Church & Culture
Excuses are the enemy of effective ministry.
Yesterday, my wife Shelley and I had the chance to worship in a church that could have offered about as many excuses as any church imaginable. But they’ve refused to do so and have, instead, become one of the most influential ...
Ah, social media. You beautiful, hideous beast.
One of my least favorite current trends is the growing number of my Christian friends posting memes, blog posts and videos with headlines like these:
- “Young Student Humiliates Atheist Professor Who Tried To Tell Him God Isn’t Real!”
![Smile When You Talk On The Phone Smile When You Talk On The Phone](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/80512.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Why should I smile when I’m talking on the phone? Unless it’s a video chat, the listener can’t see me smile.
Because they can hear me smile.
Yes, you can hear a smile.
The same goes for talking on the radio, a podcast, or while preaching a sermon. Smiling when ...
The way people give is changing.
If your church hasn’t felt the results of those changes yet, you will soon.
If you are feeling them, you may be scrambling to figure out what’s happening, why, and what to do about it.
The good news: everyone is experiencing this, or ...
![Recalibrate: 10 Steps Every Church Must Take This Year, Or Be Dead In A Decade Recalibrate: 10 Steps Every Church Must Take This Year, Or Be Dead In A Decade](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/80394.jpg?h=168&w=300)
The church is not dying. It’s in fine shape.
Jesus said he’d build it, and he is. Relentlessly and beautifully.
But individual congregations, denominations and ideologies? Now that’s another story.
While the church of Jesus around the world continues to move forward, ...
![Want To Reach Unchurched People? Don't Create A Sense Of Urgency, Offer An Alternative To It Want To Reach Unchurched People? Don't Create A Sense Of Urgency, Offer An Alternative To It](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/80057.jpg?h=168&w=300)
When I was in training to be a pastor, I was taught to create a sense of urgency to reach people for Jesus.
I was taught wrong.
- “Jesus is coming and you’d better be ready!”
- “The world is a mess and only Jesus can fix it!”
- “What if you were to die today and didn’t have a relationship with Jesus?”
![8 Assumptions Pastors Can't Make In A Post-Christian Culture 8 Assumptions Pastors Can't Make In A Post-Christian Culture](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/80006.jpg?h=168&w=300)
I’ve never lived in a predominantly Christian culture.
But lately, I’ve been travelling a lot through the Bible Belt, so I’m seeing what a Christian culture looks like for the first time in my life. Churches on every corner, Christian radio and TV on more than ...
![Sorry Christians, We Can’t Blame the Media Any More Sorry Christians, We Can’t Blame the Media Any More](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/79758.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Christians love playing the “blame the media” game.
Not long ago, we might have had a legitimate claim that our reputation was bad because the media was against us. That’s not the case anymore.
Oh sure, the media in general may still think negatively about Christians, ...
![4 Ways Your Church Can Help People Simplify Christmas 4 Ways Your Church Can Help People Simplify Christmas](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/79597.jpg?h=168&w=300)
It may be the most wonderful time of the year, but Christmas is also the busiest.
A few years ago, our small church decided we weren’t going to compete with all the shopping, school plays, office parties and visits to Santa that were filling people’s calendars. We ...
Houston is devastated. But, even as the flood waters recede, the crisis is far from over. The people of Houston need our help, prayers and material assistance.
So, before I get to the subject of this post, here’s a link to the best relief organization I know. Convoy of ...
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