articles

Steve Sonderman on reaching men in your ministry: I am often asked, “Why are the men leaving the church today?” Sometimes it comes out as, “What can we do to keep the men of this church?” or “How can our church reach more men?” There is no easy answer, but…

Josh McDowell, an apologist and evangelist, spoke at Southern Evangelical Seminary’s Christian Apologetics conference on three culture changes that create a “perfect storm” that challenges and poses a threat to the church. McDowell says the first is an epistemological shift that is occurring regarding Biblical truths due to modern perspectives…

James Harding offers excellent tips for finding the best keyboard for your ministry. After four years of music ministry training in college and several years leading children, youth, or adults in worship at a variety of different churches, I have seen just about every worship keyboard out there. …and, in…

John Benard gives 10 tips for how to play in a contemporary way. Set up where you can always see the face of your worship or band leader. Signals and communication will be much more intuitive. Don’t just stick to piano sounds. Pads, Rhodes, Whirly, Hammond, strings. Variety is the…

Jaime Harvill: The problem usually isn’t the congregation, it’s you! It’s Monday, and you look over your shoulder to Sunday’s service, making the observation that nobody sang along with you the during the worship service you led yesterday. It’s so easy to blame the congregation–after all, the songs you chose…

Matt Keller offers excellent ideas for a big paradigm shift in your church. Moving from 1 service to 2 services is a major cultural shift for your people and is going to make people nervous. What we have discovered is that any time, ANY TIME, a church makes a major…

Ron Edmondson: Before you start signing people up it might be helpful to take a look at why people are NOT volunteering. Do you need more preschool workers to serve children? Do you need more greeters to greet? Do you need more ushers to…ush? If so, you’re in familiar territory.…

Doug Lawrence offers a brief history of worship trends. “Up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude…” Baby-boomer church, Seeker-driven church, Seeker-sensitive church, Purpose-driven church, Worship-evangelism church, Church of small groups, Cell church, Gen X church, Postmodern church, Missional church. Like Jed Clampett’s fortuitous “black gold” finding, the church’s life…

Bud Brown on recovering from “one of those Sundays” when nothing seems to go right: We’ve all had “one of those Sundays” when nothing seems to go right. The sound system was giving you all kinds of trouble. Videos were being fired at the wrong time. Team members didn’t know…

Kevin D. Hendricks on sharing hope in the aftermath of a tragedy: A few months ago tragedy struck and we were glued to social media eager for news. Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least three and injuring more than 150. Before that…

Greg Gilbert on the rarity of praying for other ministries: Every Sunday morning, I lead the congregation of Third Avenue Baptist Church in what we call a “pastoral prayer.” I pray for many things during that time—congregational events, members who are suffering, evangelistic opportunities, various officials in government, missions opportunities,…

Betsy Hall shares ideas for including children in worship in meaningful ways: There are many ways to involve children in worship. You’re probably already getting kids involved with roles like lighting the candles, ringing the bells, and handing out worship bulletins. But the real challenge is involving them in meaningful…

Brad Loser offers helpful tips for being more than a musician: The music stops. The sound of the congregation lifting their voices in a corporate confession of faith through music has ended. The feeling evoked from the text that was just sung has united the hearts of the people as…

The percentage of Americans who say they “seldom” or “never” attend religious services (aside from weddings and funerals) has risen modestly in the past decade. Roughly three-in-ten U.S. adults (29%) now say they seldom or never attend worship services, up from 25% in 2003, according to aggregated data from Pew…

Though churches are normally places where people gather for spiritual fellowship, confession, or for quiet contemplation, these sacred spaces have been abandoned to the elements, their naves and pews standing silent and empty. Nonetheless, they still have a haunting beauty which comes through in these awesome photos. Continue reading. Sign…