The Church Renewal forum provides fresh conversations and new ideas to help churches renew their atmosphere and journey towards mission in a post-Christian culture.
Justin
Pastor Church 
Mavis
Michele
Disability
Many protestant versions of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers are missionally inadequate: priestly functions are often monopolized by the ministerial priesthood.
Want to lead your council into a meaningful conversation about the health of your congregation? Here is a series of council devotionals to help you do that.
What if we did church differently? As a searching CRC member, here are some ideas I want to throw out there.
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.
One small word can change the entire paradigm of missions at your church. Don’t believe me? Read on!
What does it look like to strengthen our churches and bring a robust gospel to our communities? We'll be discussing this important topic at Inspire 2019 in August.
Resources have recently been gathered for the process of affiliation of congregations. Please use and share!
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.
Church Planters tend to think church planting is the only way to go. Those in established churches tend to be more concerned about church renewal. Is there a middle ground between the two?
What is the power of the Church in the world? This book explores Abraham Kuyper's understanding of this important question.
We may wish we could magically create a mission-shaped congregation with one event, one sermon, or one service-project. However, like our new year’s resolutions, becoming a mission-shaped congregation takes many small steps, all headed in the right direction.
The second post in a series of three on Reformed evangelism, focusing on the teaching of J.H. Bavinck in his book, An Introduction to the Science of Missions.
Evangelism serves the building of the Church, and the building of the Church provides the foundation for witnessing to the Kingdom of God in all of life, and such witness fulfills our created purpose as image-bearers of God in His world.
I have conducted a number of job interviews in which I noticed that I could tell within ten minutes if the candidate has participated in FaithWalking. How? These candidates are well differentiated, they handle conflict in healthy ways, they listen carefully, and they know themselves well.
Self-identified North American church goers attend church, on average, just once per month. Providence CRC recognized this challenge and is choosing a proactive approach to keep people connected even when they not present on Sunday mornings.
Paas’ book is a wonderful crossover volume that speaks about church planting but connects deeply with 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.
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.
If all agree that prayer is important and powerful, why doesn’t prayer hold a more prominent place in most council meetings?
In the book Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit, Brad Long, Paul Stokes, and Cindy Strickler share their experiences and learnings to help lead other people into a meaningful dance with the Holy Spirit.
The mission God invites us to is one of urgency. Creating that sense of urgency in the congregations we serve is more effective and deeply-rooted when we realize where that call comes from.
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.
I think we have failed to recognize the power that we have to form the Christian identity of the young people sitting in our pews. Won’t you consider giving young people a voice at the table?
Published in 1993, this book is powerfully prophetic concerning the direction of the Evangelical church over the past 25 years.
In 2010, Pastor Brian from Immanuel Reformed Church asked his congregation if anyone wanted $10. Many hands went up. Then he said, “If you take this $10, then you need to use it to help someone who has a need.”