Articles for tag: Unchurched People

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: Catalyst Church (Greensboro, NC)

Reaching Anyone ‘with Garbage’ Catalyst Church is reaching people of all races, educational backgrounds, and socioeconomic levels in Greensboro, North Carolina. And though the congregation is diverse, most attendees share one thing in common: a lack of a formal church background. Lead pastor Scott Haulter estimates that 90 percent of people in the church have been introduced or reintroduced to Jesus through Catalyst. Haulter grew up in a non-Christian family, one of three sons raised by a single mother in a low-income part of Columbus, Ohio. When he was a teenager, one of his brothers began attending an area church

April 17, 2017

Christian Standard

My Riskiest Move for God: I Still Remember His Faithfulness 20 Years Ago

Five Christian leaders tell what God did when they took a surprising step of faith. By Greg Lee My riskiest move ever? It was 20 years ago. God was faithful, and that step established a way of life and a way of leading that has stayed with me ever since. I was 21 years old, six months from getting married, and five months from graduation at Lincoln Christian College. I was from a small town and liked it. I wanted to preach (anything but youth ministry)! I wanted a full-time job to support my new family. Then I met John Wasem.

September 4, 2014

Christian Standard

Love Repurposed

By Jennifer Johnson When Robert Bess began serving as senior minister at Love Chapel Christian Church (Erwin, TN) in 2008, average attendance had dwindled down to just a few dozen people. Earlier this year, the church averaged 90 people on a weekend. But as we go to press, Love Chapel is seeing almost 150 people each weekend and is getting ready to welcome many more. The church achieved this amazing growth in just four weeks by repurposing a building on its property that usually sat empty, turning it into “The Love Chapel Connection Café.” Lots of churches have coffee shops,

September 26, 2013

Christian Standard

Five “˜Must-Read” Books for Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Richard J. Foster New York: HarperOne, originally published in 1978 In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership Henri J. M. Nouwen New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989 Communicating for a Change Andy Stanley and Lane Jones Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006 Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend Andy Stanley Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012 Simple Church: Returning to God”s Process for Making Disciples Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006   Recently Milligan College and Christian Standard asked

August 28, 2012

Michael C. Mack

What”s the Point of Your Small Group?

By Michael C. Mack Why does your small group exist?  What”s your purpose? What are your goals? Bill Willits, director of group life at North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Georgia, tells what happened when that church first began meeting in the convention center in Atlanta. The electronic marquee that thousands of people would see every day advertised the church as “No Point Church.” The sign engineer could not fit the entire name on the marquee, so he took some creative liberties. Of course, Willits says, this became the joke of the night, but it also provided Andy Stanley an opportunity

January 23, 2012

Christian Standard

So You Want to Plant a Church?

By R. Paige Mathews For 19 years, I have committed myself to an assessment process that determines if a candidate is suitable to be a new church planting leader or team member. To as few as 10-12, or as many as 70-100 candidates in a year, I have asked the question, “So you want to plant a church?” The question usually comes on the second day of assessment, after I have read their documents and after getting to know them, albeit not fully. Therefore, I have sometimes asked the question cynically, “So, YOU want to plant a church?” Other times

July 1, 2007

Christian Standard

Saturday Night Church: What Were We Thinking?

By Brian Jones I surveyed pastors for one full year about Saturday night services and my church decided to launch one in December 2005. We killed it April 2006. The service was reaching 150-200 people (we ran 800-plus in the other three), but 95 percent of them were Christ”s Church of the Valley transfers from Sunday morning to Saturday night. Of those people who switched services, well over one-third of them still came to Sunday morning. We cast vision for one year, recruited a massive team of volunteers to pull it off, and sunk $30,000 into direct-mail and signs to

September 27, 2006

Mark A. Taylor

lobby test

The Lobby Test

Vince Antonucci’s “lobby test” reveals whether churches are reaching people who have never attended church before. His challenge invites congregations to see themselves through outsiders’ eyes and pursue Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost.

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