Posts Tagged ‘Practical Theology’
Growing in Small Groups
FrontLine March/April 2019 | VOLUME 29 | NUMBER 2 In America, big churches are getting bigger and small churches are getting smaller. According to the Hartford Institute and Leadership Network, America boasted 150 “mega-churches” (2000 or more in the congregation) in 1980 and is home to nearly 2000 of them today. Simultaneously, the median attendance…
Read MoreHow Valuable Is Children’s Ministry?
Here’s a statement that will probably make most pastors and church members pause: Children’s ministry may be the most important ministry of your church. D.L. Moody once said, “If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God!” Statistics show that 80-85% of those who believe in Christ…
Read MoreYou Don’t Want to Have a Megapastor
The news just hit that another fabulously popular megapastor has been fired, apparently because of a long-standing, toxic culture of absolute power. I’m not very old, but I’ve already watched three cycles of this—a pastor who becomes THE guy to listen to, builds up a huge following, and then disintegrates in a blaze of glory.…
Read MoreYou Have a New Pastor, Now What?
A friend of mine recently entered a new ministry. I don’t know the details of his move, or the history of the church, but the news sparked some thinking about churches and new pastors. My own ministry will face that prospect within the next decade, most likely. Sometimes churches and pastors struggle with the transition.…
Read MoreSmall Church Financial Stewardship
Last Sunday was our church’s Annual General Meeting. We always look forward to this meeting because, for us, it’s been a discipleship tool and a time of “body-building” among our members (the “church body,” I mean). I don’t recall ever really having much disagreement in these meetings, for which we praise God. We also take…
Read MoreIs Tent-Making the Biblical Norm?
Some well-meaning believers promote tent-making as the preferred biblical pattern for pastors today. By “tent-making,” I am referring to an approach to pastoral ministry in which a pastor works a full-time vocational job to support his family while also serving as a pastor. Thom Rainer encourages this perspective in an article entitled, “Eight Reasons Why…
Read MoreThe Glory of God: The Right Purpose in Building
James Delany FrontLine • September/October 2009 Glory to God God’s overarching purpose is that all He does is to bring glory and honor to His holy name. God was delighted, therefore, when King David desired to build the temple. However, it was not the fact that David wanted to build a temple that delighted God,…
Read MoreSunday school vs. Small Groups
Don Johnson A recent blog opened with this shocking statement (shocking to some, at least): This fall we are going to do something that will seem crazy to many. We are going from a small group model to a Sunday school model (under a different name). Most church growth material over the past 20 years…
Read MoreLord, Help Me
Matt Recker Mark 9:14-29 We do well to never minimize the reality of the devil, his demons, and their work in the world at any time. Today the troubled son in our passage might be considered epileptic, Jesus diagnosed this man’s manic manners as a demonic disorder. We can be sure that Satan still seizes…
Read MoreThe “Two Hands” of Ministry
Taigen Joos In 2006 an approach to church ministry began to gain popularity. It was called a “two-handed” approach to ministry. One closed hand represented the theology of the church and its grasp of biblical truth and principles. The hand being closed symbolized the non-negotiable aspects of theology. One open hand represented the methodology of…
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