The church is in constant need of renewal. The past is never good enough; the present is fleeting; we want the future to be better–as bright and good as it can be. In my experience, many churches desire renewal but do not know how to find it. Church renewal occurs when multiple dynamics are brought …
Category Archives: Renewal
How Should We “Do” Church? (3)
In two previous articles, I have suggested some changes that we must make in how we “do church”. These include a renewed focus on Christ, Scripture, and others; a commitment to the world around us and a commitment to discipleship and involvement rather than consumerism. Because I am a minister, and have spent my life …
How Should We “Do” Church (2)
[This blog is a continuation from yesterday. Here are some additional items to consider as we ask whether our focus is biblical and healthy.] 3. We must focus on people more than task. We must know who we are, and not only what we must do. One can do the right things without being the …
How Should We “Do” Church? (1)
A preacher friend of mine and I were visiting about the greeting program at the church where he ministers. He wanted to make some changes to insure a better contact with visitors. His problem? The same deacon had organized the greeters and the greeting program for a long time. It was generally ineffective. My preacher …
Analyzing our “Baggage”
Any time one comes to a study or discussion of the Bible, one brings “baggage.” No one begins with a perfectly clean slate. We must be honest about our preconceptions, traditions, pre-understandings. This article suggests five possible pieces of baggage–reactionism, separatism, legalism, misunderstanding how the Bible communicates, and of more recent vintage, increasing indifference to …
Restoring What?
“In every church, in every institution, there is something which sooner or later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence.” (C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 94). If Lewis is right, we would do well to ask ourselves afresh why the church came into existence, how the current …
Boxed in by Tradition: Can We Escape?
We are planting and sustaining traditional churches, even when we use untraditional means at the beginning of a church plant. In many church plantings, we are using biblical methods, e.g. small groups, house churches, simple churches, neighborhood networks, etc., but as soon as we have a viable base, we are establishing traditional churches. In using …
It’s Sunday: Easter 2009
Easter Sunday–I awoke to rain. I don’t remember very many (if any) rainy Easters! Easter is late this year–well, not as late as it could be (which due to the calendar calculations could go all the way down to the last week of April). Theoretically, Easter could be scheduled almost a week plus a full …
What is happening to Christianity?
Are you carefully watching the spiritual elements in our world? Have you seen the way Christianity is shifting and spreading, morphing into something that we have never seen before? Have you considered what is happening in our world spiritually? Are you observing of what God is doing? If so, it will come as no surprise …
“Do Overs”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17). Call them what you want–second chances, mulligans, do-overs–they all provide a fresh start. I am convinced that one of the reasons we humans make so much of the beginning of the new year …