Articles for tag: Lord’s Supper

August 16, 2011

Christian Standard

Who”s the Hero?

By Teresa Welch During my 15-year tenure as a children”s minister, I was proud of how much Bible content the children learned. But now I wonder if that was enough. Whether it was through Sunday school, kids worship, youth groups, or summer programs like church camp and Vacation Bible School, I knew children were learning the Word of God. However, as I reflected on those years, I saw a problem. Sometimes our efforts to make sure children were learning the Word of God didn”t lead them to learn about God. Certainly we taught about the number of stones David collected

August 4, 2011

Christian Standard

Inexpensive Downloads to Help Your Ministry

By Mark A. Taylor Here”s a reminder about a whole host of inexpensive, downloadable resources available for your church now. As you anticipate the after-summer ramp-up of activities and ministries, which of the following would help your ministry most? For new members and nonmembers””Our most popular “What Kind of Church Is This?” gives you 8 full-color pages that explain the unique and beautiful nondenominational position of Christian churches and churches of Christ. “Simply Christians,” which originally appeared in The Lookout, is a 12-page overview to accomplish the same purpose. One user called “Simply Christians” “the best short-form overview of the

July 2, 2011

Christian Standard

“˜God Bless America”

By Mark A. Taylor More than a decade ago, my congregation hosted a patriotic pageant each year called “Sea to Shining Sea.” We had a huge adult choir, a children”s choir, a live orchestra, actors, and dancers. We welcomed color guards from all the armed services. We sang every patriotic song you know, including one that invited veterans from every branch of the service to stand and receive the cheers of the crowd. Fireworks accompanied the songs, and after the last note, everyone sat with necks craned to the sky and enjoyed 20 minutes of the rockets” red glare. Our

April 3, 2011

Christian Standard

A Fitting Memorial

By Bob Hostetler At 6:55 on a cold March evening, 12-year-old Valerie Webb, who lost her father in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York”s World Trade Center towers, threw a switch that sent twin towers of light into the sky. The bright beacons, a tribute to the nearly 3,000 lives lost at that site, seemed a fitting memorial for the horrible acts that left a gaping hole in New York”s skyline . . . and in America”s heart. When something of that magnitude happens, it”s only natural””and right””to want to mark it and remember it. On the

March 29, 2011

Christian Standard

In Praise of Congregational Participation

By Becky Ahlberg Contrary to what you might think, “worship wars” have been going on for centuries. I”ll not slip back into my music history professor role and bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that, from early church days, how we worship has been the topic of a lively, ongoing debate. As is the norm for humans, we tend to swing the pendulum from one extreme to another, rarely finding that center of balance. I suppose if we carry through with that analogy, though, the good news is that it is the swinging pendulum that

January 10, 2011

Christian Standard

The Cure for Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

By Jon Weatherly Nothing alarms church folk quite so much as problems with the young folk. So it was about five years ago with Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton”s book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Smith and Denton”s research produced the phrase “moralistic therapeutic deism” to describe the typical American teen”s view of God. It”s “deism” because the god of the typical teen is mostly distant and uninvolved. It”s “therapeutic” because that distant god still wants everyone to have a happy life and occasionally is willing to get involved when a person has an

December 31, 2010

Christian Standard

Better Than a Party

By Rick Chromey Every New Year”s Eve our culture gathers together to toast and celebrate another year”s passing. New opportunities. New friendships. New dreams. Of course, for some, too much imbibing, indiscretion, and insolence sully the festive occasion. Nevertheless, many choose to drown their sorrows in drink or ease their anxiety through gluttony. After all, humans desperately seek to numb our pain and bury the past. Alcohol, food, sex, and entertainment are simply cultural solutions to crisis and conflict. Like Band-Aids on a gaping wound, many try to mask, manipulate, or minimize the bleeding but ultimately fail miserably to find

August 11, 2010

Terry OCasey

New Testament church

Myth Busting

Terry O’Casey challenges churches to move beyond narrow claims about being “New Testament” and recover a fuller biblical vision of discipleship, worship, baptism, leadership, discipline, and unity.

October 4, 2009

Christian Standard

In Communion

  by C. Robert Wetzel “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body” (1 Corinthians 10:17). In 1909 Christians from the Restoration Movement were making plans for the centennial celebration of the Declaration and Address to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that October. At the same time, in what was then a remote part of mountainous western North Carolina, a small group of believers were making plans to establish a church. Late in 1908 there had been a 30-day evangelistic meeting that led to the baptism of 14 people. In the spring of the following year,

August 26, 2009

Mark A. Taylor

church ministry ideas

Leading the Trends

Mark A. Taylor offers practical, Scripture-shaped church ministry ideas that could refresh congregational life, from prayer services and Communion reflection to generosity, fasting, family connection, and bearing one another’s burdens.

Help Keep Christian Standard Free & Accessible with a Tax Deductible Donation

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Does Your Church Want to Support Christian Standard?

Would your church consider including support for Christian Standard in its annual missions budget? Your support would help us not only continue the 160-year legacy of this unifying ministry, but also expand the free resources, cooperative opportunities, and practical guidance we provide to strengthen churches in the U.S. and around the world.

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Secret Link