Articles for tag: Church Planting

November 17, 2014

Christian Standard

Now They Are Receiving

By Craig and Shirley Woolsey After graduating from Ozark Christian College, we worked for almost three decades in the capital city of Santiago, Chile. When we left the United States, the oldest of our five children was just entering his teens, so we moved into a middle-class neighborhood in Santiago and looked for Chilean schools where some English was spoken.  We found a school, but of greater importance, we realized few of our neighbors had any connection to a church. The higher classes in Chile might have been called an “unreached people group” in the 1970s! Craig began making contacts,

November 15, 2014

Christian Standard

How Are We Doing with Missions?

We asked five missions leaders in the Christian churches to answer several key questions about missions progress, obstacles, and opportunities: Reggie Hundley is executive director of Missions Services Association, Knoxville, Tennessee. Doug Lucas is president of Team Expansion, Louisville, Kentucky. Doug Priest is executive director of Christian Missionary Fellowship, Indianapolis, Indiana. Greg Pruett is president of Pioneer Bible Translators, Dallas, Texas. Tony Twist is president of TCM International Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana.  What are the most hopeful signs regarding international, cross-cultural evangelism you see in our movement today? Greg Pruett: Many are valuing working among the unreached peoples of the world,

November 13, 2014

Christian Standard

One Convention, Seven New Churches

  By Jennifer Johnson “You know, if we”re going to spend all this time and effort in planning a convention, it would be great for it to have a long-term impact,” remarked Tim Cole in a planning meeting for the 2015 International Conference on Missions. Cole, director of church planting at Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship (VEF), says he can”t take credit for what happened next; some members of the team suggested the churches in Virginia plant a church, then some others suggested they plant one on every continent, then someone else mentioned Antarctica might be a challenge. Today the plan is

November 7, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: First Christian Church

By Jim Book At First Christian Church, we support missions directly connected with churches of Christ and Christian churches that also value the Restoration Movement plea. The money designated for missions is allocated in three specific areas of ministry. One portion goes directly to Timothys sent from this church who are still directly connected to this church family. We are blessed to have Timothys in South Sudan and Japan, as well as a team preparing to minister in Jordan. A second portion goes to missions directly involved in church planting, discipleship making, and local church leadership training. The third portion

October 21, 2014

Christian Standard

Diverse, Dynamic, and Difficult to Summarize

By Mark A. Taylor Suppose you were asked to summarize the current condition of Christian churches and churches of Christ to an interested but largely uninformed audience. That was my assignment at the Sunday-evening worship service sponsored by the Stone-Campbell Dialogue in Austin, Texas, October 5. As I reported in this space last week, I was one of three speakers, each with a similar assignment; the others spoke, respectively, about the a cappella churches of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. Realizing that no one in our group can represent the whole group and no one can know everything

October 20, 2014

Christian Standard

So You Want to Write a Book: Four Good Reasons to Self-Publish!

By Anne Milam The words self-published have carried a stigma that has long implied, “You weren”t really good enough to get an actual book company to publish you.” But I am here to debunk that myth. Self-publishing isn”t a dirty word anymore. Let me give you four good reasons to self-publish: “¢ First of all, if God has put a message in your heart to deliver, then you must share it. Plain and simple. No matter what size the audience. Let the public decide whether or not your work is worthy or valid or enjoyed. When I birthed my first

October 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Can a Polygamous Man Be an Elder in the Church?

By Doug Priest Dan Crum and Joe Cluff, along with their families, have served for many years as missionaries among the Maasai people of Kenya. They were interviewed by CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor Doug Priest.   When did each of you arrive in Kenya and what has been your ministry through the years. DAN CRUM: We arrived in Kenya in 1988, and lived in rural Maasailand for 10 years in the ministry of evangelism, church planting, and leadership training. The next three years were focused on producing written materials in the Maasai language, followed by seven years as team leader.

October 4, 2014

Christian Standard

FOR the City, Not Just IN It

By Rich Gorman When we waited on God and watched to see what he was already doing here, we discovered how he would work through us to accomplish his will. The voicemail we received the day after we moved to Chicago ended up having a greater impact than we could have imagined. My wife, Dori, and I could not remember who this woman was, though she knew of us from our ministry in Johnson City, Tennessee, during our time at Emmanuel Christian Seminary.  She said, “This may seem weird, but I was praying this morning and felt that God told

September 14, 2014

Christian Standard

The Brave New World of Church Ministry

By Dick Alexander When I graduated from seminary in the late 1960s, I had answers. Today I have questions. Back then, I thought I knew what a church should look like. There were some variations on a theme, but there was essentially one “model.” But today? Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Everything else is up for grabs. Back in the day, the world was different. When the neighborhood ruffians on our block were playing in the yard and wanted a drink of water, we drank out of a garden hose””none of this sissified bottled water. And there

September 13, 2014

Christian Standard

Changing a City

By Glen Elliott Do you believe your city, town, region, barrio, or district can change? Do you believe your church can be a catalyst to bring about true community transformation? Do you see your church joining other churches, social agencies, and governmental entities to make a real difference? Will the prayer Jesus asked his disciples to pray become a reality where you live, “Your kingdom come, your will be done in (insert your city name here) as it is in heaven”? At one time, I had my doubts. The challenges and needs seemed overwhelming. I had so little time and

August 29, 2014

Christian Standard

How Are Things at Home?

By Eddie Lowen Why are you serving on that board or with that mission? How do you decide when it”s better to say no? Have you ever heard the wife of a construction contractor brag about all the work her husband does around the house? Neither have I. Normally, Mrs. Contractor complains, “My husband does amazing improvements on other people”s houses, but it”s like pulling teeth to get him to work on our home.” Some churches have a similar dynamic. Here”s how it develops: a capable minister does good work and establishes a positive reputation. He is asked by parachurch

August 2, 2014

Christian Standard

Planting Where Sin Abounds

By Jennifer Johnson When Vince Antonucci prepared to plant a church called Verve in Las Vegas, he thought, Of course we”ll be on the Strip. But when he began researching that area, he discovered there were no other churches there. “I wondered if that was unique to Las Vegas,” he says. “I began looking at the most “˜sinful” neighborhoods and streets in the world””places like the Red Light District in Amsterdam, Bourbon Street in New Orleans, The Sunset Strip in L.A. There are no churches there. But Jesus went to the most sinful places and the most sinful people. He

July 17, 2014

Christian Standard

Would a Belly Have Been Better?

By Tim Harlow (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I”ve Ever Received.”) The best and worst advice I ever received was from Sky Allen, the previous minister at Parkview (then the Tinley Park Church of Christ). I got the same advice from my friend Haydn Shaw, who was a minister in the area. When I asked them whether I should accept the senior minister position here in 1989, both of them very strongly said “NO.” The place was a divided, leaderless, and visionless church that was being held together with duct tape by the area church planting organization.

June 4, 2014

Christian Standard

Time to Reconsider Conversion?

By Doug Priest I believe a person is incorporated into the body of Christ at the point of baptism. But if we focus only on baptisms””especially in resistant cultures””we may miss other progress that is leading a person toward salvation. It happened yet again. A missionary working in Thailand among the highly resistant Thai Buddhists received an annual questionnaire from one of his supporting churches. The church, rightly trying to be a responsible steward of its funds, wanted to determine the success of the ministry. The questionnaire included some helpful questions, like the health of the family, the spiritual growth

May 16, 2014

Christian Standard

The Measure of a Church

By Will Thomas All churches count “noses” and “nickels.” That”s a good thing. Most of the time, attendance and finances provide a helpful barometer of what”s happening. But other factors also matter. Churches count what they do because they can. The harder-to-measure goals may too often remain hidden beneath the surface. Some churches look beyond the obvious. All churches could. In fact, looking beyond the obvious is probably one of the common characteristics of larger, growing churches. They know numbers for the sake of numbers seldom lead anywhere. Their leaders know a big church needs a big foundation. Churches that

May 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Megachurches and Missions

By Chris DeWelt Suspicious of missions? Uninterested in missionaries? Disengaged from foreign fields? Not the megachurches I interviewed for my doctoral thesis and this report. Actually, I found just the opposite. The American megachurch is interested in missions! The advent of the megachurch is a phenomenon unique in church history. The fact that the megachurch is here is hardly a news item, but the growth and influence of megachurches is a significant part of our current story.1 Just 53 years ago there were only 16 Protestant megachurches2 in America. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research lists about 1,500 megachurches.3 Currently,

May 9, 2014

Christian Standard

Bob Russell Says, ‘I Love the Church!’

By Bob Russell A prominent ad for a new church plant reads, “Church doesn”t have to suck! Happy hour service this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.” Some might smile at that trendy message and regard it as a creative attention-getter, but the not-so-subtle implication is that most churches are boring and ineffective. Frankly, I”m tired of people bashing the church of Jesus Christ. I”m not referring to the world”s ridicule of the church””that”s expected. I”m referring to the criticism of the church from within. Popular Christian authors, convention speakers, parachurch leaders, and “cutting-edge” preachers frequently heap scorn on the bride of

March 28, 2014

Christian Standard

A Conversation with Glen Elliott

Meet Our Contributing Editors: Glen Elliott, minister with Pantano Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona, talks about the fruit of faithfulness in a city with stagnant growth and a culture oriented toward “success.” Interview by Jennifer Johnson Your life motto is “Faithfulness, not success.” What do you mean? Arizona is one of the fastest-growing states, but after the recession, our county experienced almost zero growth. That affected our church. There weren”t any huge problems with me or my staff, but for a couple years our church didn”t grow. Pretty soon, a few elders started asking questions, and critics became more critical.

March 14, 2014

Christian Standard

Ships in the Night?

By Darrel Rowland Churches across the country are shedding denominational names, and well-known Evangelical leaders, such as Francis Chan, are expressing the importance of biblical baptism. Are the heirs to the Restoration Movement headed in the other direction? “I find that denominational preachers are really finding an interest in our doctrine and our stand,” says Ben Merold, minister-at-large with Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Missouri. “At about the time they”re kind of coming our way, we”re not making much of our doctrine and our Restoration Movement stand.” Victor Knowles, founder of Peace On Earth Ministries, remarked, “It is more

March 13, 2014

Christian Standard

The Christians Only Challenge

By Darrel Rowland Most of us love this old Restoration Movement slogan: “We are not the only Christians, but Christians only.” But Christian leaders from across the country contacted by CHRISTIAN STANDARD all wrestle with big-picture questions about what overarching principles flow from the adage. Most generally agree with Bob Russell, retired senior minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, about what to do when invited to attend or speak at an event outside the immediate fellowship. “I will go anywhere as long as I”m not restricted in what I can say or my presence doesn”t leave the impression

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