Articles for tag: Contextualization

January 1, 2023

7 Tips for Having That Difficult Conversation About Truth

By Caleb Kaltenbach Having conversations about truth will always be difficult. (That may be the understatement of the decade!) Whether it’s difficult conversations that address someone’s pride, selfishness, bitterness, or, well, you fill in the blank, we’ve all been the recipients and bearers of “tough love talks.” And an already difficult conversation becomes even more complicated and emotions increase dramatically when the topic centers around a lighting-rod societal issue. Unfortunately, many who are tasked with confronting another person can go to extremes when sharing truth. They might challenge a person too harshly or they might be too fearful and not

August 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Planting

Urban Church Planting: A Conversation with Eric Metcalf

By David Dummitt When I was first invited to write an article about urban church planting, I planned to write about trends, research, data, and the like. But after thinking about it some more, I decided that rather than share my thoughts, it would be more powerful to share the insights of someone in the proverbial trenches of urban church planting. I recently sat down with Eric Metcalf, a colleague, fellow church planter, and friend. Eric and his wife, Erin, are church planters in downtown Chicago. Eric is also the residency catalyst for NewThing. Their passion for the Jesus mission,

April 27, 2015

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Youth & Children's Ministry

Bringing a Missions Mentality to Student Ministry

By Mike Andrews In his book Hurt, Chap Clark describes how today”s teen culture has been largely disconnected from adult society. In fact, teens have become so disconnected, they”ve largely developed a culture foreign to most American adults. Left to blindly lead each other, youth culture tribes have often fallen into patterns of living and thinking that tell them they don”t matter. I spent a recent evening at a community prayer vigil after a series of accidental deaths of far too many of our next generation. Many of these young people died from actions taken under this prevailing philosophy: I”m

October 15, 2012

Christian Standard

Addiction Ethics & Moral Issues

Sticky Conversations: Alcohol

THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF FIVE “STICKY CONVERSATIONS” By Tim Harlow In matters of opinion, beer?Â “In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love.” It”s such a beautiful sentiment, but how do we know which is which? There wouldn”t be 30,000 different sects of Christianity in the world if it were really that easy. Consider the subject of alcohol. It”s always been confusing to me because, as I grew up in the Christian church, I was always told alcohol was bad/sinful. But Paul told Timothy to drink some wine for his

May 13, 2012

Brian Jones

Church & Ministry Church Growth

Seven Ways We Keep Church Hoppers from Staying at Our Church

Brian Jones offers seven ways churches can challenge the consumer mind-set of church hopping, from emphasizing service and giving to reconsidering sermon length, worship practices, insider language, and outreach.

April 25, 2012

Rick Grover

Mission & Evangelism

Missional and Attractional

Rick Grover draws on experiences with megachurches, church planting, and house churches to argue that missional and attractional approaches need not compete when the goal is making disciples of Jesus.