November 21, 2022
The members of Plainfield Christian Church near Indianapolis are busy this week. The church is sponsoring its 18th Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner—with more than 180 volunteers expecting to serve 2,000 meals.
September 29, 2021
News briefs from First Christian Church (Johnson City, Tenn.), IDES, Cedar Falls (Iowa) Christian Church, East Union Christian Church (Atlanta, Ind.), and more.
January 27, 2021
Stadia Church Planting shared a video highlighting multiple achievements attained during the challenging year of 2020. Among those successes: Stadia planted 98 U.S. churches and 280 global churches (making a total of 1,256 Stadia churches since 2003); 83 new church planters were recommended for church planting; 1,155 women were served through Stadia’s Bloom: Church Planting Women; and 2,000 more children were sponsored through Stadia global partnerships (bringing the total to 48,720 since sponsorships began). View the video at stadiachurchplanting.org. _ _ _ LifeVenture Group, a new ministry devoted to offering people new life in Jesus, is actively engaging with international
January 1, 2021
Three Leaders of Church-Lending Organizations Discuss How They Are Building on a Strong Foundation in Uncertain Times Early in 2020, as the global pandemic unfolded, the uncertainty and economic losses seemed to spell disaster both for churches looking to build or expand their facilities and for the financial institutions that provide loans to these ministries. How can churches expect to build when they can’t even safely meet in person? How can giving and lending hold steady when the economy is flailing and so many people are out of work? Now, mere months later—albeit long months—the worst fears did not happen.
December 16, 2020
By Chris Moon Churches are making a variety of changes to their Christmas Eve traditions to accommodate social distancing needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. And pastors are doing so while wondering when life finally will return to normal. “It’s been crazy,” said Ross Frisbie, senior minister at Tonganoxie Christian Church in Kansas. “I never thought by December we still would be dealing with this, and even more so now with cases going up. It’s crazy. I’m looking forward to normal.” Frisbie said his church will have three Christmas Eve services while offering churchgoers three options by which they can attend
November 22, 2020
—This content is sponsored by The Solomon Foundation— As the pandemic unfolded in March, I quickly became concerned . . . about catching the virus, about our economy, and about churches. On March 9, during my last airline flight (from Detroit to Denver) before most everything shut down, it became obvious to me I was not the only one concerned. Before that week ended, our country was in total lockdown. I could feel the tension rising within me, and I could sense the tension in others. As with many others, my wife and I spent a great deal of time
September 23, 2020
Harmony Christian Church, Georgetown, Ky., attempted to live up to its name Friday night by hosting a drive-in watch party to view a football game between crosstown rivals Scott County High School and Great Crossing High School. Fans of both teams attended. Last year the game was viewed in-person by 7,000 spectators, but attendance restrictions due to COVID-19 this year meant only two tickets were allotted per each participating student, the News-Graphic reported. The free drive-in featured livestreaming of the game projected onto a giant inflatable screen set up behind the church. Cars could tune into the local radio broadcast
September 22, 2020
Urban, Suburban, and Rural Church Leaders Share Their Experiences of Leading Through a Pandemic By Chris Moon No two churches are the same, even in how they have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, the virus has left a mark on Restoration Movement congregations and pastors across the country. For some churches and pastors, especially in rural, conservative areas of the country, the pandemic seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. The major difficulty was figuring out how to get the internet to cooperate during a brief closure. “There’s a lot of things you face like that
September 22, 2020
By Jim Estep State by state, county by county, the COVID-19 pandemic led to limitations, shelter-in-place orders, and essentially a shutdown of “normal.” In rural congregations—which are often smaller, singular in focus (worship), and fairly stable in ministry programming—this became an impetus for reflection, reevaluation, renewal, and a reenvisioning of ministries across the country. Theology of the Church We all know the church is made up of people—it’s not the building or the worship service—but our everyday theology would say otherwise. Whether we like it or not, our default theology turns church into a place or time. (“We are going
September 22, 2020
By Justin Horey In Manhattan, Kansas—“The Little Apple”—a church of about 1,000 regular attendees has resumed in-person worship with no serious complications. Though the average Sunday attendance is lower than its pre-COVID-19 norm, Crestview Christian Church has found reopening to be a blessing. Elsewhere, three other churches found that resuming in-person worship wasn’t so simple. One church reopened successfully but the state forced it to “reclose,” another church opened partially, and the other reopened but then closed again after a church employee tested positive for the virus. These are their stories. _ _ _ Reopened and Staying Open: Crestview Christian
August 15, 2020
Generosity, Responsibility, Humility: The Church’s Threefold Response to COVID-19 By Gary Johnson and Jared Johnson “History repeats itself” is a familiar phrase because it’s true. In the opening pages of Scripture, Egypt was a world superpower. That nation experienced prosperity like no other realm had ever known. The years of unprecedented bounty, though, were followed by seven years of famine. Is something similar occurring in America? In recent years, the United States has enjoyed an era of prosperity—from record low unemployment to record high returns in the financial markets. However, an insidious and destructive virus circled the globe and within
June 17, 2020
By Chris Moon Dave Richmond was standing in the parking lot of his church in rural Virginia. In one direction, he could hear chainsaws. Someone was cutting down a tree. In the other direction was a tobacco field. Asked whether living and ministering in a remote environment proved to be an advantage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the preaching minister at Cool Spring Christian Church near Keysville, Va., said he sensed that it was—for the most part. “We’re naturally spread out,” Richmond said. “There have not been a lot of cases in our area. We’ve had very little impact because of
May 6, 2020
Compiled by Jim Nieman Breandon McTighe of Reclaim Christian Church will be among the participants at a National Day of Prayer event at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot at Ansonio (Ct.) High School. Reclaim is loaning its FM transmitter for the drive-in event. McTighe preached RCC’s Easter service in the same high school lot, which provided inspiration for this gathering, which will include speakers from several area churches. _ _ _ Our friend Ruth E. Davis, 79, who served faithfully as news editor of Christian Standard from 1997 until her retirement in 2006, succumbed to the effects of Parkinson’s
April 21, 2020
By Jim Nieman A small, country church in South Dakota is doing its best to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the minister is convinced, “We’re going to come out of this stronger.” Preston Christian Church in Bruce, S.D., has adopted the same strategy as many other churches across the country by incorporating a drive-in service in their parking lot on Sunday mornings. A difference is that Preston Christian has been worshipping with their sister church, Brookings (S.D.) Christian Church, which is located about 20 miles away, the last three Sundays. PCC minister Tim Smith and BCC minister
April 8, 2020
Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon South Side Christian Church in Springfield, Ill., didn’t stage its annual Easter Eggcitement event featuring bounce houses, games, and eggs filled with candy this year, according to the State Journal-Register. Instead, on Sunday—because of the COVID-19 outbreak—children’s pastor Rodney Hull wore a protective mask and handed out treat bags to children in cars via a drive-through process. “I haven’t seen the kids for a few weeks, except on Zoom,” Hull told the paper. “So it’s a chance to wave to them and enjoy a little piece of Easter we’ve put together for them
April 1, 2020
Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Fox59 News in Indianapolis interviewed John Dickerson, lead pastor with Connection Pointe Christian Church, Brownsburg, Ind., about “ways to keep faith during the [coronavirus] pandemic.” “What you focus on becomes much bigger,” Dickerson said, using the above photo as an example. (Rest assured, the Eiffel Tower really is bigger than the man’s hand). “The reality is if we focus just on the virus and our fears and our anxiety and the economy,” Dickerson said, “if we focus only on those negative things—we do have to be aware of them—but if we fully focus
March 25, 2020
Numerous Christian churches were featured in newspaper stories the past few days for how they are responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. Most of the news stories noted that the churches are not meeting in-person but are coping by sharing their worship services via the Internet. Here are some of the churches that were featured: Odon (Ind.) Christian Church (featured in the Times-Herald)—”With the restrictions, we are going to be doing our services online only,” noted pastor Micah Stephen. “Easter time we usually get much larger numbers into the church. We are kind of putting things on hold and trying to
March 24, 2020
East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis is closed until further notice, but it is continuing to serve in both expected and unexpected ways. “At times like these, we have a choice,” associate minister David Faust told theindychannel.com. “Do we live by fear, or do we live by faith? We’re choosing to live by faith.” In addition to livestreaming a Sunday morning worship service, church volunteers offered prayers for individuals in cars during a drive-through Communion kit distribution at the church’s main entrance on Saturday morning. The church has also helped produce the first of several planned devotional videos geared
April 21, 2018
By Caleb Kaltenbach PARKER, CO—Independent Christian church pastors were thrilled to learn they can now count people who drive past their church during a service as part of their weekend attendance. The decision—part of an effort to boost numbers—was made at a meeting of the NACC Board of Stewards and other leaders. The decision included two stipulations: (1) Those driving by may be counted only during the first 30 minutes of the service, and (2) If not everyone in the passing vehicle can be counted, the vehicle counts as only 1 person. Many excited ministers have already acted on the
October 3, 2015
By Jennifer Johnson Our building is on the National Registry of Historic Places and is three blocks from the state capitol building. Several other beautiful places of worship are also nearby. Each year the media advertises that from 3-6 p.m. on December 26 these places will be open for tours. We offer live music during that time as well as cookies, hot chocolate, apple cider, and coffee. Our guides give visitors information about the church and a tour of the building that explains what worship, fellowship, and Christian education functions dictated the form of the building. From 400 to 600
April 7, 2026
John B. Penrose Jr
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March 27, 2026
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