Series: Featured

September 13, 2009

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The Elephant in the Room

by Kent E. Fillinger Describing the 66 medium-sized churches analyzed in this issue reminds me of the old fable of the blind men who each touched a different part of an elephant and then tried to describe what the animal looked like. The men disagree based on the part of the elephant they touched and their personal perspective.  For the last four years, 3:STRANDS Consulting has partnered with Christian Standard to conduct in-depth research of Christian church/church of Christ megachurches and emerging megachurches. For the first time, the same research survey was completed by churches with average worship attendances of

September 13, 2009

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The 2008 List

  by Kent Fillinger/Ben Simms This is our first Medium-Sized Churches chart for churches that averaged 500-999 for worship. This listing of 66 churches includes church name, city, senior minister, Web site, average attendance for 2008, and number of baptisms. (This is not a complete listing of such churches; it is a listing of Medium-Sized Churches that participated in our survey.) The chart/pdf that is accessible below contains the entire 66-church listing. Click here to look at this chart of the 2008 MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES.         This listing is part of The 2008 Medium-Sized Church Report: Deluxe Edition, which is available as a

September 13, 2009

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Fun Facts

  Compiled by Ben Simms A COMPARISON: The combined attendance of the 66 medium-sized churches we surveyed, 46,392, is smaller than the combined attendance of the four largest megachurches. OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBORS: It”s been said a Canadian church of 500 should be considered a “megachurch.” Hats off to the two north-of-the-border churches on the list: Churchill Meadows Christian in Mississauga, Ontario, and Bow Valley Christian in Calgary, Alberta.   DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE: The combined megachurch attendance roughly equals the population of Cincinnati, Ohio, while the combined attendance of the medium-sized churches that participated in our survey is approximately the

September 13, 2009

Christian Standard

Don”t Just Change, Upgrade

  by Mark Atteberry Bob Gibson was one of the greatest pitchers ever to lace up a pair of spikes. In the 1967 World Series he won all three of his starts, pitched three complete games, compiled an earned run average of 1.00, struck out 26 batters in 27 innings, and even hit a home run for good measure. And the next season, just when it seemed he couldn”t get any better, he took his game to a whole new level. His ERA for the 1968 season was 1.12, which still stands as an all-time record and probably will never

September 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Why Plant Churches?

  by Tom Jones Recently, I”ve been thinking quite a bit about my home church. I have a special place in my heart for that little church, located on the corner of Penn and Neville streets, in Follansbee, West Virginia. Do you know what a sure sign of a home church is? It”s when you are 49 years old and the good folks still call you “Tommy Jones.” I have so many fond memories of my home church, like when I was 11 years old and stole Communion grape juice from the church refrigerator with my best friend Randy Weaver.

September 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Exponential “09: What”s the Buzz?

  by Dick Alexander So what”s all the buzz about Exponential? What exactly is drawing more than 3,000 mostly young leaders to Orlando, Florida, each spring for three intense days? What was known a few years ago as the National New Church Conference, drawing a few hundred church-planting zealots, has reinvented itself as Exponential and now attracts thousands. Its growth has been, well, exponential, and it”s attracting a lot of attention for good reasons.   FOCUS AND ENERGY Exponential exists to facilitate church planting. It bills itself as the largest church-planting gathering in North America, with participants coming from dozens

September 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Salt Lake City Church Planting

by Douglas J. Crozier In my 12 years of service with Church Development Fund, I have been blessed to participate in international missions in Chile and India. I have also been privileged to work closely with the team at Impact Canada to expand the kingdom north of our border. I am sold out for global missions that continue to expand the kingdom. But in late 2007, a phone call from Steve Edwards, executive director of the Intermountain Church Planting Association, opened my eyes to a mission field right in our backyard. I had never met Steve, but he challenged me

September 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Waiting to Go to Heaven

  by Ethan Magness I”ve recently developed an eagerness to go to Heaven. To my great surprise, I have begun to live actively hoping for my future in God”s kingdom. To clarify, it isn”t that I ever wanted to avoid Heaven. I wanted to go to Heaven someday, but I just wasn”t excited about it. I certainly didn”t want to go to Hell, and since the alternative was Heaven, I was glad to know where I going. I had some vague religious notion I ought to look forward to Heaven, but I wasn”t worried about my disinterest””in fact, I wasn”t

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

The Celebration of Congregationalism

by C. Robert Wetzel As a young man I spent too much time thinking about what was wrong with the church without reflecting enough on how much I was blessed in being a part of it. And when I thought of church, it was both the local congregation and broader expressions of church. There was, of course, an idealized version of what the pure, New Testament church was supposed to be, but if the ideal existed, it must be in another town, another state, or another country. Thankfully, the older I grew the more I began to see what is

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

The Multisite Phenomenom: Here to Stay?

  by Darrel Rowland Terms to Know Multisite“”Commonly described as “one church meeting in several locations,” a concept often attributed to church growth guru Elmer Towns from the late 1980s. Typically each remote site has its own live services except for the sermon, which is shown on large video screens. The message usually is recorded in advance, although some use simulcasts. Each location usually has its own “campus minister” or “campus pastor,” but all are governed by the home church leadership. Multivenue“”A different style, setup, and/or music from a church”s main service. These can be held at remote locations or

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

Seven Key Question for Jon Ferguson

  by Darrel Rowland Jon Ferguson, cofounder of Community Christian Church near Chicago (www.communitychristian.org) and director/cofounder of the NewThing Network (www.newthing.org) discusses the hows and whys of multisite.       Why multisite in the first place, especially vs. expansion at the original location, and vs. planting an entirely new church at the new location? At Community, we”re always asking, “Where is God at work?” or better yet, “Where may God be dreaming?” Our mission is helping people find their way back to God. Multisite and church planting have been our responses to where God is at work in our

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

The Multisite Movement: Success Stories

  by Darrel Rowland The couple had a simple question: How much does it cost to join the church? That”s when the leaders of Rocky Mountain Christian Church (www.rmcc.org) knew they were hitting their target audience of unchurched people with their first multisite campus. “They said, “˜Don”t you have to pay a membership fee? Do you have to buy tickets? We”ve never been in church before,”” recalls Rick Thielen, who helped launch the new 30-acre site about 17 miles east of Rocky Mountain”s home campus in Niwot, Colorado. “When you start getting those kinds of questions, you”re starting to get

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

The Multisite Movement: Unexpected Complications

  by Darrel Rowland Unexpected complications and challenges are common in the multisite movement. Certainly not every expansion leads to a glowing success story. For example, Discovery Christian Church in Dublin, Ohio, tried to get a site going in a nearby Columbus suburb. It didn”t work. Journey”s Crossing Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, closed a second location in the Washington, D.C., area. Community Christian Church in White Marsh, Maryland (www.communitycc.net), was preparing to launch a second site near Baltimore this year, but those plans are now on hold. Community Christian, averaging about 750 in attendance, already was actively helping plant churches

August 23, 2009

Christian Standard

Baptizing Grace

by Bill Hallsted I was recently asked (again) why the Bible says, in Matthew 28:19, to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” but on the day the church began, Simon Peter said, “be baptized . . . in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38). The questioner asked, “If the wrong words are said, is the baptism valid?” Behind the question is failure to understand a vital, underlying tenet of Christianity, so important that God spent thousands of years teaching it. The lesson is this: Rules and regulations won”t help

August 23, 2009

Christian Standard

My Grace Journey

  by Brian Giese I was born during World War II. Like many in my generation, I grew up in the church when guilt trips from the pulpit were still both frequent and quite effective. Most Christians hoped they would be “good enough” to make it into Heaven. If someone said, “I”m saved,” we knew he was not one of us. I attended Bible college and seminary and had worked seven years in the paid ministry before I began to understand the meaning of grace. My awakening started when a Christian lady said to me one day, “Brian, you really

August 23, 2009

Christian Standard

They”re Putting Holes in Our Walls!

by TJ George Several years ago, the Christians at Capital Area Christian Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, worshiped in a very little building we had completely outgrown. We had used up every inch of life that building had to offer, and something had to be done.  Through a miraculous series of events, God dropped a 53-acre property into our laps selling for well below market price. Fifty-three acres, do you know big that is? Under the wise guidance of our eldership and after much prayer, we bought the property. From the start, our leadership”s intention was to develop the property in a

August 23, 2009

Christian Standard

To the Best of My Ability

  by Glen Elliott We are a people obsessed with success. We long for A”s in the classroom and the bonus or promotion at work. We want to be a starter on the team. Yet, the reality of the very system we live in is that we can”t all get A”s (that”s called grade inflation). Not everyone can get a bonus or promotion, and not everyone gets to start. The normal response to this reality is we encourage folks to just “do the best you can.” It sounds good. I like it. While most of us accept this as conventional

August 16, 2009

Christian Standard

A Perspective on a Long Ministry

   by Randy Gariss Preacher, You”ve Got Friends This article is adapted from a chapter that appeared originally in Preacher, You”ve Got Friends, compiled by Murray Hollis. This collection of life and ministry stories and advice is written by 25 Christian leaders, all of them with considerable ministry experience. The book is available for $15 plus $3 shipping at www.christianfriendsconnexion.com. Or write Christian Friends Connexion, 1111 Windsor, Joplin, MO 64801.   In 27 years at the same ministry, there have been multiple opportunities and reasons to leave. Sometimes the temptation to resign and start fresh somewhere else involved joy and

August 16, 2009

Christian Standard

The Perfect Recipe

  by Ben Simms What happens when you mix hungry kids in need with churches hungry to serve? A perfect recipe for an incredible project. Dozens of churches across the United States have teamed with Lifeline Christian Mission”s Kids Helping Kids ministry in partnership with Kids Against Hunger, to bag tons of food for hungry kids in Haiti.  While not as tasty as Grandma”s turkey dinner, the food packed at each bagging event is certainly more than rice and water. The Kids Against Hunger mix is a specially formulated, fast-cooking, rice-based combination of vitamins, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and other nutrients

August 16, 2009

Christian Standard

Ideally

  by David Faust Great enterprises are not built on deals; they are built on ideals. And it”s hard to think of more noble ideals than these: “¢ “No book but the Bible, no creed but Christ.” “¢ “In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; and in all things, love.” “¢ “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.” “¢ “We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only.” I heard these slogans when I was a child. I”ve analyzed and admired their truth as an adult, and I”ve found them useful over

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