If you thought I was exaggerating in yesterday’s post when I criticised church plants and said “a maintenance church may resist change that will further the mission”, you should read this story of a successful pastor who tried to ‘go missional’, in Stories from the Revolution.
Jesus left us a big task (Matthew 28:19-20): “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the […]
I have discussed the decline in church attendance in western countries, asked why go to church? and looked at why sermons are a poor way of making disciples. So can we rescue the church from ineffectiveness and irrelevance? What might improve things?
If you attend a church, here is an interesting exercise. Think about your church’s regular services and its “outreach” activities. Do you try to make your services attractive to outsiders? Are the “outreach” activities held on church property? How many activities (whether evangelism or community service) are located in the community? I want to suggest […]
The church in the western world is losing numbers and influence. Should we christians be worried? Is church as we know it important? And if so, why?
The church as an institution is losing ground in the western world. Most of us are pretty familiar with that. But what is its future? And what is the future of belief in God? There are some interesting statistics on all this.
After my last post on Why sermons?, Felicity Dale from Simply Church offered more evidence on effective learning. It merits repeating.
The sermon is generally the most important element of Protestant church services, but there are serious doubts about its effectiveness and Biblical basis.