All tagged church decline
For those who still struggle with isolation and battle a never-ending sense of loneliness, I encourage you to find community, more specifically a small community. Find a community where simply showing up, checking a box, and leaving isn’t an option because your community won’t allow it since they love you too much. This is a defining characteristic of the Kingdom of God and of the church.
Since ministers are not prosthetics but rather flesh and blood, and thus a separation is more like an amputation, then it is unsurprising when bleeding and shock occurs.
The sneaky thing about renewal is that it is not up to us—it is up to God. God cannot do the work God desires to do when communities of faith assume that they are the center of things.
It could mean that small teams of pioneering Christians would leave their church buildings and go where non-church-goers gather. They would build relationships, meet real needs, and slowly share about Jesus.
How is my own practice of Christian faith shaping my values, attitudes, and behaviors? Decline certainly calls for renewal. Yet renewal begins with me.
Rather than focusing their attention on improving worship, the sermon, or their meeting hall, the Church of Scotland hopes to train members to start new forms of Christian communities in their backyards, on hiking trails, or in their garages.
For churches to flourish, the answer will lie in healthy congregational life and robust Christian formation.
Simply put, we need new ways of thinking about church and outreach. We need a new imagination for what it means to be God’s people.
May you find rest in the winter of doubt and receive the affirmation of spring.
If your biggest news is about an interesting insect whose path you crossed on your walk, then you’re onto something.
For me, perhaps the saddest aspect of the pandemic has been the polarization and consequent sorting of churchgoers.
Summarized responses from 15,278 congregations and 80 denominations or religious groups resulted in the largest national survey of congregations ever conducted in the U.S.
Sometimes, a health crisis hits a church squarely in the face. If the church possesses enough self-awareness, it then faces the choice to either make dramatic changes or else permanently lose health and vitality.
Ask, seek, knock. Pray those bold prayers and there will come a day when God’s responsiveness comes tumbling after you. Expectantly wear sturdy shoes every day of your life lest you be bowled over by the love of God.
As the created world hosts humanity, we have much to learn from the soil, from the seeds. Stretching toward the light, cultivated hearts propagate God’s mission.
Jeremiah says to settle in. Adapt, adjust, and find ways to make a meaningful life in a new environment.
Church revitalization is quite possible when a congregation acknowledges that, without the work of the Spirit, there is no future for us.
To be a good minister—a good shepherd faithfully following the Good Shepherd—sometimes you have to order the “death” of something you love.
In the congregational leadership pathway we will take up the critical question: What does the future look like for Churches of Christ?
