Series: Featured

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Serving, Reaching, and Transforming in Cleveland, Ohio

Â by Scott Pugh I grew up thinking church was boring and irrelevant. My attitude completely changed when I gave my life to Christ at a pool hall after a Christian reached out to me. But a lot of other people still think the way I did. They don”t go to church, or have been hurt by the church, and are just plain fed up with anything religious.Â How are Christians going to reach these folks? We know the church must reach beyond its walls to seek the lost like Jesus did. And that”s what we”re trying to do through

August 9, 2009

Culture & Public Square Technology

A Revolution Is Coming Your Way

Â by Jim Musser I recently visited with a 40-something Christian friend and mentioned that our campus ministry uses Facebook. Her blank expression told me she had no idea what Facebook was. Do you? What about MySpace? Twitter? YouTube? According to emarketer.com, these are some of the most popular Internet Web sites for college-age young people and they are sweeping the nation like wildfire. Unlike my friend, you probably have heard of these. But have you given much thought to the impact of the Internet on the mission of the church? From where I sit, on a college campus, I

August 9, 2009

Care & Counseling

Whatever Happened to Pastoral Care?

Â by David A. Fiensy It is unusual when someone enters your office, sits down, and immediately begins crying. When the white-haired lady regained her composure, she said only, “My husband is in the car. Would you come out and talk to him? Our minister won”t.” Thus began my acquaintance with this saintly, if unusual, couple that would continue over the next six months for him and over the next few years for her. Later, as I stepped inside the door of their small, frame house on the appointed day of my visit, the wail arose almost immediately. The poor

August 2, 2009

Big C, little c: Building Bridges by Saying “˜Thank You”

by Ben Cachiaras One in four Americans calls himself Catholic. That”s 64 million people in this country””and an estimated billion people worldwide. There were lots of Roman Catholics in Minnesota, where I grew up. Many of my friends were Catholic. Some struck me as devout and genuinely committed to Christ, while others seemed halfhearted, as if they were going through obligatory religious motions. Then I discovered there were those same two kinds of folk in my own church. Later God moved my family and me to Maryland, and I have found a lot of Catholics here, too. In fact, Roman

August 2, 2009

Barrier or Bridge to the Catholic Community?

Â by Greg Nettle Where I grew up in northern Ohio, the predominant religion was Catholicism. As a result of not being a Catholic, I formed some very unhealthy approaches to my Catholic friends. Most involved arguments and confrontations about what was scripturally incorrect with the Catholic church. I would regularly discuss with my youth-group buddies topics such as: Is the pope the Antichrist? And, is it OK to date a Catholic girl so you can convert her to New Testament Christianity? In short, I was erecting a lot of relational barriers. Years later, after serving as a senior pastor

August 2, 2009

Catholicism . . . It”s a Family Thing

by Toney Salva When I was ordained into ministry, my nonpracticing Roman Catholic father attempted to communicate to his side of the family what I was going to do with my life. He told them I was going to be a priest! That was the best he could do. It was the only word he could find to describe my career choice. Imagine my family”s surprise when I sent out wedding announcements . . . then birth announcements. My father”s struggle to communicate with his Catholic family about my ordination in the Christian church is not that different from the

August 2, 2009

Walking with My Expatriate Catholic Friends

Â by Don. M. Hamilton “I grew up Catholic so this is all new to me.” I”ve heard this statement, or ones like it, many times over the past 27 years. Capital Area Christian Church is in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area, where Catholicism is strong. A significant portion of our church family traces its spiritual roots to the Catholic church. Dozens from this background show up in our services and small groups. I”ve found these folks to be some of the most enjoyable and eager souls to walk through our doors. Having worked with so many from this faith background through

July 26, 2009

Care & Counseling

Mad Church Disease

By Anne Jackson Certain internal factors can make us more at risk for becoming burned-out. Most of these are features we are born with. They reflect how God knit together the fibers of our being. And because they are fairly hard-wired, these characteristics aren”t easily changed, and that is OK. We have to accept the fact that, although these may sometimes seem like limitations, they are the very things that make us unique. Personality TypeÂ Most of us are familiar with type A and type B personality descriptors. Look at the table below. Which personality type do you lean toward?

July 26, 2009

Care & Counseling

A Place of Quiet Rest

By Kelly Kastens In the fall of 2004 we moved into a long-awaited, brand-new worship center. It was an awesome time in the life of our church. And, for a while, it was an awesome time in my life. As worship programming director, I was insanely busy, but it was fun and it felt like we were doing something that mattered. God was showing up every week and new people were showing up every week and life change was happening. While all these good things were going on, I was getting busier and busier. There was always more to do,

July 26, 2009

Care & Counseling Grief & Suffering

Principles that Saved My Life

Â By Derek L. Duncan In 1911 a columnist named George Hamlin Fitch wrote a book called Comfort Found in Good Old Books. In it, he described how books helped him through the devastating loss of his son. A quote in it is especially important for us as believers. After discussing things that gave him comfort, like familiar books that helped him focus on right issues (and not circumstantial tragedies that affect us all), he wrote, Â No literary skill can bind up the broken hearted. No beauty of phrase can satisfy the soul that is torn by grief. No,

July 12, 2009

The Lord”s Supper: The Power of Memory, the Power of Presence

Â By Paul Blowers Â Â This article is no longer available online, butÂ articles about the Lord’s Supper that appeared in the July 12/19, 2009, and June 10, 2007, issuesÂ of CHRISTIAN STANDARD–plus more–are available for purchase as a single, redisigned, easy-to-read and easy-to-useÂ downloadable resource/pdf (a fuller explanation is below). Â The Lord’s Supper: A Memory and More Item D021535209Â “¢Â $2.99 If you keep doing something often enough, long enough, it will change you. Take, for example, the Lord”s Supper. If we practice the Lord”s Supper in a meaningful way, week after week, it will change us for the better by

July 12, 2009

The Lord”s Supper: Great Communion”“October 4, 2009

Â By Victor Knowles About 25,000 people gathered at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 17, 1909, for a special Communion service commemorating the Centennial Celebration of Thomas Campbell”s Declaration and Address. In that historic document Campbell called the Lord”s Supper “that great ordinance of unity and love.” On October 4, 2009, thousands of people will be gathering together for a “Great Communion.” This time, however, it will not be limited to just one city (although a special service is being planned in Pittsburgh). All over the world members of the Restoration (or Stone-Campbell) Movement will be meeting to

July 12, 2009

The Lord”s Supper: The Great Ordinance of Unity and Love

Â By Victor Knowles This article is no longer available online, butÂ articles about the Lord’s Supper that appeared in the July 12/19, 2009, and June 10, 2007, issuesÂ of CHRISTIAN STANDARD–plus more–are available for purchase as a single, redisigned, easy-to-read and easy-to-useÂ downloadable resource/pdf (a fuller explanation is below). Â Â Â Â Â The Lord’s Supper: A Memory and More Item D021535209Â Â “¢Â Â $2.99 Â Â If you keep doing something often enough, long enough, it will change you. Take, for example, the Lord”s Supper. If we practice the Lord”s Supper in a meaningful way, week after week, it will change us for the

July 12, 2009

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

China, Congress, and the Jericho Road

Â By Paul E. Boatman Â An official with access to the highest levels of government in the People”s Republic of China uttered these words: “We are very pleased with what Christians are doing in our land. We want to invite you to do more. We want to facilitate a more harmonious relationship between religion and our society.” Is this for real? Â A REMARKABLE MEETING We sat in a Beijing hotel meeting room with a view of historic Tiananmen Square on May Day this year. The discussion participants included Mr. Zhen,* a high-ranking government official in charge of communications;

July 12, 2009

The Point of Christianity 3: Christian Reconciliation

Â By Douglas A. Foster Christ knew there would be trouble. He knew the human heart and its tendency toward pride. His intense prayer for his followers “that they may be one” was not a request for a good but optional addition to Christianity””unity was the very essence of it. The walls that separate humans were precisely what Christ came to destroy. Reconciliation is the point of Christianity! And reconciliation results in unity. Tragically, the very people Christ entrusted with his ministry of reconciliation built walls of separation. Christians destroyed the visible unity of Christ”s body. The spirit of division

July 12, 2009

The Lord”s Supper: We Are What We Repeat

Â By Ethan Magness Â This article is no longer available online, butÂ articles about the Lord’s Supper that appeared in the July 12/19, 2009, and June 10, 2007, issuesÂ of CHRISTIAN STANDARD–plus more–are available for purchase as a single, redisigned, easy-to-read and easy-to-useÂ downloadable resource/pdf (a fuller explanation is below). Â Â The Lord’s Supper: A Memory and More Item D021535209Â “¢Â $2.99 If you keep doing something often enough, long enough, it will change you. Take, for example, the Lord”s Supper. If we practice the Lord”s Supper in a meaningful way, week after week, it will change us for the better

July 12, 2009

The Lord”s Supper: Eight Ways to Experience the Meaning of the Meal

By Ethan Magness This article is no longer available online, butÂ articles about the Lord’s Supper that appeared in the July 12/19, 2009, and June 10, 2007, issuesÂ of CHRISTIAN STANDARD–plus more–are available for purchase as a single, redisigned, easy-to-read and easy-to-useÂ downloadable resource/pdf (a fuller explanation is below). Â The Lord’s Supper: A Memory and More Item D021535209Â “¢Â $2.99 If you keep doing something often enough, long enough, it will change you. Take, for example, the Lord”s Supper. If we practice the Lord”s Supper in a meaningful way, week after week, it will change us for the better by helping us

July 12, 2009

The Lord”s Supper: We Teach, We Remember, We Proclaim

Â By Ethan Magness This article is no longer available online, butÂ articles about the Lord’s Supper that appeared in the July 12/19, 2009, and June 10, 2007, issuesÂ of CHRISTIAN STANDARD–plus more–are available for purchase as a single, redisigned, easy-to-read and easy-to-useÂ downloadable resource/pdf (a fuller explanation is below). The Lord’s Supper: A Memory and More Item D021535209Â “¢Â $2.99 Â Â Â If you keep doing something often enough, long enough, it will change you. Take, for example, the Lord”s Supper. If we practice the Lord”s Supper in a meaningful way, week after week, it will change us for the better by

July 12, 2009