data will help guide

July 22, 2019

Jerry Harris

Righting the Wrongs of the Past

By Jerry Harris I’m a product of the suburbs. I grew up on the west side of Indianapolis in the early 1960s, part of a post-World War II migration from urban areas to planned neighborhoods that sprang up from what were formerly farm fields surrounding big cities. There were a number of reasons for this great migration. Ex-servicemen had access to loans to pursue the American dream, so they moved out of apartments in the city and purchased their own homes on their own land in burgeoning suburbs. The availability of automobiles and creation of the interstate highway system encouraged

July 22, 2019

Michael C. Mack

Going to the Cities

By Michael C. Mack Cities are a key setting in God’s story. The churches in Jerusalem, Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, and many others in the New Testament were urban. And, while the Bible’s story began in a rural area (surely two people in a garden surrounded by lots of animals is rural!), it ends in an urban locale, “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2). Cities also present a strategic opportunity for the church today. Several statistics quoted by writers of this month’s articles stood out to me: – “The most recent U.S. Census data revealed for the first time

July 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Live Life Beyond

By Mel McGowan I once lived the American dream . . . the one with the big house, the big car, and the big mortgage. To afford my slice of the “American pie,” I lived as if I were in the movie Groundhog Day. I pulled out of the driveway at the same time each day. I commuted to work at least an hour each way, barely making it home in time to tuck in my youngest child at night and rarely in time to have dinner with the whole family. Day after day after day. I spoke to my

July 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Whelpish

By Lancelot Schaubert We had just learned we failed to secure government approval, so we would not receive a grant in time to start a project and program one of our neighbors—an artist—had been counting on. I had worked painstakingly on the grant for months, haggling with four state governments. After all of this, our artist friend came to our house with his bulldog, refused to sit and eat, and told us he was pulling the plug. I don’t blame him; he couldn’t afford to wait it out. What was most upsetting, however, was he ignored everything we’d done to

July 22, 2019

Laura McKillip Wood

Laura-McKillip-Wood

A Partnership of Hope

By Laura McKillip Wood The sun beat down on the American visitors as they made their way through dirt streets and stepped over the open sewers that lined them. Tin and wooden shanties crowded together. Whole families with five to ten members lived in one room. The smells of smoldering cooking fires, garbage, and sewage permeated the air in the slums of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Just the week before, a 14-year-old boy, loved by many in the community, faced the guns of a corrupt police force. Shot multiple times, the boy died immediately. The visitors knew nothing

June 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Get Moving

By Stephen Brownlow I was new to the desert and didn’t know what to expect, other than what I’d always heard: “It’s a dry heat.” I parked my car at the base of the mountain and looked over my supplies: backpack (check); copious amounts of water (check); sunscreen (check). I opened the car door and stepped onto the scorching-hot pavement. I thought the soles of my boots might melt before I reached the trail. The climb was hot—very hot. I paused in the shade of a saguaro cactus, an unexpected but welcome relief. I drank water though I wasn’t thirsty.

June 22, 2019

Jim Estep

Educating Elders

By Jim Estep Most elders didn’t go to Bible college or seminary. I know of no degree in “eldering.” Congregations must provide for the education of elders. Scripture teaches that “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17, English Standard Version). The church is not an organization that “produces” elders. Instead, the church is an organism, a living body—the body of Christ—and elders are “grown” in the soil of church relationships. What kind of relationships can educate, prepare, and equip someone for service? Study An elder needs more than head knowledge, but becoming an effective elder begins with

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