Articles for tag: Marriage And Family

November 1, 2021

How Churches Are Serving Their Communities

By Kent E. Fillinger Some churches create “holy huddles” that are internally focused and address only the needs of their own members. Their mantra could be, “Us four, no more, close the door!” Other churches are more externally focused and spend time, energy, and resources serving their local communities and meeting practical needs. Church leaders should periodically ask, “If our church were to close today, would our community realize it and miss us?” Answering that question will help a church assess where they fall on the internally focused versus externally focused spectrum. Local Community Involvement Our annual church survey for

August 10, 2015

Christian Standard

Family & Relationships

7 Things Singles Want Their Pastors to Know

By Jennifer Johnson “¢ Please acknowledge that our culture is couple-focused.Â Many people still believe you”re incomplete””and you must be unhappy””if you”re not married. While many of us would like to be married, the fact that we aren”t doesn”t define who we are. We live in a culture that idealizes romantic love and feels sorry for those not in a relationship, but the church should have a richer perspective on each individual”s value in the body of Christ. It”s not your fault that our culture trends this way, but don”t let the church inadvertently reinforce it. “¢ We don”t mind

July 5, 2013

Christian Standard

Church Leadership

40 Under 40: Rich Gorman & Dori Gorman

RICH GORMANÂ & DORI GORMAN Campus pastors,Â Community Christian Church,Â Edgewater, Illinois My former students Rich and Dori Gorman are an extraordinary pastoral couple with outstanding leadership gifts and a passion to reach urban people via the church. Their marriage and family are models for young couples and families. They are on the cutting edge of missional church planting and are creating a new model for new church development that reaches people who live in the margins. They are all about relationships and helping to empower people to find their gifts so every person is able to figure out his or

August 1, 2012

Christian Standard

Church Leadership

Learning to Trust

By Mike MacKenzie Jeff is not unlike many ministers we see. He has been in ministry for 25 years and has been reasonably successful. He accepted his current senior pastor position eight years ago knowing it was going to be a challenge. The congregation”s former senior pastor, who was also the founding pastor, had left under a cloud of suspicion. The church”s building program was hanging in limbo after a church split had seen half the members leave. And the finances were messy. But Jeff figured, with his experience, he had a responsibility to do what he could when he