July 1, 2023
The Power of Faith and Forgiveness
How a Senseless Tragedy Became a Witness to the Grace of Jesus
Series: Featured
July 1, 2023
What the Restoration Movement Should Learn from Bud Light
By Jerry Harris Earlier this year, it seemed the whole country was caught up in the cancellation of Bud Light, America’s best-selling beer. The turmoil resulted from a promotion that connected the brand to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok influencer; Bud Light sent personalized beer cans to Mulvaney celebrating both March Madness and Mulvaney’s yearlong transition to identify as a woman. Mulvaney’s videos on social media triggered a backlash that caused many Bud Light beer drinkers to reject the iconic brand. In just a few weeks, Anheuser-Busch lost $5 billion in market value, 17 percent in sales, and 21 percent
Scary Faith
God led us to reach thousands more for Christ through a capital campaign for a new building. This is our story of walking with God through whirlwinds of uncertainty.
May 1, 2023
A Homecoming of the Heart: The Secret in Our Search for Unity
By Drew Baker The unfortunate consensus in the United States demands that our leaders come across as having all the answers. Whether politicians or preachers, we expect them to have perfect wisdom even if we know it’s an impossible ask. I can’t imagine a politician getting elected on a platform of humility and a willingness to learn even from political opponents. When it comes to preaching, we tend to expect more answers than questions from our pulpits. “Give us this day our daily truth, lead us not into contemplation, and deliver us from mystery.” In such a culture, it is
May 1, 2023
A Movement Away from Denominationalism: What’s It Mean for Us?
By Ben Cachiaras When asked about the key to his success, Dick Clark, of American Bandstand fame, replied, “I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.” Worrying about trends can get you into trouble. So can ignoring them. At the least, it seems wise for church leaders to strive to be like the men of Issachar “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). In this spirit, I was asked to consider how we might understand and respond to the rising trends noted in “A ‘Postdenominational’ Era: Inside the
May 1, 2023
The Christian Standard Church Report for 2022: A Year of Transition
By Kent E. Fillinger When I look back at the last few years through the filter of our annual survey results, I would argue that 2020 was a year of crisis, 2021 was a year of adaptation, and 2022 was a year of transition. In-Person vs. Online Worship Attendance One exciting transition churches experienced last year was more people shifted back to in-person worship from watching online. Comparing 2022 in-person worship attendance data to 2021 showed attendance increases for churches of all sizes. The megachurches (with average weekly worship attendance of 2,000 or more) suffered the greatest attendance declines during
May 1, 2023
2022 Church Stats and Charts
Here are the charts for Christian Standard's annual survey of churches. These statistics are for the year 2022.
May 1, 2023
2022 Annual Survey Fast Facts
AVERAGE WEEKLY IN-PERSON WORSHIP ATTENDANCE Megachurches: 5,136 (22 churches) Emerging Megachurches: 1,367 (37 churches) Large Churches: 714 (49 churches) Medium Churches: 361 (61 churches) Small Churches: 159 (83 churches) Very Small Churches: 51 (118 churches) _ _ _ AVERAGE WEEKLY IN-PERSON + ONLINE WORSHIP ATTENDANCE Megachurches: 6,375 (36 churches) Emerging Megachurches: 1,393 (45 churches) Large Churches: 705 (44 churches) Medium Churches: 363 (57 churches) Small Churches: 161 (87 churches) Very Small Churches: 53 (101 churches) _ _ _ TOP 3 FASTEST-GROWING CHURCHES (2021-22)* Megachurches: 67.4%: Southbrook Christian Church, Miamisburg, OH 53.8%: Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY 53.7%: The Crossing, Quincy,
May 1, 2023
10 Personal Practices That Will Lead to Greater Unity
By Rubel Shelly How can you and I “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3)? Here are 10 practices each of us should consider: • Pray for the unity of the church. If Jesus prayed for the unity of all who would believe in him through the apostles’ message (John 17:20-26), how dare we not pray for it as well? Pray for Christians you know from various backgrounds. Pray for the “tribes” other than your own. Don’t pray for them to change but for God to let you love them.
May 1, 2023
Distinct Views on Christian Unity
3 Christian Leaders Share Their Perspectives on a Crucial Topic for Today’s Church
May 1, 2023
Can Divergent Streams Flow Back Together?
By Daryl Reed I saw a cartoon that pictures a church membership class. The teacher is showing a diagram titled “Churches and Christian Movements Throughout History.” On the left side of the chart a dot is labeled “30 AD,” representing the first church. To the right of that is a large tree of many successive generations of Christian movements. The teacher is pointing to a place further out on the tree and says, “So this is where our movement came along and got the Bible right.” A student responds, “Jesus is so lucky to have us.” I’m embarrassed to say
My Response: Inerrancy Is a Hill to Defend to the End
By Jerry Harris, Publisher Christian Standard enjoys receiving feedback from our readers. Some of the best comments and letters are printed in our “Interact” section at the back of the magazine. I have personally received both positive and negative comments on articles I’ve written; up to this point, I have never responded, because I believe those viewpoints are also instructive. But when I received this letter from Dr. David Kiger, the librarian at Milligan University, about a phrase I used in a recent column, I knew it was essential I respond. Here is his unedited letter: _ _ _ – LETTER
From ‘Fringe’ to ‘Family’
By Randy Wheeler “What kind of impact could we have on the city of Milwaukee if we had 1,000 millennials who were on fire for Jesus?” Pastor Ken Lock posed this question to a small group of friends as they dreamed about the kind of church they wanted to plant. In 2018, Evolve Church was born. One year later, Evolve had 1,000 millennials attending who were on fire for Jesus! Then COVID hit, and for the next 19 months the church was locked out of the high school they rented, services went online, and Evolve began to search for a
March 1, 2023
Chronicles of Grace (from the CS Archives)
The Perspectives of Our Editors and Essayists Over the Years
March 1, 2023
Why the Resurrection Matters
By Steve Wyatt His name was Cleopas—and he felt hopeless. So did his friend. These two friends had gone to Jerusalem to join up with Israel’s latest, greatest world-changer—another prophet, this time from Nazareth, who was rumored to be the one who would forever end Rome’s tyrannical reign. But instead? Although they had left hopeful, they were returning hopeless. Have you ever been there . . . hopeless? • Yes, these guys were believers. • Yes, they had grown to deeply love Jesus. • Yes, they had dropped everything to follow him. Here’s the problem: Jesus was trapped behind a huge stone, and
What Is This Year’s Easter Message?
Veteran Preachers Share Plans for Their 2023 Resurrection Sermons
March 1, 2023
The Grace-Filled God of the Entire Bible
By Marty Solomon The idea that the God of the Old Covenant is a God of law, while the New Covenant shows us a God of grace, is a common concept that often undergirds our reading of the Bible. This is likely made worse by the idea that the Hebrew Scriptures depict a God that is full of wrath. Even if we reject this idea on principle, it seems to have affected so much of how we read the Bible. I think most of us, whatever our opinion of the Old Testament God vs. New Testament God, would affirm the
March 1, 2023
Who Are the International Churches of Christ?
By Bobby Harrington I like to think of the historical roots of Christian Churches and the Restoration Movement through the lens of three fellowships that emerged from the time of Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone in the early 1800s: to our left are the Disciples of Christ and to the right are the a cappella Churches of Christ. In reality, the picture is not that clean. The RENEW.org Network was launched five years ago as a renewal movement within the Restoration Movement. At RENEW.org, we seek to provide clarity in our postmodern time by articulating the best
March 1, 2023
An Example Worth Following: A Tribute to Ben Merold
Ben Merold, 96, a beloved minister in Christian churches and churches of Christ for almost three-quarters of a century, died November 16, 2022. _ _ _ By Doyle Roth Ben Merold lived his life fully committed to Jesus. He served God by serving many churches over his ministry career and touching the lives of millions of people. Ben truly was a man of God. Don Sanders, leadership development pastor at Harvester Christian Church and director of The Merold Institute, said this about Ben when he introduced him at a graduation ceremony not long ago: Ben is a church consultant, a
March 1, 2023
Living by Grace in a Challenging World
By Doug Crozier In his 2012 book titled Grace, Max Lucado wrote, “Grace is God’s best idea. His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly—what rivals it? Of all his wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus.” Our challenge as Christians in today’s world and culture is to live and breathe and exhibit God’s grace. We will do so by following the roadmap God gave us in the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God! In my work with The Solomon Foundation, borrowers have a
