March 2, 2025
One of the great dangers of the modern church is that we have come to rely on our thinking, strength, wit, and skill and believe we can strategize, market, and promote our way out of the place in which we and our churches find ourselves.
May 1, 2021
After 150 Years, Starting Fresh At Central Christian Church in Toledo, Ohio, it’s not uncommon for children to get out of their seats and walk around during sermons. At times, a curious child might even approach the pulpit and strike up a conversation with Dennis Nagy as he preaches. Central Christian is not disorganized, undisciplined, or chaotic. Nor is the church pioneering an interactive approach to teaching the Scriptures. Rather, the congregation is home to a higher-than-average number of families with children who have autism. Nagy is in his second tenure with Central. He first served there around 20 years
September 20, 2019
In this repost of a classic article that first appeared in Christian Standard on May 20, 2012, Tom Claibourne responds to some fairly typical stereotypes about small churches. Claibourne is in his 40th year serving with Bethlehem Church of Christ, Winchester, Ohio. He recently was inducted into the Christian Village Communities Hall of Faith; his induction video celebrating his life of ministry is available at the church’s Facebook page. (Read our October 2019 issue for articles about challenges facing rural and small churches . . . and possible solutions.) _ _ _ By Tom Claibourne Small church. What is the
August 22, 2019
By Jerran Jackson Down through the ages, Jesus has used crises and challenges to renew his church. When Christians by the thousands were leaving their churches to pray alone in the desert, Basil of Caesarea redefined devotion to God by gathering Christians in cities and organizing them both for prayer and for service to their neighbors. When the church became corrupt and Christianity became a superstition, Martin Luther reemphasized the guidance of God’s Word. When dry formalism replaced living faith, Philipp Jakob Spener introduced home Bible studies. Jesus can renew the American church today in similar ways. Before there were
August 22, 2019
By Clark Bates We received a friendly welcome when we entered the Christian church in Beaver City, a small town in rural Nebraska. The service that morning was upbeat, the prayers sincere, and the preaching biblical . . . but where were the people? The sanctuary was large enough to accommodate 150, but that morning only 25 people huddled into one section of pews. After the service, my wife and I spoke with Treg and Beth about the challenges facing the congregation. They shared about the decreasing population of the area, explaining that young people move away for college and
July 22, 2019
By Michael Bowling I have a confession. I have served two inner-city congregations for a total of 35 years, yet I am no fan of urban ministry. Here’s why. The greatest challenges to healthy church communities that are dynamic witnesses to the redemptive way of Jesus have little to do with urban-specific techniques or new resources. Our challenges in urban, suburban, and rural contexts are the same: faithfulness to biblical discipleship, a theology of the church (ecclesiology) informed by the New Testament pattern, and a God-sized view of salvation. An overemphasis on new and innovative practices of “urban ministry” is
May 17, 2019
âThe multisite congregation is the single most profound change in American congregations in the past century.â âThom Rainer, CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources By Jim Tomberlin When I started down the multisite path as a senior pastor in Colorado in the 1990s, multisite was a radical idea. In the first decade of the 21st century, multisite became the cool idea among large, cutting-edge churches. As it approaches the end of its third decade, multisite has become the mainstream idea for healthy, growing churches of all kinds and sizes. This movement is comprised of more than 5,000 denominational and nondenominational churches that
September 1, 2017
By Matt Summers This month, Crossroads Christian Church (the urban church we planted in Joliet, Illinois) celebrates its 10-year anniversary. During that time, we have grown from several dozen people into a thriving congregation of more than a thousand with a vision to reach thousands more for Christ. We have built our ministry by meeting the social and spiritual needs of our community. We have baptized 500 people into Christ, remodeled our original church building, built a larger worship center, started a Spanish-speaking congregation, and now we are relocating to a new building that will facilitate even greater growth and
September 12, 2007
By Mark A. Taylor If you wish all this talk about emerging churches was just a fad, I can relate. It”s not that I”m against change. I”ve lived through a lot of change in my life””work, family, my house, my diet. All of these are completely different now than when I entered adulthood 35 years ago. And most of these changes have been for the better. It”s true at church too. For example, the explosion of contemporary Christian music in the last four decades has led me closer to God. Like most of my fellow Boomers, I”ve welcomed new worship
April 7, 2026
John B. Penrose Jr
April 7, 2026
David Faust
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok