The Solomon Foundation: Investing in a Movement and a Future
The Solomon Foundation is absolutely committed to the churches of the Restoration Movement. . . .
Articles for tag: Nondenominational Churches
July 1, 2023
Faith Factors
By Kent E. Fillinger The number of unaffiliated, nondenominational Christian churches in the United States grew by almost 5,000 congregations and nearly 9 million people from 2010 to 2020, thus making it America’s largest Protestant “denomination,” according to the U.S. Religion Census. In 2010, unaffiliated, nondenominational Christian churches had an estimated 12,241,329 adherents in 35,496 congregations, which represented 4 percent of the overall population. By 2020, the number of people worshipping in those churches grew to 21,095,641, and their share of America’s religious population increased to 13.1 percent, representing 6.4 percent of the nation’s population. How Many Churches Do We
May 1, 2023
A Movement Away from Denominationalism: What’s It Mean for Us?
By Ben Cachiaras When asked about the key to his success, Dick Clark, of American Bandstand fame, replied, “I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.” Worrying about trends can get you into trouble. So can ignoring them. At the least, it seems wise for church leaders to strive to be like the men of Issachar “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). In this spirit, I was asked to consider how we might understand and respond to the rising trends noted in “A ‘Postdenominational’ Era: Inside the
May 1, 2023
The Rise of the Nons and the Nearly Gones (and What We Can Do About It)
By Billy Strother Congregations need one another more than ever. They need a sense of unity for mission in community. As congregational leaders, pursuing a sense of unity in community will strengthen us all and increase our kingdom fruit. Jesus proclaimed, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and no city or house divided against itself will stand” (Matthew 12:25, New American Standard Bible). Ministering to the Nons Christianity is in retreat in our culture. We are familiar with the rise of the “nones” (30 percent of U.S. adults now claim no religious affiliation). But despite the challenges, strategic opportunities
May 1, 2023
From ‘Fringe’ to ‘Family’
By Randy Wheeler “What kind of impact could we have on the city of Milwaukee if we had 1,000 millennials who were on fire for Jesus?” Pastor Ken Lock posed this question to a small group of friends as they dreamed about the kind of church they wanted to plant. In 2018, Evolve Church was born. One year later, Evolve had 1,000 millennials attending who were on fire for Jesus! Then COVID hit, and for the next 19 months the church was locked out of the high school they rented, services went online, and Evolve began to search for a
May 17, 2020
The Churches of Our Movement Were Made for This
By Michael C. Mack I believe the Restoration Movement is a strong and vibrant movement with a bright future. Here are four reasons I believe that’s true. First, our movement is in good hands. Every feature writer this month is under the age of 45, and many are in their 20s and 30s. We sought younger writers to make a point. As one young writer, Josh Ross, put it, “In the kingdom of God, the movement is before us, not behind us.” While we often look back at the rich history of our movement, it’s time to look to the
February 19, 2020
If You Lead Alone, You're Doing It Wrong
A Cutting-Edge Way to Find New Ministry Partners Online . . . and in Person By Mark Kitts I’m still smarting from the recent closing of my alma mater, once known as “the Flagship College” of the independent Christian churches (ICC). Our schools, publications, and national gatherings have historically been unifying bastions of the Restoration Movement. But these institutions have been losing influence as people have voted with their feet and their wallets. Is it because Restoration ideals have lost their relevance? I don’t think so. I see these ideals being adopted as never before. Denominationalism is declining at an
October 19, 2018
How the Baby Boomers Introduced One of the Gravest Spiritual Dangers of Our Era
By Haydn Shaw The traditionalists (those born before 1945) were loyal to the churches they grew up in—or at least, if relocating, they were loyal to their denomination. Certainly some traditionalists left one church for another when they became upset, but they were the last generation to largely stay put within the same church. The boomers (born 1946–64) introduced church hopping and it has stunted spiritual growth as much as anything the past 50 years. I realize this is a bold claim, so let me back up and explain two things that have changed and how they led to church
June 16, 2015
Three Reasons Evangelical Churches Are Growing When Others Are Not
By Mark A. Taylor Why are Evangelicals the only growing Christian group in America? The fact of dramatic decline among mainline Protestants and Catholic churches in the U.S. is certain, documented by a Pew research report released last month. But answers have varied among those seeking to explain why Evangelicals are holding their own. I asked about that when I spoke with three ministers of growing churches in last month”s episode of our monthly online interview program, Beyond the Standard. These fellows””Brian Kruckenberg, lead pastor with New City Church in Phoenix, Arizona; Bo Chancey, senior pastor with Manchester (NH) Christian
April 14, 2015
Finding Our Place, Claiming Our Heritage
By Mark A. Taylor Talk to Mike Baker and you”ll discover a guy who”s serious about his work while not taking himself too seriously at all. In fact, in our latest episode of Beyond the Standard, Baker used the word unfortunate to describe the “celebrity culture” in today”s church climate. “There are a lot of great preachers and leaders in churches of 150 and 200 who in their part of the world are really doing great things for God and for his kingdom,” he said. “But they”re just not ever going to get the accolades” that often come to leaders
March 3, 2015
Something Special
By Mark A. Taylor It happened again, this time on the campus of Lincoln Christian University on a cold Friday night a couple of weeks ago. Mark Mittelberg, a best-selling author, widely traveled speaker, and well-known Christian apologist, was speaking to leaders about LCU”s initiative “Room for Doubt.” But before he talked about the materials he”s helping to develop for this ministry, he paused to speak about the movement of churches that will promote and use them. Mittelberg is something of a celebrity in general Evangelical churches; his résumé includes stints on staff at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago and
March 23, 2014
Not the Only Christians on Campus
By T.R. Robertson Believers””and nonbelievers””from a wide range of backgrounds gather under the influence of campus Christian ministries. How do they experience and express the reality of this motto? James was raised in a Christian family, part of a rural Missouri church that brought him up to know and follow the teachings of the Restoration Movement. Gary was the product of a church that does not share the legacy of the Restoration Movement. Both James and Gary attended the University of Missouri when they left home, and both became involved with the Mizzou Christian Campus House, a Christian church/church of
October 5, 2010
“Nondenominational” Wins the Day!
By Mark A. Taylor “We in the Christian churches are radicals,” Marshall Leggett told a group gathered for the daylong Congress of Elders hosted at Central Christian Church, Carmel, Indiana, October 2. “We are radically congregationally governed.” In his closing session message, he expounded on a long list of answers to the question, “What”s RIGHT with us?” The freedom enjoyed by independent congregations in our nondenominational family was one of them. Leggett said, “I don”t know anyone who wants to change that.” Indeed, it would seem that churches from many different backgrounds are walking away from denominational labels, if not
April 11, 2010
Megachurches: A Mega Decade
By Kent Fillinger The 2000s were a turbulent decade. We went from Y2K to 9/11 to H1N1. We had a housing boom followed by an economic bust. As we came to experience the world in high-definition, the sights were often scary and unpleasant””wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day Tsunami, AIDS, and global poverty. “Hanging chads” made one president”s election controversial, and then the first African-American president won by a clear majority. We went from watching Friends to drinking Starbucks to opening coffee cafés in our churches. We went from church in one location to one church in
Interview with Ken Idleman
By Brad Dupray Ken Idleman served on the faculty and administration of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, for 34 years””27 as president. In 1992, he became the youngest man ever selected to serve as president of the North American Christian Convention. For the past year Ken has been serving as senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Newburgh, Indiana. He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees from Lincoln (Illinois) Christian College and Seminary and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Milligan College in Tennessee. He and his wife of 40 years, Kaylene, have three grown children and 11 grandchildren. As
