Series: Featured

April 25, 2019

Christian Standard

LIVING IN THE TENSION

How the Church Must Respond to Sexual Identity Issues in Both Truth and Grace By Caleb Kaltenbach Not long ago, I sat in an apartment crying with two African-American lesbians. They were married and were attending a church in Houston that I was working with. After being with the church awhile, they concluded God designed sexual intimacy for marriage between a man and woman. They asked the church staff about next steps, but the ministers were as confused as the ladies. Now I was in their living room processing their situation. They had been together for 10 years and married

April 25, 2019

Christian Standard

You Can Call Me Grumpy

By Dan Schantz “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly . . .” (Leviticus 19:32). With church members in America steadily aging, we need to know how to respectfully address our elders, but the last thing we need is more politically correct gag orders. Therefore, now that my body has passed its “best by” date, I hereby give you permission to call me by any of the following terms. YOU CAN CALL ME . . . 1. Old Fogy—Meaning “old-fashioned,” or “living in the past,” the term fogy comes from the word fog, and

April 25, 2019

Christian Standard

‘Why Are My Kids Putting Off Marriage but Not Sex?’

5 Ways to Help Emerging Adults Find Good Love and Good Lovin’ By Haydn Shaw Connie wrung her hands as she confessed that her 24-year-old daughter had started having sex with her boyfriend. “My husband and I raised her in the church. Until recently she believed that sex outside of marriage is wrong,” Connie told me. “But she informed me that as soon as she can get a better job, she’s moving in with her boyfriend. She says they love each other and plan to get married in a few years.” Why are my kids putting off marriage but not

April 24, 2019

Christian Standard

2018 SPECIAL CHURCH REPORT, PART 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches

By Kent E. Fillinger When I started conducting megachurch and emerging megachurch research 15 years ago, there were a total of 255,179 people attending these churches on a given weekend. That number has grown 52 percent to 388,243 in 2018, which is a cause for celebration! For me, this statistical journey has always been about sharing and celebrating how God is at work in churches of all sizes in many different ways. My focus continues to be on helping churches learn from one another and providing context and clear metrics for church leaders to make better decisions based on research

April 24, 2019

Christian Standard

The 2018 Charts: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches

Our annual megachurch listing is one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD?™s most popular features. This year scores of churches participated, including 55 megachurches (those with 2,000 or more in weekly attendance during 2017) and 70 emerging megachurches (1,000 to 1,999). Come back in August for articles and charts from large churches (those that averaged 500–999) and medium churches (250–499). In October, we will post data and have feature articles from small (100–249) and very small churches (less than 100). Click here to view and download the 2018 Charts, or click on them individually. • 2018 Megachurches • 2018 Emerging Megachurches Click here

April 24, 2019

Christian Standard

2018 Fast Facts about Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches

These statistics from 2018 are gleaned from megachurch and emerging megachurch data collected by Kent Fillinger. Be sure to read Fillinger’s article, “2018 Special Church Report, Part 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches,” and look at the accompanying tables, “The 2018 Charts: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches”. Compiled by Kent Fillinger _ _ _ AVERAGE ATTENDANCE Megachurches: 5,363 Emerging Megachurches: 1,332 Combined average weekly attendance (125 churches): 388,243 _ _ _ GROWTH RATES Megachurches: 6.6% (up from 5.7% in 2017); overall, 74% of the megachurches grew (up from 71% in 2017) Emerging Megachurches: 4.1% (unchanged from 2017); overall, 71% of emerging megachurches

April 20, 2019

Christian Standard

Haddon Robinson: A Legacy of Biblical Preaching

By Damien Spikereit When my wife and I learned she was pregnant with our second child, we decided to name him after one of my favorite preachers. Several options came to mind, but in the end, we decided on Haddon, after Haddon W. Robinson—who was named for Charles Haddon Spurgeon.   Why Haddon Robinson? Many articles and biographies tell of Robinson’s humble Harlem upbringing and his distinguished career as a pastor, seminary president, and preaching professor. My purpose here, however, is more personal: to honor a man who taught us to be servants of the Word. Of the many prominent

April 20, 2019

Christian Standard

New Life Where Death Once Reigned

He survived the killing fields, led murderous general to Christ By Mark Ellis He grew up in the palace of the king, but after the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia, he lost his privileged lifestyle and nearly his life. After he found Christ in a refugee camp, he became a soul-winner himself—bringing hope to one of the most notorious monsters of the killing fields. “I was raised in a Buddhist family,” says Christopher LaPel, founder of Hope for Cambodia. His father worked in the palace of King Sihanouk and as a boy, Christopher often spent time there. One

April 19, 2019

Christian Standard

Wrestling with Scripture

I Began Preaching on Problematic Bible Passages to Help People Grow Deeper in Their Convictions and Biblical Understanding   By Ryan Rasmussen Do you ever put off hard things? You know they’re important and often necessary . . . but they’re hard. Some time ago, I realized I was doing this with my preaching. It’s not that I was shortchanging the process. I wasn’t “borrowing” sermons from famous preachers or recycling old manuscripts. Honestly, I didn’t notice my tendency until reading something in Mark 4. After Jesus preached the parable of the sower, his followers asked why he often taught

April 4, 2019

Christian Standard

Effective Preaching

Cecil J. “C. J.” Sharp wrote hundreds of articles that appeared in Christian Standard through the years. The first appeared in 1912, while he was still minister with First Christian Church in Hammond, Ind., which he served from about 1903 through 1929. Prior to that, he was a high school principal. He joined Standard Publishing—former parent company of Christian Standard—in January 1930 as head of the Teacher Training Department. He retired in 1951. At the time of his death in 1953, his New Training for Service had sold more than 250,000 copies. Sharp’s version of that book dates to 1934,

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Manchester Christian Church, Manchester, New Hampshire

A Decentralized Approach to Church Growth By Steve Carr The church must look different tomorrow than it does today. This is the conviction of Bo Chancey, lead minister of Manchester Christian Church in New England. It is a fascinating observation, considering Manchester Christian, which now averages about 4,000 weekly, is already the largest Protestant church in New Hampshire, the second most dechurched region in America. Still, the church’s strategy relies upon continual risk-taking and nontraditional approaches to growth. Change is an essential part of Manchester Christian’s DNA. “Churches always change, because the church is people, and people are constantly changing,”

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Compass Christian Church, Chandler, Arizona

Elders, Staff, Discipleship Program, Prayer Culminate in Baptisms By Melissa Wuske Compass Christian Church “has had a heart for evangelism since day one,” said senior pastor Brian Jobe. But in recent years, the church’s growth has been astounding—even in an area crowded with megachurches and in the midst of a culture of church hopping. Jobe said the Greater Phoenix church’s eldership has been crucial to “putting the church in a place to receive God’s blessing” during his three years there—including a year overlapping with pastor Roger Storms, who had served the church for 29 years and helped instill “mission-mindedness, flexibility,

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Greentree Christian Church, Rolla, Missouri

Intentional Continuity and Longevity Lead to Steady Growth By TR Robertson First Christian Church in Rolla, Missouri, was averaging about 200 when senior minister Tim Cook began his ministry there in 1982. Over the past 37 years, the congregation has moved, changed its name to Greentree Christian Church, and grown to around 2,500 members; GCC now averages about 1,200 to 1,300 on Sunday mornings. The site where the church met for more than 100 years had only 25 parking spaces. When the church reached the point of drawing around 500 in three services, they knew they needed to expand. The

March 25, 2019

Mark A. Taylor

Times of Refreshing

By Mark A. Taylor Bob Russell told his blog readers last year that his 12 years of ministry in retirement has been “much more than I could have imagined.” Soon after he retired, Bob began hosting retreats for preaching pastors “to provide encouragement, instruction, and reinforcement.” He had seen so many local church ministers “mistreated by their church leaders and beaten down by their circumstances . . . really discouraged by the constant criticism and overwhelming responsibilities they faced every day.” The response to his concern shows that the need is real. Since the spring of 2006, he has conducted

March 25, 2019

Mark A. Taylor

Kindness, Opportunities, Resources, Evangelism

Mark A. Taylor Dennis and Brenda Bratton founded the KORE Foundation after his retirement in 2010 with the goal, as the foundation’s website explains, “to provide sustainable solutions to extreme poverty for the people of Haiti.” Taking its name from the Old Testament businessman appointed to distribute generous offerings to those in need (2 Chronicles 31), the foundation adopted an acrostic to explain its mission: Kindness: the touch of Christ in practical ways Opportunities: not a handout, but a way out of poverty Resources: a foothold away from poverty toward self-reliance Evangelism: education and enterprise are transformational tools for the

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Mission Church, Ventura, California

Wildfire Doesn’t Quash Church’s Community Mission By Justin Horey The moment that defined 2018 for Mission Church actually took place at the end of 2017. On December 4 of that year, the Thomas Fire started burning in Santa Paula, California, just 20 miles from Ventura, where Mission Church has been located since its founding in 2011. The wildfire burned with unusual speed, and lead pastor Mike Hickerson remembers watching the flames approach as he stood on the roof of his home that evening. The fire reached Ventura overnight and began destroying structures in the city. By the time the fire

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Real Life Church, Valencia, California

Multisite in a New Light By Justin Horey The multisite model has been gaining momentum for years among large churches and megachurches nationwide. But when Real Life Church in Valencia, California, embraced the multisite model of ministry, it did so differently than many other churches. Real Life launched two new campuses in 2018, both in nontraditional ways: one campus was created through a merger/acquisition, and one campus was designed to reach people online. For more than a decade, Real Life Church had a close relationship with Discovery Church in nearby Simi Valley, California. Both churches were planted by Shepherd of

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky

Reaching Out to the Community and the World By Andy Rector In 2018, Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, experienced gains in many ways. “It truly was a year of growth,” said Dave Stone, senior pastor. Growth occurred in evangelism: “The majority of people who were baptized in 2018 were baptized by the person who led them to the Lord,” Stone said. Growth occurred with the facilities: Construction began on the Chapel in the Woods, only a quarter mile from the main campus. The chapel is designed for weddings, funerals, and worship. There also was numeric growth: “Our attendance grew more

March 20, 2019

Christian Standard

The Complete Church Security Program

By Ed Sanow  A church security program involves much more than defending against an armed intruder. It begins long before any threat of violence and includes what the congregation should do both during and immediately after the violence. It also includes how to handle nonviolent disruptions in a godly way.   Assure All Doors Are Locked or Staffed The safety of church members begins with the control of building access. Tour the entire campus to identify every entrance door. Then decide if each door should remain (1) locked from the outside or (2) opened and staffed by greeters. Those are

March 5, 2019

Christian Standard

How to Have Influence in Dialogue with the Ignorant, Obstinate, and Belligerent . . . and with Those Sitting on the Sidelines

By Michael McCann Let me clarify from the beginning: I am addressing these comments to followers of Jesus who, accordingly, take seriously their calling as disciples to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus and lead them to become his disciples as well. Everything below is slanted toward that end. If you are not committed toward that end, these suggestions will be irrelevant to you. Social media can be fertile ground for toxic conversation, and it often bleeds over into face-to-face encounters. Someone might say, “That is my social media persona, but that isn’t the real me.” Yet Jesus

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