Series: Featured

Culture & Public Square Technology

Connecting the ‘Vast Areas’: 5 Tips for Effectively Using Social Media in Rural Ministry

By Rob O’Lynn America is becoming more urbanized, but roughly 60 million people still live in “vast areas” classified as rural. How can Christian churches effectively connect with people who are relatively few and far between? Social media should be a primary method. Unfortunately, it’s a method country and small-town churches have been slow to embrace. Here are five thoughts on how to harness the Internet and use it to make your church an influential voice for God in your rural region. 1. Structure Your Engagement All social media is relational. I’m not speaking just of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or

August 22, 2019

Church Leadership

The Journey Toward a Better Death: Reflections on Looking for Greener Grass

By Patrick L. Mitchell We all play what I call the “better game.” We spend too much time fantasizing about something “better,” though deep down we know it rarely, if ever, truly is better. We pay for the next better, move cities to find the next better, cheat on a spouse to experience the next better . . . and it’s almost always to our detriment, for there is no satisfying this psychological sasquatch. Church hopping is a large-scale manifestation of this desire, and Southerners—of which I am one—are especially skilled in this “game.” The perfect church is out there,

August 22, 2019

SPOTLIGHT: Reclaim Christian Church, Ansonia, Conn.

By Chris Moon Reclaim Christian Church in Ansonia, Connecticut, is living up to its name. The church last fall moved into its new sanctuary space after doubling the size of its building. Since then, Reclaim has seen its average attendance grow by more than 25 percent—and that after the church had grown steadily for nearly a decade. It’s God’s reclamation project, which is just how lead pastor Breandan McTighe likes it. “Taking something that is old, which is who we were, and something that is beaten down and tattered and weathered and has the markings of past pains and hurts—and

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (8): The Future

By Jerran Jackson Rural churches have faced many challenges, and they will face many more. We have highlighted possible solutions in these articles. While your church may be doing well right now, it’s not inconceivable it could be forced to close its doors within the next 20 years. The best mind-set is a willingness to join Jesus in new adventures. The future for your church might include part-time ministers, mergers, and hiring from within. It’s important to openly discuss and pray about what might be necessary and best for the kingdom. It’s also important to try new approaches. If the

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (7): Build a Legacy

By Barney Wells “In this part of the country, there’s a Christian church every five miles, and three in between,” quipped the minister, who had served small-town congregations in the Midwest for decades. Though an overstatement, it does point to a challenge for the rural church. Many rural churches were planted in the days before automobiles and good roads, when the population density of the rural countryside was much greater and you could travel only a few miles in 30 minutes. Back then, more schools, stores, and churches were needed. Over the years, schools have consolidated and stores have closed,

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (6): Elders Wanted

By Matt Johnson If many people with leadership gifts and experience attend your church, then your pool of potential leaders is deep. If your church is comprised of people who have little leadership experience or skill, you’re facing a completely different situation. You may have great workers with great hearts, but you may not have competent leaders. It is possible this dynamic contributes to the size of the church. How can the small church cope with a dearth of potential leaders? My response is mostly anecdotal. The church I served until recently, Levittown Christian Church, is in a lower-middle-class, blue-collar

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (5): Hope from History

By Jerran Jackson Down through the ages, Jesus has used crises and challenges to renew his church. When Christians by the thousands were leaving their churches to pray alone in the desert, Basil of Caesarea redefined devotion to God by gathering Christians in cities and organizing them both for prayer and for service to their neighbors. When the church became corrupt and Christianity became a superstition, Martin Luther reemphasized the guidance of God’s Word. When dry formalism replaced living faith, Philipp Jakob Spener introduced home Bible studies. Jesus can renew the American church today in similar ways. Before there were

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (4): 10 Ways to Develop Ministers

By Jerran Jackson Carlos Fields just wanted to play baseball. So he joined some friends who were playing on a church team. The church’s minister was on the team, and during the season they had several conversations. Carlos was a Christ follower by the time the season ended. The minister continued to work with Carlos, and two years later, the young man was in Bible college. Carlos was familiar with only small and rural churches, so he was not put off by serving those kinds of congregations. Carlos ultimately planted 12 small congregations and led hundreds of people to faith

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (3): Hiring a Pastor

By Richard Creek An objective for this article is to determine how many 2019 graduates from Bible colleges will be entering the pastoral/pulpit ministry. The Pastor’s Project contacted nine Bible colleges associated with independent Christian churches and churches of Christ in the United States and Canada. (That’s about one-third of our colleges and universities.) The total number of students from these nine schools entering the pastoral ministry was 17, which is considerably lower than in previous decades. Yet the need for pastors has been increasing. Without a pastor, many rural and small churches go on life support and eventually die.

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (2): Rural Churches

By Clark Bates We received a friendly welcome when we entered the Christian church in Beaver City, a small town in rural Nebraska. The service that morning was upbeat, the prayers sincere, and the preaching biblical . . . but where were the people? The sanctuary was large enough to accommodate 150, but that morning only 25 people huddled into one section of pews. After the service, my wife and I spoke with Treg and Beth about the challenges facing the congregation. They shared about the decreasing population of the area, explaining that young people move away for college and

August 22, 2019

THE BIG CHALLENGE FACING SMALL CHURCHES (1): Small Churches

Why do many small and rural churches struggle to find and retain leaders and even to survive? More importantly, what are some solutions? Christian Standard asked Jerran Jackson to lead and manage a project to study these issues. He teamed with four other seasoned leaders who have expertise in the small church to develop this topic. _ _ _ By Jerran Jackson and Barney Wells Many rural and small-town churches are struggling. LifeWay Research found that 60 percent of Protestant churches are plateaued or declining in attendance. And 46 percent say their giving decreased or stayed the same from 2017

August 22, 2019

Michael C. Mack

SPOTLIGHT: Hazelwood Christian Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

By Michael C. Mack A 212 percent attendance growth rate over one year gets your attention. Hazelwood Christian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew from 32 to 100 in 2018, and it turns out technology is a significant reason for that growth. Hazelwood’s building sits in an older, heavily Catholic neighborhood of urban Pittsburgh, an area that is on the rebound in business and population growth. Senior minister Ed Gratton came to the church in 2016 after they had gone through a split that dropped attendance to 15. “On a good Sunday we had 20,” said Gratton with a chuckle. But

August 22, 2019

SPOTLIGHT: Woodstock Christian Church, Woodstock, Ga.

By Justin Horey When Kirby Lloyd accepted the call to serve as senior minister at Woodstock (Georgia) Christian Church in 2017, he didn’t intend to make sweeping changes. In fact, Lloyd didn’t even displace the minister who preceded him. Instead, Lynn Eynon, who had served as Woodstock’s senior minister for more than three decades, remained on staff as the minister of pastoral care. Instead of launching a variety of new ministries upon arriving, Lloyd encouraged Woodstock Christian to do a better job of promoting what it was already doing. Like many smaller Southern churches, Woodstock offers a food pantry, a

August 22, 2019

SPOTLIGHT: Christ’s Church, Fort Wayne, Ind.

By Kelly Carr Christ’s Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a congregation built on rebirth. “Our motto is, ‘It’s OK not to be OK,’” said Jason Kemerly, lead pastor. “Jesus comes to all who are broken and weary, and we’re all broken. But we tell people Jesus doesn’t want you to stay that way. He wants you to find healing and hope.” Every week, Kemerly and his ministry team challenge people to take the next step in their faith. For many, that next step is baptism. Christ’s Church has seen 40 to 45 baptisms per year during the last four

August 22, 2019

Church & Ministry Church Planting

Mid-Atlantic States: Moving Back to the Small Town (Part 2)

Church Planters Find Big Opportunities in Small Places By Tim Cole During the past generation, Christian churches and churches of Christ have become respected within the body of Christ at large for our leadership in church planting. This position of national influence mostly results from our outsized success planting new churches in rapidly growing suburban areas surrounding larger metropolitan centers. More recently, within the past decade, many of our church-planting organizations have begun to focus on planting churches in downtown, urban settings. Waypoint Church Partners enjoys a rich, 80-year history of starting and serving Christian churches and churches of Christ

August 13, 2019

Colleges & Seminaries Organizations & Events

Challenges to Higher Education in Independent Christian Churches

By Bill Thompson According to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, there were approximately 900 accredited, religiously affiliated institutions of higher education in the United States as of 2010. Reports indicate many of these church-affiliated schools are financially stressed. Unfortunately, many of the colleges and universities affiliated with the independent Christian churches of the Stone-Campbell Movement are financially stressed as well. In fact, in the article “Six Stepped Down” published in Christian Standard in August 2015, five of six former presidents of such schools mentioned finances as their greatest challenge. Another challenge is dealing with the tension between academia

August 12, 2019

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Ministry Training & Education

Who Will Fill Their Shoes?

By Jeff Green His size 9½, wingtip leather shoes sit in a glass case in the library named for him. L. Palmer Young, the third president of Kentucky Christian University, was a preacher first. He followed in his dad’s footsteps, preaching for more than 69 years. The shoes serve as a reminder of the need for more preachers. Wally Rendel, who preached Palmer’s funeral, asked, “Who’s going to fill his shoes?” Where will the next generation of preachers come from? The Situation The church has constantly been challenged to find replacements in vocational ministry, especially in preaching. A forensic expert

July 31, 2019

Michael C. Mack

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

‘Holding the Hand of Jesus’

More from our Interview with Robert Coleman By Michael C. Mack Christian Standard interviewed Robert Coleman for our feature article in the August 2019 issue. Some material didn’t find a place in the print/digital magazine, but we felt it was too good not to share. How Coleman Came to Christ After high school, Coleman attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where he had an athletic scholarship. One day, Coleman says, a guy on the football team asked him what he was going to do when he graduated—a question he hadn’t given much thought to before. He responded, “Well, you can’t

July 22, 2019