![5 Good Ways to Welcome Strangers 5 Good Ways to Welcome Strangers](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49360.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Like many congregations, my church struggles with how to welcome strangers into our midst. We have visitor cards and welcome badges and the greeters at every door, but we stop short of translating information into another language or specifically serving the large immigrant ...
![Mentoring with Intention Mentoring with Intention](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49236.jpg?h=168&w=300)
It’s easy to confuse mentoring and friendship. Friendships are essential connections important to our sense of well-being. Women need friends. Times with friends bring laughter, listening ears, and encouragement. As friends browse the sale racks, their conversation ...
![The Sacred Gift of Listening The Sacred Gift of Listening](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49234.jpg?h=168&w=300)
“It might be cancer.” When those words were spoken, it wasn’t clear who was more stunned—Michael or me. He was our beloved small group pastor. A true people person, Michael was the lubricant which kept staff friction to a minimum. Quick to laugh, he ...
![3 Questions to Ask Yourself before Letting Go 3 Questions to Ask Yourself before Letting Go](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49141.jpg?h=168&w=300)
“The sheer volume embarrasses me,” I admit to my husband while standing over piles of clothes on my bedroom floor. Coats, shoes, shirts, and pants pulled from my closet on a Saturday like leaves letting go of sturdy branches and falling in a heap. Outside, sun ...
![Faithful through the Ages Faithful through the Ages](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49140.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Several years ago, we were invited to join a small group which met weekly on Friday nights. We arrived the first night with our young kids in tow, eager to connect with other couples in a similar age and stage. What we found was a much more blended group of couples, ranging ...
![Can I Follow You As I Follow Christ? Can I Follow You As I Follow Christ?](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49007.jpg?h=168&w=300)
It is a privilege to serve as a leader in the kingdom of God. It is an honor to be entrusted with the gift to teach and disciple the people of God. Yet with this gift, leaders are held to a higher standard. James 3:1 warns us, “Not many of you should become teachers ...
![Lead Me On: Brave & Bawling Lead Me On: Brave & Bawling](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/49002.jpg?h=168&w=300)
A few years ago, Saturday Night Live alum Amy Poehler delivered Harvard University’s Class Day speech. In a fake Bostonian dialect, she joked, “Just because yah wicked smaht doesn’t mean yah beddah than me.”
Then she got serious.
“All I can ...