Articles for tag: Body of Christ

Christian Standard Updates News & Updates

Urban Ministry, Disagreement, Changes

By Michael C. Mack This month we focus on the urban church. This topic may bring about disagreement among readers. Our cities, after all, often serve as the stage for highly charged emotional issues in our culture. In addition, we also tackle the contentious question of online church; is it really church? And how do we even discuss debatable issues in a sane and unifying manner? (We cover that too.) Finally, I want you to know about a few changes we’re making to serve you better. What Urban Ministry Means to You As several writers point out, the New

October 25, 2017

Discerning the Body

By Marsha Relyea MilesÂ If you were to worship with tribal Jesus followers in the jungle of Papua New Guinea, you might find yourself sitting on a rough-hewn log rather than a comfortable pew or chair. The typical church building has a thatched roof, woven bamboo walls, a dirt floor, and “windows” that are open to the jungle (no glass or screen); the church is graced with calls of tropical birds and shaded by giant palms and lush foliage.Â Â Imagine this setting . . . the sultry, equatorial breeze wafts in, carrying with it the sweetness of exquisite rainforest flowers.

October 19, 2017

Mission & Evangelism

A Great Commission for Everyone

By Michael C. Mack As I edited this month”s articles about international missions and ministry, I noticed a trend. Most of our writers either quoted or referred to the Great Commission, namely Matthew 28:18-20, some in the first sentence or two. That makes sense. When we think about taking the gospel into all the world, we naturally think of this primary passage.Â Â I hope this doesn”t sound sacrilegious, but we deleted that Scripture from some of the articles. Why? For one thing, we didn”t want the articles to become redundant, but also, we figure you know this verse well. I”m

August 23, 2017

Sinners and Saints

By Diane Stortz Are you a sinner or a saint? If you come to Communion today as a believer and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, the answer is that you are both. God gave the Passover observance to his people as a memorial under the old covenant. Passover was a time of remembering and celebrating from generation to generation how God led the Israelites, with a mighty hand, out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom. The blood of a perfect lamb on the doorpost of every Israelite home protected and saved God”s people as the angel of death

August 9, 2017

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Why Our Church Worshipped on 31 School Campuses Last Sunday

By Michael C. Mack Last Sunday I worshipped with a steel rake and a pair of pruners. I was not alone. At my church, Northeast Christian in Louisville, Kentucky, 2,069 volunteers gathered Sunday morning at 31 local schools to help get them ready for a new school year. Church members showed up with gloves, wheelbarrows, yard tools, paintbrushes, and their various spiritual gifts to work together as the body of Christ. One guy, a farmer, brought his tractor to the school where my wife and I served. We pulled weeds and mulched garden areas, trimmed shrubs, painted lines on parking

July 12, 2017

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Turning Point

By Ronald G. Davis Turning points sometimes come in a roar. Turning points sometimes come in a whisper. In modern history the roar was heard in the deathly din of D-Day. And the course of modern human history was changed. In biblical history, the whisper was heard by Elijah when he had fled in cowardice from an interloper in the messianic line. God called him with “a still small voice” to return to his ministry in the court of kings. And the course of Israel”s history was redirected toward a Messiah. John 6 pictures just such a dramatic turning point.

June 23, 2017

Christian Living

Slowly Savored

By Rick Chromey From mainstream Starbucks and neighborhood bistros, the local coffee cup has evolved into a symbol of connection, companionship, and community. The coffee experience is about family and friends, because great coffee naturally takes time. The beans must be roasted and ground. The coffee is percolated, heated, and even specially flavored. And, of course, every cup is sipped and savored to the last drop. Consequently, coffee is the perfect nonalcoholic drink of choice. It”s the ideal beverage for gathering because great community also happens with time. Friendships are grounded and grown. Relationships emerge through connection and communion. In

June 19, 2017

Church Leadership

Are You Truly Leading by (Biblical) Values?

By Michael C. Mack Ken Blanchard, widely known author and management expert, challenges leaders to think about this important question: “Are you truly leading by your values?” Blanchard says he believes “when a company is truly leading by its values, there is only one boss””the values.” As Christian leaders, our values are God-centered and biblically defined. When a church or any other Christian organization is truly leading by its values, we lead according to God”s purposes under his power. These values guide””or should guide””every aspect of church life: how staff members interact with one another, how senior leaders manage, how

May 26, 2017

What It Means to “˜Examine”

By Randy Gariss The Lord”s Supper is about celebration. After all, the meal points to the love of Christ, forgiveness of sins, the coming of the kingdom, and other wonderful repercussions of the cross. Yet, in the midst of the joy there is another imperative from Paul, one with more sobering overtones. We are each told to “examine” ourselves. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread

March 31, 2017

In Remembrance of Me

By Becky Ahlberg Do you remember your first Communion? The first time you held the bread and cup and accepted the invitation to this table offered by the Lord himself upon your baptism and commitment to him? How old were you? Where were you? Who else was there? For some of us, that moment was decades ago; for some others, it might be this very day. For all of us, it is a call to remembrance. We”re called to remember our commitment. We”re called to remember our community here in this place and to remember Christians around the world. And

January 16, 2017

Church Life

What Is the Church?

By Mark Scott Ask people on the street, and they”ll come up with many inadequate answers. But what would Christians say? A survey of Bible definitions gives us a clear answer. In the mid-1990s, a few doctor of ministry students from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary hit the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, to interview people. One of the 10 questions they asked was, “What does church bring to mind?” Here are some of the answers: “¢ guilt “¢ obligation “¢ uncomfortable “¢ stuffy “¢ one and one-half hours of complete boredom. Does the church need a better press agent? Did the church

November 25, 2016

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Serving to Be the Church

By James C. Jones These believers are working together to make a difference in their community.Â Many houses where I live in Illinois are old. The house where I live, for example, was built in 1900. Since the population of many small towns in central Illinois has stayed roughly the same or decreased over the years, few homes are being built. Consequently, many people live in relatively old houses. Because so many houses are old and require continual maintenance, many people struggle to keep up with all that needs to be done. Many houses in our small town have fallen

October 21, 2016

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Churches and Reading, Conversation and Insight

From the new book Reading for the Common Good By C. Christopher Smith Reading is essential to the health and flourishing of our churches. However, reading and conversation must go hand in hand.Â Reading that is most beneficial is reading that takes its cues from and is shared and discussed””in some way or another””with the local church body. Just as a body works together””seeing, feeling, listening””to understand its identity, so our churches are faced with the task of working together to understand our identity. Reading is a valuable tool in this process of discerning our identity, but only to the

September 12, 2016

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

Mission, Calling, Gifts, and Roles: How the Church Gets Things Done

By Jon Weatherly Human beings are social animals. We don”t simply enjoy being together. We need to be together to survive, let alone thrive. For as long as we”ve existed, we”ve lived together””working, serving, sharing, and trading.Â We have divided our labors for efficiency and followed leaders for effectiveness. Family, neighborhood, school, business, city, nation””all are humans in community, getting things done. “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Christ”s church is no less a human community. It is deliberately interactive and communal. It has always divided labor and followed leaders. It has surely succeeded

July 25, 2016

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

“˜I See the Resurrection”

By Aaron Monts Joshua stood up and walked to the front, where the bread and the juice were waiting. A huge smile swept across my face and tears welled up in my eyes. Only a week ago we had talked directly, one-on-one about Jesus. Joshua wrestled with how to integrate his Jewish faith with this emerging understanding about who Jesus was and is. He struggled with the intellectual side of a faith that believed in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and yet was overwhelmed by the real-life stories of resurrection that were all around him on display in our church

June 3, 2016

Church & Ministry Leadership Development

With Eyes Wide Open

By Chuck Sackett Immediately before worship was to begin, a leader in the congregation dumped a boatload of complaints on the preacher. As the preacher entered the worship area, his once light spirit””which had been anticipating worship and preaching””bottomed out in a wash of questions. Instead of worshipping, he fidgeted throughout the singing, trying to get his heart and mind back on track. He was agonizing over the complaints, frustrated by the timing, and momentarily incapable of preaching. Fortunately, Communion was served before the sermon that day. As he continued to try to settle his spirit, he felt a hand

May 27, 2016

Christian Living

Fields

By Tom Lawson Not far from where I live, vast acres of grain fields extend as far as the eye can see. It is intriguing to see the land transition from muddy brown to springtime green to harvest gold. Huge combine harvesters make their slow passage through the fields in August and September, pouring tons of harvested grain into the beds of waiting trucks, as the rich fields are reduced again to brown stubble and mud. Few of us give much thought to where our food is produced, or by whose hands and efforts it comes to our table. To

May 1, 2016

Church & Ministry Leadership Development

Ministry Synergy

By Michael C. Mack Church ministries often find themselves working as silos, fixating on their own specific objectives and depending on their own resources. Imagine what could be achieved for God”s kingdom if different ministries learned to work together to make a difference in their towns, cities, and the world! For the body of Christ to work effectively to carry out Jesus” mission, ministry leaders must first learn to listen to the Head, that is, Christ, as well as to local church leaders who can coordinate teamwork. They must also see themselves as stewards of the ministry; they refer to

January 14, 2016