Articles for tag: Worship Services

September 1, 2022

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

Why Do We Gather?

By Kent E. Fillinger  As a movement, we’ve striven from the beginning to be a church based on New Testament principles. Where the Bible speaks, we speak, and where the Bible is silent, we are silent. No creed but Christ and no book but the Bible.   When was the last time your church staff or elders stopped to consider what these maxims mean when it comes to worship gatherings? When did you last study the New Testament to see what it teaches about our purpose for gathering? Have your church leaders ever considered why you do what you do when

February 26, 2020

Brian Cook

The Power Room

By Brian Cook Three people gather quietly around a small table. Their bodies hunch forward as their lips move silently. The drone of electrical machinery whirs around them, punctuated only by the soft rustling of Bible pages and the gentle creaking of chairs. The sign on the door says Power Room. It is a cramped electrical closet situated on the far side of the stage in our worship center. Our churchs facilities have been updated significantly over the years, but its sturdy mid-century bones can still be seen amid the bulky circuit breakers and snaking wires that inhabit this secluded

November 5, 2017

Christian Standard

Mission Trips Aren”t Working

What We Need to Do to Keep Missions Strong Among Millennials  By Haydn Shaw   Baby boomers in the 1970s wore clothing inspired by India and followed rock-and-roll groups from Europe. Their millennial children buy phone cases from online stores in China and play video games with people from all over the world.  Millennials (those who are 17 to 36 years old) have five times as many passports as previous generations (many of which are needed for short-term mission trips).   Ironically, in many churches today, millennials know more about missions than their parents do. That”s because churches talk less about missions

June 21, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Three Ways Churches Can Address Biblical Skepticism

By Mark A. Taylor Americans are less engaged with the Bible than ever, according to research released by the Barna Group last week. The trend is “toward biblical skepticism,” Barna President David Kinnaman reported. The report shows, for example, that only a third of Americans agree strongly with the statement, “The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches,” down from 48 percent in 2011. Only 45 percent agree with this statement: “The Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life,” down from 53 percent in 2011. “With each passing year, the

April 27, 2014

Christian Standard

Circle Up

By Susan Lawrence “Then Jesus told his followers to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. So they sat in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and, looking up to heaven, he thanked God for the food. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. All the people ate and were satisfied” (Mark 6:39-42, New Century Version). I don”t know if the groups of 50 and 100 sat in circles or

January 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Consuming Fire: Making Room for God

By Laura Buffington It”s absolutely right to consider congregational surveys, meet felt needs, and offer the crowd exactly what it wants. Jesus himself sometimes did this. But what can we learn from the times he did something entirely different? And how do we point church consumers toward the God who wants to consume them? When I was fresh out of seminary and brand new to church meetings, I had a hard time making a distinction between the two environments. In meetings about parking lot flow and service times, my mind was always wandering off to abstract questions about how traffic

August 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Arizona Church Hosts Services at Local Prison

By Jennifer Taylor Dozens of prisoners, many of them sex offenders, are members at Chandler (AZ) Christian Church. Several times a year, volunteers from the church take a portable baptistery to a local prison and baptize 25 to 35 men each time. “We consider them part of our church and the congregation celebrates every quarter when we report back,” says Matt Meyers, pastor of changing ministries. The baptisms are the fruit of a years-long effort to minister to the inmates in a local prison. Every Friday night a team of volunteers brings worship music, Communion, and a message to more

May 16, 2012

Christian Standard

Canyon Creek: Reaching Thousands

By Kent E. Fillinger Not all megachurches are exactly alike. But after studying those on this year”s list, a church growth analyst will see several similarities. This description combines them into one hypothetical story. Managing a growing staff and an expanding ministry is an exciting and sometimes exhausting challenge for megachurch senior minister Brian Roberts. Some days, he”s not sure this is what he originally signed on to do when he came to Canyon Creek Christian Church in 1998. In the beginning, Canyon Creek was a small church with a limited vision. Several faithful families who had moved to a

October 5, 2011

Christian Standard

Rethinking Our Delivery

By Mark A. Taylor It is nearly impossible to go anywhere or do anything these days unaccompanied by a soundtrack. Sometimes I wish they”d just turn off the music. I mean, I don”t really need to hear the latest hit blaring out of a two-inch speaker at the pump where I get gas. More often than not, I”d rather just talk to my meal mates than try to shout over the rhythm and bass blaring from the restaurant sound system. And I suspect the upbeat tempos I hear in most grocery and department stores have been scientifically proven to prompt

July 14, 2011

Christian Standard

Share Your Ideas about All-age Worship

Intergenerational worship. All-age worship. Whole-church worship. It goes by many names, but the practice of intentionally creating worship services to involve and include people of every age is revolutionizing worship at some of our churches. This summer Verna Weber, associate professor of educational ministries and family studies at Cincinnati (OH) Christian University, created a Facebook group to discuss questions and share ideas about all-age worship. Sixty people have already joined–click here to join the conversation!

April 28, 2011

Christian Standard

Ohio Churches Celebrate Easter Together

First Christian Church (Canton, OH) and RiverTree Christian Church (Massillon, OH) celebrated Easter together this past Sunday. “FCC planted RiverTree more than forty years ago!” the churches share. “We believe we share a common mission and vision from God and want to take steps to build our partnership.” Instead of one huge gathering, each congregation held its own worship services; Scott Rosen and Greg Nettle, senior pastors of the two churches, drove back and forth to “team preach” at each one. The multisite campuses of each church received the same message via video.

November 24, 2010

Christian Standard

Thousands Attend National Missionary Convention

Thousands of people attended the National Missionary Convention in Lexington, KY, last week. In addition to workshops, worship services, and exhibits, the NMC featured several special events: the launch of Restoration Revolution, a concert of prayer surrounding the convention center on Thursday morning, and the “Million Meal Feast,” an effort among Lexington-area churches to prepare 1 million meals to send to Haiti and North Korea.

November 3, 2010

Christian Standard

Special Services for Hunters

Tomorrow, Creekside Christian Fellowship (Needville, TX) resumes its Thursday evening worship services. CCF began the special services””held only during November, December, and January””to make it easier for members of the congregation who enjoy hunting to participate in their hobby while also making time for weekly worship.

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