Mergers, Past and Present

According to Leadership Network, 2% of all U.S. Protestant churches have merged in the last two years and 8% more are planning on it within the next two years.  That represents some 30,000 churches. Is this a trend or a blurp?

In 2003 Dave Travis and I wrote briefly about mergers in our book Beyond […]

Some Thoughts about My Methodist Friends

I just finished reading the Call to Action by the Bishops of the United Methodist Church.  It’s good stuff. In fact, it’s great stuff – to a point.  The five aspects of a vital church it proposes are right on target. Look at what it says.
“Vital congregations are Spirit-filled, forward-leaning communities of believers that welcome […]

A Hybrid World

This first part of the 21st century may well be remembered as a “hybrid world.” Cars are morphing from purely gas to both gas and battery. Communication is morphing into email and text. Phones are morphing into all sorts of communication options.

Let me define “morph.” When something morphs it is neither this nor that […]

When Asked “What Is Missional,” What Do You Say?

The other day in a seminar a middle-aged woman asked me to define what I meant by the Missional Church. I quickly replied, “A missional church is organized around mission.” Mission is their organizing principle.  A missional church doesnt have a Missions Committee; it is a mission. Missions ins’t one program among many; it is […]

Bringing People in Through the Side Doors, Charles Arn

PODCAST
Charles Arn talks about how growing church bring most people in through side doors rather than worship.

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Being Christian Isn’t Enough

The world “Christian” has too much baggage to be of much use. I remember a person saying back in the 70s that if you were born in the U.S., you were either a Christian or Jew.  To some, being a Christian means going to church or reading your Bible. To others, it simply means doing […]

“Extremist for Love”

In the wake of all the polarizing political rhetoric we need to remember Martin Luther King, who called himself an extremist – but an extremist for love. This country needs more love, and where better to find it than at the feet of the man who brought God’s love to everyone’s hometown – Jesus.

Today is Martin […]

Five Secrets to the First-Century Church

When I read the Acts of the Apostles I am constantly reminded that the early Church exhibited five basic attributes that are missing today in most declining congregations.  But when I see these five attributes alive and well in a congregation, that church is almost always growing and reaching out to the lost. […]

Mama, Don’t Take My Kodachrome Away!

Another icon of a world gone by has hit the dust. Kodachrome, the first film to effectively print pictures in color, is bidding farewell to the modern world after a nearly 75-year run. Goodbye, film; hello, digital.  Someone finally took Paul Simon’s Kodachrome away. The last operating processor of Kodachrome film in the world […]