Ministry Ideas

Reaching Young People Through the Noise of Culture

Ken Davis shared this experiment: We conducted a three-phase investigation at Rockford College and used over 100 college graduates...

What to Expect From Generation Z?

Let us start this discussion by clarifying what constitutes Generation Z and how they differ from Millennials: Generation Z are people...

The Worship Attendance Numbers Are Lying To You?

There is much conversation in my church right now about whether we are a declining church body and whether or not we will survive this...

1,075 views0 comments

The Church's Work Is Complex

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up...

Understanding the Unique Role of Rural Ministry

I have spent most of my ministry in big metropolises but have not lived in a community of under 4,000. You know you live in a small town...

Urban Ministry is Complicated

Urban Ministry is messy. It involves loving all people. Some come into our stream of consciousness with messy and broken lives. Because...

Reaching Rural America with the Gospel

When I talked to a few frustrated rural pastors, at the heart of their frustration was the sense that because there was not a large...

What Kind Of Church Will We Be?

This story is familiar. In 1972, and after 308 years, the First Church of Newton, Mass., called it quits. It gave its assets to a museum,...

Millennials Are Seeking a Community-Minded Church

In his 1983 acceptance speech for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn] recalled the words he heard as a...

The Pain of a Congressional Closures

One of the least fun parts of my work is telling a church it is time to let go. When I have to discuss this possibility with leadership,...