May 13, 2024
What does it take to pastor a church for the long haul? Christian Standard posed this question to Bob Stevens who has served with Allensburg Church of Christ in Ohio for 40 years; Jerran Jackson, 44-year minister with Clarksburg (Indiana) Christian Church; and David Simpson, pastor with Lanier Christian Church in Georgia for 48 years. . . .
August 22, 2019
By Jerran Jackson Rural churches have faced many challenges, and they will face many more. We have highlighted possible solutions in these articles. While your church may be doing well right now, it’s not inconceivable it could be forced to close its doors within the next 20 years. The best mind-set is a willingness to join Jesus in new adventures. The future for your church might include part-time ministers, mergers, and hiring from within. It’s important to openly discuss and pray about what might be necessary and best for the kingdom. It’s also important to try new approaches. If the
August 22, 2019
By Barney Wells “In this part of the country, there’s a Christian church every five miles, and three in between,” quipped the minister, who had served small-town congregations in the Midwest for decades. Though an overstatement, it does point to a challenge for the rural church. Many rural churches were planted in the days before automobiles and good roads, when the population density of the rural countryside was much greater and you could travel only a few miles in 30 minutes. Back then, more schools, stores, and churches were needed. Over the years, schools have consolidated and stores have closed,
August 22, 2019
By Matt Johnson If many people with leadership gifts and experience attend your church, then your pool of potential leaders is deep. If your church is comprised of people who have little leadership experience or skill, you’re facing a completely different situation. You may have great workers with great hearts, but you may not have competent leaders. It is possible this dynamic contributes to the size of the church. How can the small church cope with a dearth of potential leaders? My response is mostly anecdotal. The church I served until recently, Levittown Christian Church, is in a lower-middle-class, blue-collar
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 Jerran Jackson Carlos Fields just wanted to play baseball. So he joined some friends who were playing on a church team. The church’s minister was on the team, and during the season they had several conversations. Carlos was a Christ follower by the time the season ended. The minister continued to work with Carlos, and two years later, the young man was in Bible college. Carlos was familiar with only small and rural churches, so he was not put off by serving those kinds of congregations. Carlos ultimately planted 12 small congregations and led hundreds of people to faith
August 22, 2019
By Richard Creek An objective for this article is to determine how many 2019 graduates from Bible colleges will be entering the pastoral/pulpit ministry. The Pastor’s Project contacted nine Bible colleges associated with independent Christian churches and churches of Christ in the United States and Canada. (That’s about one-third of our colleges and universities.) The total number of students from these nine schools entering the pastoral ministry was 17, which is considerably lower than in previous decades. Yet the need for pastors has been increasing. Without a pastor, many rural and small churches go on life support and eventually die.
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
August 22, 2019
Why do many small and rural churches struggle to find and retain leaders and even to survive? More importantly, what are some solutions? Christian Standard asked Jerran Jackson to lead and manage a project to study these issues. He teamed with four other seasoned leaders who have expertise in the small church to develop this topic. _ _ _ By Jerran Jackson and Barney Wells Many rural and small-town churches are struggling. LifeWay Research found that 60 percent of Protestant churches are plateaued or declining in attendance. And 46 percent say their giving decreased or stayed the same from 2017
January 9, 2019
Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman Stephanie Freed, an Ozark Christian College alum who cofounded Rapha House, was named a “2019 Pathfinder” by J Mag, a lifestyles magazine published by the Joplin Globe. According to the Globe: “The award honors individuals, couples or groups who have accomplished something unique and who have made it possible for others to follow in their footsteps.” The entry for Freed reads: “Stephanie Freed . . . co-founded Rapha House International in 2003, after her father challenged her to research human trafficking. Today, there are safe havens in Cambodia, Thailand and in Haiti, where
April 3, 2017
By Jerran Jackson and Lareesa Jackson “Eighty and six years I have served Him, and never has He done me wrong. How can I ever blaspheme my King who saved me?”1 Around AD 150, Polycarp of Smyrna gave this bold testimony of his faith before he was executed. The official who judged Polycarp”s case tried to convince the old man to swear by Caesar to avoid being burned at the stake. Polycarp could simply have said the words. He could have escaped persecution and a gruesome death. However, Polycarp would not. The reason was faithfulness””Christ had been faithful to Polycarp,
November 13, 2005
Clarksburg (Indiana) Christian Church shows how wide participation, ministry teams, and a hands-on Vacation Bible School project can build unity, reduce burnout, and strengthen multigenerational relationships without a large staff or huge budget.
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