January 14, 2025
TCM’s tools and mission have adapted to past changes, but the enduring focus today remains the same: to equip Christian leaders for significant service so that every nation will have effective leaders of disciple-making movements impacting their churches, cultures, and countries for Christ.
By David Fincher Christian colleges want to work with local churches to enrich the school and its students, as well as the congregation and its members. Such collaboration helps our Christian higher education institutions maintain their core mission of training church leaders. Most Christian colleges and universities work hard to recruit potential students from the church, provide professional candidates to fill staff openings, and send preachers or teachers when asked. Christian churches need to use these important resources, and Christian colleges need to clearly communicate theservices it can offer congregations. Here are 10 ideas for creative collaborationforChristian colleges and churches
September 23, 2017
By Bob Hightchew How do you change an unhealthy church culture without any pain? How do you make necessary biblical changes without upsetting people? You can”t. If we are to serve the kingdom, we will have to fight some battles. The battle is worth it, though, if the process helps move a church to better health. I”ve learned this firsthand over the course of the last 20-plus years. South Fork Christian Church in Verona, Kentucky, has been an easy congregation for me to love. Our pews are filled with kind, generous, and loving individuals. However, when I arrived, the church
By Jennifer Johnson Several of the Restoration Movement”s largest churches have created internship programs, some that involve entire cohorts of students and work with colleges and universities for academic credit. “Those are wonderful opportunities for students, and we love what those churches are doing,” says Becki Kern. “But we decided our niche would be a more customized program that works one-on-one with each individual. With that goal in mind, we launched the Reveal Residency in 2014.” Kern, who serves as campus launch pastor and director of Reveal at Pantano Christian Church, Tucson, AZ, designed the program to work with people
December 17, 2016
By Hannah Cleeton Professional women must perform a balancing act the church doesn”t prepare them to handle. A recent profile of the 114th Congress by the Congressional Research Service found women hold 108 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, up from 82 seats in the 109th Congress 10 years earlier.1 As it becomes more common for women to run for and hold public office, that number will continue to climb. The statistic does not take into account women who work behind the scenes in the various House and Senate offices, as I do. In my
August 28, 2016
By Jim Estep The leaders you want won”t sprout overnight, like weeds in a garden. Here”s how to develop strategies to nurture the crop of new leaders you need. The phone call is all too familiar. An elder begins the conversation stating the obvious, “We need new elders! All our elders are getting older, and no one is stepping up to serve.” I listen, perhaps ask about the church and the strengths of the current leadership; but eventually the inescapable question must be asked, “What have you been intentionally doing to bring up the next generation of leaders in your church?”
August 15, 2016
By Michael C. Mack Many new small groups and classes are beginning this time of year. Jim Egli, author, along with Vicki and Melissa Egli, of 333 Amazing Icebreaker Questions, says when he launches a new group, he likes to ask seven questions that also cast vision and outline expectations for the group: “¢ Where did you go to school for the first grade? “¢ Whom were you closest to when you were 10 years old? “¢ What is something you are very good at? “¢ When did God become more than a word to you? “¢ Besides your coming
March 4, 2016
By Jennifer Johnson It all began with a sermon. Several years ago, Josh Howard, director of leadership training at Central India Christian Mission, was listening to a message called “Born to Reproduce” by Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators. “He made a comment that it was possible for us to reach the entire world in 10 years,” Howard says. “I thought, There”s no way that”s true. So I got out my calculator and did the math. I realized that if every person reached one person every six months, in 15 years we could reach all of India”s 1.1 billion people.
September 20, 2015
By Jennifer Johnson Christian Missionary Fellowship plants international churches, trains national leaders, coordinates a child sponsorship program, develops campus ministries in key cities around the world, teaches Community Health Evangelism, drills wells for clean water, manages a microloan program, and more. But much of this work depends on consistently recruiting new people to serve””as interns, exchange students, and short- and long-term missionaries. Recently CMF developed a new “Is Missions for Me?” seminar designed to discover more potential recruits for its programs while resourcing and supporting local church efforts. The event is hosted by a church (although several churches can partner
October 6, 2014
By Doug Priest Dan Crum and Joe Cluff, along with their families, have served for many years as missionaries among the Maasai people of Kenya. They were interviewed by CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor Doug Priest. When did each of you arrive in Kenya and what has been your ministry through the years. DAN CRUM: We arrived in Kenya in 1988, and lived in rural Maasailand for 10 years in the ministry of evangelism, church planting, and leadership training. The next three years were focused on producing written materials in the Maasai language, followed by seven years as team leader.
May 18, 2014
By Brien Sims Most people know the recluse spider (also known as the fiddleback), the king cobra, and sharks are dangerous and deadly critters capable of seriously wounding and even killing. Ironically, the humble hippo rarely makes the list of deadly animals. There”s something about them . . . they just seem too cute and lumbering. A quick Internet search, however, reveals hippos ferociously defend their territory and kill more people than sharks each year. Yes, cute baby hippos grow into animals that will attack and kill when approached, antagonized, or separated from their young. If you enter a hippo”s
January 29, 2013
By Kent E. Fillinger Quality leaders and effective leadership can make the difference in whether a local church or any organization succeeds or fails. So we asked a few dozen leaders from churches of all sizes to tell us how they develop leaders where they serve. (The 43 congregations surveyed have average attendances from 275 to 8,500.) Most of those surveyed (77 percent) said every staff member is responsible to train leaders and volunteers within each of their ministries. Four of the megachurches surveyed have a staff person focused solely on leadership development, yet these churches still rely on a
August 20, 2012
By Mike Armstrong College campuses across the country will soon be flooded with the next class of new students. Also arriving will be thousands of the most promising students from around the world, with more than half of these coming from the world”s least-reached nations. Both American and international students will arrive with dreams and plans for their college careers and their futures. But what most will not realize is that when they arrive on campus, God is already there. Many of these students will encounter God in ways that will change their lives. Saying “hello” to these new students
July 28, 2012
By Michael C. Mack How many people can you effectively lead, shepherd, and disciple? Let me ask the question another way: If you want to see true transformation of people”s lives, into how many people can you invest your life? How about Jesus? How many people did he disciple? Three of his four disciples, Peter, James, and John, became Jesus” inner circle or what could be called his core team. Jesus poured his life into these three men, investing into them and modeling a life surrendered to the Father. He took these three away with him to pray and heal, as well
August 31, 2011
By Gretchen Magruder Dear local church, Let me introduce you to some new members headed your way! My friends have just graduated from college and are looking for a new community to join. They are excited about finding a place to jump in and serve, and will be checking you out over the next few months as they transition from college life to (hopefully) gainful employment. Everyone wants to be known. I know they look young, but please don”t assume they”re with their parents or that they”re just going to be around for a short time. Ask them to tell
June 24, 2011
By Jennifer Taylor Training Christians for Ministry (TCM) created its “Priscilla Initiative” to provide graduate-level Christian leadership education, training, and practical experience to women in Europe and Central Asia. Over the last 10 years, women around the world have become more influential in developing their families, churches, and communities. “Yet because of cultures and customs,” TCM writes, “these women have fewer opportunities than their male counterparts to access formalized Christian education and training that will enable them to grow spiritually and develop as strong Christian leaders.” TCM is working to solve these problems by establishing a scholarship fund and providing
November 11, 2009
By Mark A. Taylor Say leader to someone who is not a leader, and he”s likely to picture a public person: the convincing speaker, the meeting chairman, the decision-maker with the last word or the authority to sign-off. Those who actually lead, however, know much of their work happens in private, behind the scenes, one-on-one, or even alone. But leaders as well as followers sometimes miss one dimension of leadership, and that”s the responsibility highlighted in this week”s issue: Leaders must develop new leaders. The leaders writing this week know this. They speak in the context of a new church,
December 7, 2008
By Doug Gibson There was a time when attending a Christian college was a good deal. When my father attended in the 1950s, the cost of a Bible college education was only slightly higher than that of the local community or state college. I wonder if those days are gone forever. Today”s students pay $10,000 to $20,000 a year for a Christian college education. Admittedly, everything is more expensive than it used to be and the expectations of today”s students in the areas of technology add to the expense, but that is not the primary issue driving student expenses to
April 19, 2006
Longtime Johnson Bible College president David Eubanks reflects on shifting ministry preparation, student purpose, missions growth, fundraising, and the leadership transition planned ahead of his retirement.
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