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
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
Dale Newberry discusses church elders, shepherding, staff leadership, prayer, and the careful process Ten Mile Christian Church uses to identify and develop qualified elders.
July 20, 2008
More Than the ABC”s
Mountain Christian Church keeps disciple making at the center of its mission, measuring growth by spiritual transformation rather than attendance alone.
June 18, 2008
Shepherding: A Bigger Task Than Most Are Accomplishing
Mark A. Taylor considers how elders can fulfill their shepherding responsibility by equipping small group and adult Sunday school leaders to care for church members.
June 4, 2008
Four Standards for Small Groups
Mark A. Taylor identifies four standards for thriving small groups: begin with the Bible, adopt a strategy, train leaders, and expect community to grow organically.
