May 19, 2025
Pausing to Remember
Communion provides a pause each Lord’s Day to refresh us and to encourage us to run our race faithfully for Jesus “until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Articles for tag: Adult Sunday School
June 8, 2018
Discipleship for All Ages
By Rick Lowry It’s easy to focus programming on younger adults. After all, they represent the long-term future of the church. That’s why many churches place a priority on worship music preferred by the younger crowd and the children’s programs that are important to their families. I’m a discipleship pastor, and I acknowledge that our church gears most of our discipleship efforts toward those on the front end of family and life. But I have also observed that, as a result, many mature Christians struggle to find a place in their local church where they can continue to grow. As
August 11, 2017
Medium-Church Insights
By Kent Fillinger From Abingdon, Virginia, to Woodland Park, Colorado, medium-size churches are a vital part of our annual church survey. Over the last three years, 160 different medium-size churches (average weekly attendance of 250 to 499) from 37 states have participated in our research study. On average, 93 medium churches have responded each of the last three years. Most recently, 88 medium churches completed the survey. I hope to see the number of medium churches that participate grow in the future! Here”s a quick statistical overview of the 88 medium-size churches based on 2016 data. The list of these
October 4, 2016
How Do Groups Lead to Impact?
By Mark A. Taylor Frankly, I can”t imagine why everyone isn”t talking about the strategy outlined by Bobby Harrington and Alex Absalom in their book Discipleship That Fits, and I don”t understand why more churches aren”t trying to implement it. Maybe I”m just out of the loop. I”m not a megachurch pastor. I have no role on a church staff of any size. Maybe more congregations than I know have tapped into the genius of implementing something more nuanced than the large group/small group approach promoted by so many. It seems certain to me the book”s analysis deserves a close look.
September 27, 2016
Back to the Middle
By Mark A. Taylor “We need to rediscover the midsize groups of 20-50 people,” Alex Absalom told our interviewer Kent Fillinger not long ago. When I read that quote, I knew I wanted to know more. For years I”ve grieved the virtual abandonment of adult Bible fellowships””Sunday school classes””by most local churches. Among the many reasons for their demise is the fact that few Christian church/church of Christ leaders were taught how to use adult Sunday school as something more than a place for often-mediocre Bible teaching. Early in my ministry I was trained to use such adult groups as
February 11, 2016
Thinking Theologically
By Mark A. Taylor Our theology affects all our actions and decisions“”how we live and serve and react and decide. But do most Christians and Christian leaders define their decisions by their theology? Can we do this? How? Why should we try? For answers we talked with four church leaders and Bible scholars: “¢ Ben Cachiaras, senior pastor with Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland “¢ Frank Dicken, assistant professor of New Testament at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian University “¢ J. K. Jones, pastor of spiritual formation with Eastside Christian Church, Normal, Illinois “¢ Jon Weatherly, dean of the School of Bible
June 24, 2014
Size May Not Matter
By Mark A. Taylor We”ve been chronicling megachurch success for more than three decades at CHRISTIAN STANDARD. But in spite of encouraging growth, both in size and number of megachurches, an underbelly of suspicion toward them remains. Our Beyond the Standard conversation May 15 with Jud Wilhite, Dave Stone, and Don Wilson, showed this. These ministers with the three largest megachurches among the independent Christian churches shared practical ideas and thoughtful strategies””always with a spirit of humility. But too many questions from listeners contained veiled accusations of compromise to achieve numbers. So when I came across a report from Leadership
February 21, 2014
Sir Richard and the Dragons
By Daniel Schantz I used to think there was one, well-guarded secret to good teaching, and if I could just figure out what it was, I could become a Socrates. Now, after a lifetime of teaching, I can see that good communication is more about the practice of a few basic principles of leadership. Take my Sunday school teacher, for example. His college students call him “Mister K,” and he is as gentle as Mister Rogers, smarter than Mister Chips, and more fun than Mister Magoo. Most people just call him “Dick,” but I call him “Sir Richard,” because,
May 16, 2011
Adult Education and the Challenge to Make Disciples
By Tom May Just before ascending to Heaven, Jesus commissioned the disciples to go and make other disciples“”a word that implies teaching and mentoring (Matthew 28:18-20). He also used the word teaching in those verses. With the blasting trumpet of an elephant”s screeching cry, the church is challenged to teach in such a way that the result makes disciples. It”s been the elephant in the room for years. For decades, churches have interpreted Jesus” final instructions to mean “cookie- cutter” programming””Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening service, Wednesday evening service, and an adult Sunday school program that mirrored the activities for
August 15, 2008
Interview with Dale Newberry
By Brad Dupray Dale Newberry has witnessed every facet of change for Ten Mile Christian Church (formerly Cherry Lane Christian Church), seeing the congregation in Meridian, Idaho, grow from an attendance of 60 to 1,300 in his 28 years as a member. When Dale and his wife, Cherrie, moved to Meridian, he was a nominal Christian, but as he got more involved and his relationship with Christ flourished he began teaching adult Sunday school, took classes at Boise Bible College, and eventually became an elder. He has served in that role for the past 20 years, today as chairman. Dale
July 20, 2008
More Than the ABC”s
By Darrel Rowland The emphasis on making disciples is not subtle at Mountain Christian Church. It”s displayed in three-foot-high letters inside the church building. It”s in the bulletin every Sunday. It”s emphasized everywhere from new members classes to gatherings of the church”s top leadership. “The purpose of this church is to make disciples””more and better disciples.” “One thing that has helped us perhaps as much as any other thing is a crystal clear focus with a mission that everyone understands and knows,” senior minister Ben Cachiaras says. “Every line item in our budget we hold accountable to that mission, every
Shepherding: A Bigger Task Than Most Are Accomplishing
By Mark A. Taylor What is the elder”s most important job? Almost 300 elders answered that question for Arron Chambers (read his article), and more than three-fourths of them said shepherding. But in the two hours or so per week most of these elders give to elder duties, they spend less than half that time actually shepherding. In fact, almost a third of those surveyed say they spend less than one-quarter of their time (that”s 30 minutes for most of them) doing the task they”ve agreed is most important. Yet Knofel Staton concluded, in the Bible study he wrote for
June 4, 2008
Four Standards for Small Groups
By Mark A. Taylor After reading this week”s small groups articles, you may wish we had talked to all the writers in one room at the same time. The variety in their approaches would no doubt stimulate a lively discussion about “the right way” to do small groups. Yet, in spite of any potential disagreements, several common principles are clear. According to this week”s writers, here”s how to have successful small groups: Begin with the Bible. Jim Putman, whose church involves thousands in small groups every week, says “The Bible plays a central part.” Mike Mack, who not only
