March 18, 2024
How do elders or pastors know their churches are sliding toward closure? Christian Standard posed that question to Stan Granberg, vice chairman of Heritage 21, which specializes in helping noninstrumental Churches of Christ that are facing closure. . . .
August 22, 2019
By Jim Estep When I hear the word rural, I have flashbacks to my childhood. Not because I was raised on a farm, but because I watched Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and The Beverly Hillbillies while growing up. I found those shows humorous, but they weren’t documentaries of life in rural America. Elders in rural congregations face many challenges their counterparts in urban and suburban churches do not, but country churches can be very vibrant and successful. Declining Population The rural population has declined over several generations. It’s common for once lively rural communities to now be half their previous
December 21, 2012
By Jennifer Johnson Earlier this year, as part of a project with Kairos Legacy Partners, I researched stories of dying churches that merged with another congregation or recycled their resources and energy into a new church. Many, like Central Christian Church in Tampa, FL, were once-thriving churches that had declined due to aging members and changing neighborhoods. Others, like Capital City Christian Church in Raleigh, NC, knew major change was needed to reach a young, growing community. In each case, the story was worth telling because the church wanted to be part of something bigger than slowly dwindling while hanging
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