Should A Pastor Be Discouraged About His Declining Church?
Is declining or plateauing always a sign of trouble in a church?
I have a growing concern the more I learn about many of the materials out there addressing this problem. If we are going to characterize local churches as “declining” then we are basing a church’s health on how many people attend. How many people now attend a church verses ten years ago and why does... Continue Reading
Sacrificing Church for Sports
Combatting the issue often requires a change in the parents’ hearts.
“[Parents] will make sure Johnny goes to sports, but when it comes to church, … the families that have children in sport will sacrifice church for the sake of their son or daughter’s sports program, so sports is another huge reason why our church is declining,” said one pastor surveyed in the study. And the... Continue Reading
The Pastor’s Kid as Parishioner
Being a parishioner in a church not pastored by your father comes with challenges and blessings
And hard as it can be to have to earn the trust of a congregation, it’s good for you. When you are the new member and nobody knows your dad, you can’t rest on your pk laurels. Nobody is going to try and make friends with you because you are the pk. Nobody is going... Continue Reading
Why Have We Stopped Protecting Our Daughters?
It is so important to raising our young girls to be whole, modest of heart, and content with who God created them to be
By in large, the family in Western culture has stopped protecting its girls. Today’s young women are growing up way too quickly. We have abandoned our protective role for young women, especially in regards to guiding them in male-female relations and marriage. Hollywood programs geared to teens and young adults often glamorize the idea of... Continue Reading
The Steward: The Real Meaning of Servant Leadership
The last thing the church needs is warmed over business theories decorated with Christian language
The biblical concept of a steward is amazingly simple and easy to understand. The steward is one who manages and leads what is not his own, and he leads knowing that he will give an account to the Lord as the owner and ruler of all. Stewards are entrusted with responsibility. Indeed, stewards in the... Continue Reading
What is Liberal Theology?
It's important to understand it and to recognize that some Christians embrace the theology without embracing the term
Specifically, liberal theology is defined by its openness to the verdicts of modern intellectual inquiry, especially the natural and social sciences; its commitment to the authority of individual reason and experience; its conception of Christianity as an ethical way of life; its favoring of moral concepts of atonement; and its commitment to make Christianity credible... Continue Reading
The Voice of the Church
It is time for churches that see the evil of abortion to stand up and be counted—no matter the risk or the cost.
When the church is silent in the midst of a holocaust, she ceases to be a real church. Wherever human dignity is under attack, it is the duty of the church and of the Christian to rise up in protest against it. This is not a political matter, and neither is it a temporary matter.... Continue Reading
5 Ways Adult Children Can Honor Their Parents
As adults, how can we show our appreciation and love for our parents?
The real way to love and honor your parents is to simply just love and honor them, despite their flaws, despite the annoying things you disliked when you were a kid. Put up with whatever it is they do that annoys you. Do it, not because you’ll get a tangible benefit, but because they are... Continue Reading
All Other Ground is Sinking Sand
The Word of God is our most basic and solid foundation for all that we know, and for all that we want to say in apologetics
For this reason (among others), during the time of the Reformation, there was a radical shift in emphasis, from the medieval focus on the power of reason as a foundation of knowledge, to a central and foundational focus on the power and necessity of Scripture. This focus was the result, in part, of the biblical... Continue Reading
The Danger of Losing Amazement for Grace
How many of us are in need of being revived by the very grace that doesn't move us like it once did?
Familiarity with the things of God will cause you to lose your awe. You’ve spend so much time in Scripture that the grand redemptive narrative, with its expansive wisdom, doesn’t excite you anymore. You’ve spent so much time exegeting the atonement that you stand at the foot of the cross with little weeping and scant... Continue Reading
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