Turning Hope into Belief

The mind is a funny thing; If the mind believes something to be true, the more likely it is that something will happen. Let me illustrate

I play golf. And there are times I know I can make every putt I’m about to take. And I do. Then there are days I know I couldn’t […]

A Prayer for Sanity

My denomination, The United Methodist Church, has just initiated a program called “Praying Our Way Forward.” This is a denomination wide program that begins with Phase One, which is encouraging all the Bishops to agree to spend 15 minutes a day between now and mid-November. So far 84 Bishops are signed up.

Now calling for […]

Prayvangelism

I spent the last week at a mainline’s church planter and church transformation training event. I wish I could say I was surprised at how great the training was. I wish. But the fact is, the training was long on the right theology and light on practicalities like the importance of evangelism in starting […]

Prayer Room

From our forums

Our church will have a 24’x12’ room with the door along the 12’ wall that we want to designate as a prayer space/sacred space.  I really don’t want to stuff it with pews.  Anyone have any links to pictures of well designed prayer space.  Three prayer groups of 5-9 people will share it weekly, I […]

Does Prayer Make a Difference?

An original Post from one of our online forums

We’ve been dealing with the issue of prayer the last couple of months in our Lead Team meetings. While prayer is a part of everything we do (more prayer at worship than announcements), one of my leaders in particular is really wrestling with the issue of […]

What’s the Point?

What’s the Point?
By Bill Tenny-Brittian

We were asked recently to revisit some of the basics of what it takes to grow/transform a church. Recently I attended a church that has plateaued in its average worship attendance (AWA) at about 400. Although there were a number of improvements they could make so their worship service would […]

Training Small Groups

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

One of the most disheartening thing I’ve noticed in most church’s small group programs is the lack of life-changing that goes on. The vast majority of the participants who attend small groups leave in about the same state as when they came, except that they may be just a little more educated on […]

Two More Weeks!

By Jeff Patton

I heard it again today.  Dramatic turnaround in congregations occurs about two weeks after you have decided to throw in the towel.  Two weeks.  Two weeks.

I remember years ago when that was true for me.  I was stymied by the controllers who were hindering every new project, each new idea being ground […]

Teaching Your Parish to Pray

Most Christians learn to pray from two sources. First, those who were raised by Christian parents may have learned from them. Sadly, many Christian parents simply don’t have a good handle on prayer themselves, so after their children memorized “God is great, God is good” and “Jesus tender, Shepherd hear me, bless this little […]