A safe church does not tolerate the abuse of women or anyone else for that matter. A safe church empowers and equips all victims to walk away from those who hurt them. A safe church is where the abused can leave the abuser being assured that is what God wants them to do. It is... Continue Reading

Part of the key is to remember that we should not see the death of a church as a failure. Even the churches in the New Testament died and were restarted (or, were not, in some places). Why not make the death of your church a strategic decision rather than an unfortunate accident?   It... Continue Reading

“The future is uncertain on how the legal system will single out Christians for their beliefs or force them into situations that violate their conscience, but recent precedent doesn’t provide much encouragement. And it’s not just the legal climate that ought to concern Christians. Cultural forces are at work to remove even reasonable and orthodox... Continue Reading

This resolves once and for all that the congregation of Highland Park Presbyterian Church owns and controls the assets of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, free and clear of any claims by the PC(USA). This result achieves HPPC’s goal in the litigation of clarifying its exclusive ownership and control of its property.   The letter from... Continue Reading

A dedicated few members do most of the work. Survey respondents tell us that many people spring into action when an immediate need exists, but fewer do the day-to-day ministry of the church. Most members are not convinced that other members know or use their spiritual gifts.   More than 15 years ago, Dr. Rainer and... Continue Reading

The church, which had blossomed to 15 branches in five states and had followers around the world, also plans to cut 30 to 40 percent of its paid staff of about 100. That staff already had seen layoffs last spring and a string of departures in recent weeks by pastors angry or uneasy about the... Continue Reading

What pastor wouldn’t love for his congregants to give the preached Word more careful attention? After all, if he is putting the time into preparation all week, we can put the effort in to be better listeners. God’s Word always affects us, but how many sermons do you actually remember a year from now? How... Continue Reading

“The besetting sin that has bedeviled the Anglican Communion for more than two decades is, of course, homosexual practice, and, concomitantly, doctrinal uncertainty, theological compromise (the ordination of women to the priesthood and more recently the episcopacy) as well as near total moral breakdown with multiple sexualities now looking for acceptance in the Episcopal Church... Continue Reading

Contemporary music, in some form, has been around a while. It is not this strange aberration it once was to many congregants. And many church members who did not grow up on traditional worship are hearing those hymns in new and meaningful ways. Simply stated, there is a much greater appreciation for different forms of... Continue Reading

If accepted, Rev Macleod and Rev MacRae will bring the total number of former Church of Scotland ministers who have joined the Free Church to ten….Their respective resignations mean that the Church of Scotland has only one active full-time parish minister covering Assynt, Wester Ross, Skye, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Harris – an... Continue Reading