March 21, 2022
March 27 | Discovery
How does your choice—to conform or be transformed—affect how you follow Christ?
Articles for tag: Church Community
November 22, 2020
10 Foundation Stones of the Church—No. 8: Spiritual Gifts
A few years ago I had the chance to take my ministry team to the University of Notre Dame. We toured the stadium, but the highlight was going into the locker room, slapping the “PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY” sign, and running out of the tunnel and onto the field. It was all make-believe, but it pointed up man’s desire to be part of the game. Watching from the bleachers can be fun, but it’s nothing like actually playing in the game. Think about it—from the time we were young, we didn’t merely want to attend games or concerts, we
June 7, 2018
Intergenerational Small Groups: Mix It Up a Little!
By Jessie Clemence I invite you to peek inside our kitchen on a small-group night. Four baby boys and a preschooler are strapped into various high chairs around the table. Three young fathers are trying to assemble dinners for their offspring while a mother nurses a newborn in the living room. The room smells heavily of tacos and mushed-up baby food. Four older adults work side by side with the young mothers, feeding babies and sneaking cookies to toddlers when their parents aren’t looking. A pile of Bibles is stacked on the coffee table for the upcoming study, but only
March 29, 2017
The Church Every Generation Needs
By Jim Tune I keep coming across articles about millennials. Most of them are written by millennials (those aged 20″“35) about why they”re done with church. A recent article advised churches to start listening to millennials, to ditch vision and mission statements, to stop preaching at people, to disclose on the church”s website how every dollar is spent, and more. “Decide if millennials actually matter to you and let us know,” it concluded. “In the meantime, we”ll be over here in our sweatpants listening to podcasts.” Articles like these make some valid points. Many millennials aren”t part of a church.
August 17, 2016
Genuine Community
By Jim Tune How would you like a church in which everyone gets along, people are able to share intimate details of their lives, and conflict is minimal? It sounds good, but according to the late M. Scott Peck, this church would be a disaster. In The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, Peck described community as having four stages. The first stage looks attractive, but it”s deadly. He calls this level pseudocommunity. At this stage, people are pleasant, and conflict is avoided. The problem? If you”ve experienced this, you”ve probably enjoyed it, but then realized that something”s missing. It”s
May 27, 2015
Silence and Socializing
By Jim Tune Susan Cain, in her best-selling book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can”t Stop Talking, says at least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who generally prefer listening to speaking, who innovate and create but dislike self-promoting, and who favor working on their own over working in teams. Cain argues that we undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. There is a certain inner work we can do only by ourselves, alone, in silence. Meister Eckhart helps us understand that when he asserts, “Nothing
April 27, 2014
Circle Up
By Susan Lawrence “Then Jesus told his followers to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. So they sat in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and, looking up to heaven, he thanked God for the food. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. All the people ate and were satisfied” (Mark 6:39-42, New Century Version). I don”t know if the groups of 50 and 100 sat in circles or
Extra Time, Attention a Step in Right Direction
By Jennifer Johnson Raise your hand if you”ve ever felt guilty because you don”t want to be a foster parent. I firmly believe Christians should be leading the way in fostering the needy kids in our communities. In fact, one of the moments I knew I wanted to marry Matt was when he initiated a conversation, during a road trip a few months before our actual engagement, about being foster parents someday. But fostering is not for everyone, and it”s certainly not for everyone at every time. Matt and I just wrapped up a successful first year of a new
April 7, 2012
My Wish for the Irregulars
By Mark A. Taylor Regular churchgoers sometimes resent the come-on-Easter crowd, suspecting shallow motives among those who don”t make it to worship more often. But this Easter, as I think about seeing folks I don”t know or haven”t seen at church in months, I”m more inclined to feel sad than mad. Think of all they”re missing by not joining us week after week! We need each other, and how do people find support and encouragement and friendship without the church to lean on? Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal featured one man”s answer to that question. Alain de
September 15, 2010
Sad Because She Left Us
By Mark A. Taylor My wife and I discovered something wonderful when we returned to our church after three vacation Sundays away: people there missed us. Amid all the friendly pats and hearty greetings”””Welcome back!” “We loved your pictures on Facebook!” “Was your trip wonderful?”””I thought about this column I promised to write when we returned. This continues a discussion begun in last week”s issue. There I reported on and reacted to author Anne Rice”s public announcement of her decision to walk away from Christianity. She said her faith in Christ is “central” to her life, but “following Christ does
What Is a Sermon? My Definition Has Changed Over the Years
By Jud White A wise and seasoned leader said to me once, “Jud, stop trying to preach great sermons. Preach good sermons and love your people, and they will love you for it.” That may sound like odd advice. He could tell I was trying so hard to preach well that it was suffocating my loving well. His advice freed me to be more concerned about caring for people and getting God”s truth out there week in and week out, rather than hitting a grand slam each weekend in my preaching. Ultimately, it freed me to make my preaching more about
August 10, 2005
The Stage I’m In
Stress and aging are linked, but strong friendships can help. Mark A. Taylor reflects on entering a new stage of life and points to the church’s “one another” life as a practical path to support and aging well.
