Articles for tag: Forefront Church

July 21, 2016

Christian Standard

So Grateful

By Chris Garrett I”ve told my story many times over the years. Sadly, I”ve found it a common one. A young woman marries her high school sweetheart, has a baby boy, and one year later, the father doesn”t want to be married anymore and leaves. Struggling with the aftermath, mom and child live in poverty, experience years of physical and sexual abuse during a second marriage, and that boy grows up living a life full of poor choices born out of a deep struggle with self-worth. That was my story, but it didn”t end there. I love to tell people

December 13, 2015

Christian Standard

Working Together

By Jennifer Johnson We all need a community of some kind””a place to be accepted and loved for who we are and challenged to grow into who we might be. Churches at their best have always been a place for people to find these connections by serving, worshipping, and studying together. Forefront Church in New York City encourages all of these expressions of community life, but the church is also developing new opportunities to support, nurture, and encourage artists and entrepreneurs through a program called “Creative Guilds.” The concept of a guild developed hundreds of years ago to encourage artisans

June 15, 2015

Christian Standard

Responding to Jim Putman

We asked three leaders to react to Jim Putman’s article describing his church’s decision to plant churches instead of develop multisites. By Brent Storms, president, The Orchard Group (www.orchardgroup.org) ONE OF THE BIGGEST FACTORS in starting healthy churches is the quality of the lead planter. One of the characteristics of the best church planters is that they are great communicators. The only way to develop one”s communication gift is to be afforded frequent opportunities to speak and receive helpful feedback. I share Jim”s concern that the trend toward campuses that are video venues effectively reduces the opportunities younger leaders have to preach. That

October 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Interview with an Actor

By Jonathan Williams “Most people grind it out for years as servers, bartenders, and baristas before they book their first acting gig. I was lucky.” Ben Jeffery is lucky. After moving to New York from Kansas City, Missouri, almost five years ago, he found work in commercials and in TV shows, including Louie. “I mean, I did spend some time working as a barista at Starbucks,” Ben tells me with an affable nod, “but I basically got the chance to live out my dream as an actor right away.” For the past three years, Ben has entertained capacity crowds as

December 2, 2013

Christian Standard

Sometimes the Best Things Aren”t Planned

By Jennifer Johnson “We didn”t set out to recruit three African-American church planters for our 2014 plants,” says Brent Storms, president of the Orchard Group, a church planting organization based in New York City. “Our goal is always to find the very best young leaders, and Watson, Jordan, and Derrick were simply the right people.” Watson Jones will plant in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, an area rich in history and diversity, but with little church attendance and a growing Islamic community. Jordan Rice, currently a leadership resident at Forefront Church in Manhattan, will start a church in Harlem, once

July 21, 2013

Christian Standard

40 Under 40: Jonathan Williams

JONATHAN WILLIAMS Pastor, Forefront Christian Church, Brooklyn, New York Jonathan Williams is a captivating storyteller. He finds joy in people, in learning their histories, and in laughing at human foibles, including his own. This ability to delight in others and laugh at himself draws people to him. It reflects the way Jesus often taught. The disciples would ask Jesus a question, and Jesus would answer with a story. For several years after college, Jonathan taught at an inner-city school in Philadelphia. If you asked Jonathan about that experience, his stories would make you burst with laughter one moment, and break

June 7, 2013

Christian Standard

Beyond Missional

By Jonathan Williams Clara thought she would die. The water from the East River traveled inland to her house on Wolcott Street. It started in her basement and kept rising. Clara and her husband went into their attic and stayed there throughout the night, praying that the water level in their home would subside. When they came down in the morning, their house was ruined. The water had receded and taken everything with it. Most of her possessions were washed right out of the house, stolen by Superstorm Sandy. And that”s where we met Clara, standing outside on a muddy

April 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Arts Guilds Featured

By Jennifer Johnson Two years ago, Ryan Phipps created a “guild” for songwriters and another for filmmakers and photographers at Forefront Church (New York, NY). Phipps, who serves as the worship and arts director at Forefront”s Manhattan campus, says the church offered several groups for business professionals but nothing for artists beyond the music on Sunday morning. The Forefront groups are in the spirit of the medieval guilds, which developed as associations of master craftsmen with shared skills. “The idea was to gather people around a shared creative interest,” he says. “The response to the first two was overwhelming, so

September 11, 2012

Christian Standard

Giving It Away

By Darrel Rowland Mounting a successful fund-raising drive is challenging enough for any church, especially in these difficult economic times. But two churches not only carried out smashing one-day giving campaigns earlier this year, they turned around and gave it away””all $176,000 of it. In fact, most of the money went to places not even associated with the church. Leaders of both churches say your congregation should try it, too. Launched in 2005, Forefront Church in Manhattan began an annual giving event called Celebration Generosity in 2009. That first year, members chipped in about $27,000 for various social service organizations

November 2, 2011

Christian Standard

Forefront Gathers Religious, Nonreligious for Conversation

On Thursday, Forefront Church (New York, NY) will hold its next “Conversation That Matters,” a regular gathering to discuss a problem, issue, or article as well as offer one or two people the opportunity to share their own stories. “There are too few places where nonreligious and religious people can listen to one another graciously and learn from one another’s perspectives,” the church writes. Forefront posts links to discussion questions and suggested readings before each gathering.

September 27, 2006

Mark A. Taylor

lobby test

The Lobby Test

Vince Antonucci’s “lobby test” reveals whether churches are reaching people who have never attended church before. His challenge invites congregations to see themselves through outsiders’ eyes and pursue Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost.

September 4, 2005

Wes Dillon

third place

Meeting Strangers

As churches seek stronger ties with their neighborhoods, “third places” like coffee shops and community centers can create everyday connection points beyond Sunday. Practical examples show how presence and service can open relational doors.

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