The Future is Here

Recently, on Bloomberg TV, The Titans featured Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg. Bloomberg said something that all churches should ponder for a week. He said, “Technology will advance more in the next couple of years than it has since the discovery of the light bulb.”  Now give that some thought.  What does it mean to […]

How to Boost Discipleship Participation

Way back in the world of Christendom, discipleship was presumed to be a part of what the church did. Back then, most church members had been raised in the church and they would bring their children as a matter of course.

Today, however, the world has changed dramatically. Two generations now exist in the US that […]

Mentoring Moment

We all know that churches grow when they create a flow of experience that draws seekers into a process that shapes disciples. The language to describe this is something like, “Welcome, Grow, Send”. I refer to the fives steps of “Change, Gift, Call, Equip, and Send”. The graphic you see on any given website […]

Why I Prefer Antioch over the Jerusalem Church

I believe the primary mission of the local church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  If I believe that, then everything my church does should be pointed toward that goal.  If I believe that, then I must also believe that making disciples doesn’t begin inside the church, it begins out in the community […]

“Volunteer” is a Dirty Word

By Bill Easum

The words we use denote who we are and how we view the world. Change some of the words you use and you’re on the way to changing the system.

That’s why I hate the word “volunteer.”  To me the word has come to mean “I’ll give you what I want to give […]

Why People Leave the Church … and the Faith

Some time ago, Martin Marty was quoted in Tom Clegg’s Lost in America that about 3000 people per day in the West (outside of the Bible Belt in the US South) leave the Christian faith – not the church, the faith. There really wasn’t much evidence outside of his work to support the contention […]

The Toughest Ministry of All … Singles

Over the years, it’s become clear to me that the single most difficult ministry in a local church is just that … singles. Those “College and Career” groups are literally just killer. Of course, one of my “answers” is always to focus on life-transforming small groups and then let the good times roll from […]