The Lenten season has started. Lent is six weeks (excluding Sundays) dedicated to prayer, fasting, and reflection to prepare for the grand celebration of…
Tag: Mission
Connecting in the Cloud of Witnesses
Churches around the world honor the “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us – all those people who shaped, challenged, and carried us…
Review: Dr. Rob Haynes Explores “Renew Your Wesleyan DNA”
What makes a Methodist a “Methodist”? This is an increasingly important question in the age of the rise of secularism, the decline of churches…
Vicarious Faith in Community
A few years ago, I ran into a friend who was going through some tough family times. I asked him if there was anything…
Doubts & the Mission of Jesus
Jesus saw them. He sent them. They were still part of his team, his flock, his people. Their doubts did not exclude them from the mission.
Omar Al-Rikabi ~ Being a Waffle House Church in the Storm
The folks at Waffle House have a whole system for keeping restaurants open in a storm. They know how to do natural disasters. We need to be a “Waffle House church,” first offering people the body and blood of Jesus Christ, then offering a full menu of the faith even in the midst the storm.
James Petticrew ~ Squeezing Jesus Out of the Church
“When Christ is squeezed from the Body of Christ by our own priorities and agenda as a congregation or through our busyness as leaders or disciples, what is left is little more than a corpse masquerading as a church.”
Priscilla Hammond ~ Decision-Making for Productive Change
When change “just happens,” it never happens to move the organization’s goals forward.
Priscilla Hammond ~ When Pastors Face Dysfunction: Leading Change for Congregational Health
How do we know when an organization isn’t healthy?
Priscilla Hammond ~ How Church Personalities Reveal Epiphany Living
Churches have personalities, expressed through their organization, Christian education
processes, preaching, and worship. Each can have strengths and challenges, but the diversity is reflective of the differences we see in people, including the
Apostles.
Instead of focusing on which
organizational structure or form of worship we prefer, we need to ask if our church is manifesting Christ to the world.