July 31, 2020
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Ready for Winter, A Mini Ice Age?
At the beginning of COVID-19, Andy Crouch wrote about churches preparing for a blizzard, winter, and a mini ice age. Here's a tool to help churches be ready.
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July 29, 2020
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A Real Man, A Real Woman
Aimee Byrd's recent book on recovering from Biblical manhood and womanhood takes on gender stereotypes in the church.
July 27, 2020
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Jesus, John Wayne and a View from the Balcony
Kristin Kobes Du Mez's book Jesus and John Wayne helps evangelicals to see their family story.
July 24, 2020
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Restart Churches: Seeing What’s Next for your Congregation
Restart Churches gives important insights into how churches can wisely and practically restart their life as a congregation.
July 6, 2020
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Review: N.T. Wright “God and the Pandemic”
N.T. Wright is less concerned about the "why" of the Pandemic and more concerned about the "what" of the Christian response.
July 1, 2020
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Church Now Conversation With Ed Stetzer
In the first of the Church Now conversations, Ed Stetzer spoke about the church’s response to COVID-19 and the killing of George Floyd.
June 11, 2020
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Scattered: Leveraging the Decentralization of the Moment
Jesus' kingdom is a decentralized kingdom. How might that shape church life through COVID-19 and beyond?
June 10, 2020
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Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity
David Swanson's book is a powerful statement on the central place of discipleship in reshaping the church.
October 26, 2019
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Ways for Churches to Build Relationships With People in Group Homes
Looking to grow your church? Likely, you have people living close by who would love to get involved.
July 23, 2019
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Instead of Church
What if we did church differently? As a searching CRC member, here are some ideas I want to throw out there.
July 9, 2019
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On the Journey of Belonging
This journey started over thirty years ago when we received a call from a mom who asked us if her son could come to our church. Today, twenty five percent of our congregation is persons with developmental disabilities.
February 7, 2019
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Apest: We Need It for Full-Orbed Jesus-Incarnating Ministry
Much has been written to praise and critique Alan Hirsch’s book 5Q; Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ. Despite what is being said, I find Hirsch to be particularly compelling on a couple points.
July 30, 2018
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Deacons and Church Renewal
Most churches experiencing church-wide renewal also experience renewal among their deacons. They move away from financial management, administration and governance and toward stewardship, mercy and the pursuit of justice.
July 3, 2018
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Maximizing Staff Impact
Often pastors are not optimizing this new staff potential because they are insufficiently coordinating and encouraging the new staff teams. Here are 5 supervisory investments that increase staff impact.
May 31, 2018
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The Gracious Act of Involvement
Many pastors believe they must do all the preaching, all the teaching, all the visiting, and all the administering because that is what they’re trained and paid to do. But the Bible has another idea about the work of pastors.
May 1, 2018
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In Dying We Are Born
Peter Bush, in his book In Dying We Are Born, writes, “All congregations, even ones that see themselves as healthy, need to be prepared to die, to take up their cross, so that God can make them alive.”
May 1, 2018
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Great Congregational "Captains”
Every church leader is a good captain when their faith community is navigating quiet waters. The test of a great church leader, however, is when a congregation is traversing the turbulent seas of ministry change.
December 20, 2017
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When We Cannot Stay Here
Whatever precipitates the conclusion “we cannot stay here” the next question always is, “so where do we go from here?” Churches asking that question have several next-step options.
November 20, 2017
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The Church Renewal Twins
Christian doctrine is based on several theological twins e.g., truth & grace, fully God & fully human, sovereignty & free-will. Similarly, church renewal is elliptical. Renewal only happens when churches invest in the following twins.
October 23, 2017
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Eight Statements Worth Considering
Recently I heard Bill Hybels articulated eight elder approved statements that name their highest values. These statements can serve as a helpful conversation starter for ministries seeking to identify ministry priorities.
October 3, 2017
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Becoming a Low Bar/High Bar Congregation
Congregations that are growing primarily by connecting the disconnected tend to be low bar/high bar churches. They have a low cultural bar (it's easy to walk and assimilate) but a high discipleship bar.
September 6, 2017
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Rightsizing Smaller Congregations
Churches that are below peak membership but haven’t rightsized systems and structures look organizationally frumpy, exhaust members, and reduce their Kingdom impact. Here are some ideas to right-size a smaller congregation!
August 22, 2017
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The High Impact of Relational-Based Evangelism
Through an emphasis on Gospel preaching and life-on-life disciple making, Sunlight Community Church (CRC) in Port St. Lucie, FL, has celebrated nearly 600 people coming to faith in the past ten years.
August 8, 2017
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The Transformational Power of a Missional Picture
A key component of a mission-focused transition is seeing a picture of what’s possible when the right investments become part of a congregation’s story.
July 13, 2017
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Vision Casting: Essential Work of Elders
What’s the essential work of an elder? Articulating vision is the primary work of elders. Here’s how elders attend to this visioning responsibility…