July 27, 2021
Before COVID-19, minister Matt Dabbs might have spent his Sunday mornings before church straightening chairs and vacuuming the carpet. Today, he gets out his leaf blower to dry the dew off the grass in his backyard—because that’s where the church meets.
December 9, 2016
By Jennifer Johnson “A number of churches were moving to the suburbs, but we made a commitment to stay,” B.J. Leonard says. First Christian Church in Decatur, IL, has seen lots of change during its 180 years in the city. However, over the last 15 years some of the area”s bigger manufacturing and industrial companies have shut down and left, the unemployment rate soared, and people began to move. The congregation had to wrestle with its future. “We sensed God was leading us to reach outside our building and try to make a difference where we are,” says Leonard, missions
By Jennifer Taylor “Neighborhood Ministry has become our nerve center,” says Ashley Wooldridge, executive pastor at Christ”s Church of the Valley (Peoria, AZ). “It is the reason our church is growing.” CCV senior pastor Don Wilson created Neighborhood Ministry three years ago to more effectively accomplish the church”s mission of winning people to Christ, training them to become disciples, and sending disciples to impact the world. Each person at CCV is encouraged to join a neighborhood group””a weekly gathering of people who live in the same neighborhood or subdivision. The groups meet each week in a study based on the
May 7, 2008
Mark A. Taylor reflects on churches without steeples, showing how ordinary acts of service, evangelism, and faithful neighborhood witness reveal the church at work beyond its walls.
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