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Should Your Small Groups Use “Extra Credit”?

By
Roger Carr
-
communicating with the unchurched

I couldn’t make it to class. My job required me to be on travel the night of an important class. I would miss the teaching, discussions and in-class exercises during the three-hour Visionary Leadership class that evening. Fortunately, my professor gave me an extra credit assignment that I could do to make up for my absence.

The extra credit assignment was to write a paper on the topic of credibility. It took me many more hours to do the research and writing than I would have spent participating in the class (and I still had to do the class work). It was worth it.

That was several years ago as I was earning my MBA degree. But even though several years have passed, I still remember and use that paper I wrote on credibility. The extra credit assignment also had me going deeper with the topic I missed.

Homework Assignments

It does require extra time and energy to complete homework assignments. But it is work that aids a person in going deeper on the topic of interest.

There is power in homework assignments.

Going Deeper

I discovered that when optional assignments are given to members for personal meditation and reflection between meetings, the participants who did the assignments show the biggest positive change.

One of the questions I am asked is “How do I develop questions for discussions to go deep?” Trying to force deep discussions at small group meetings usually doesn’t work. But you can write questions for homework that support your members going deeper on the topic.

If you want to take your small group to the next level, consider writing and handing out a devotional or worksheet that your small group members can work on after the group discussion.

Tips for Using Extra Credit

Here are some tips to use when you include extra credit assignments for your small group:

1. Create a Devotional or Worksheet

Put the assignment in writing. It can be an assignment they can work on at their own pace between meetings or it can be divided up into daily exercises. Include applicable scriptures, instruction and thought-provoking questions.

2. Require No More Than 10 or 15 Minutes a Day

The object is not to create a significant burden on your members. Change and transformation occurs with a focus on God’s word and reflection of how they change because of it. Write the assignment so it can be completed in no more than 10 or 15 minutes per day. Anything over this is likely to either be a time burden to some of your members or will not hold their attention. Of course, they can reflect on the exercise throughout the day.

3. Include Easy Access to Verses

Write out the verses or provide links to the Bible verses where they can either be read or listened to online. Make the personal study as easy as possible for your members.

Note: If you write out the verses, be sure to abide by the copyright associated with the version of Bible you use.

4. Create an Audio Version

Some of your members may be able to listen to the information while they’re doing chores at home or commuting to work. Consider recording an audio version. This would give them an opportunity to hear God’s Word through the week and also give them an opportunity to meditate on it and reflect how they might change what they do in their own lives to be more like Christ.

5. Encourage Members to Share

Members should encourage each other through sharing questions and insights via email or in an online group private online group (if that is something your group is doing). Not only will it continue the conversation among your members, but also encourage other members to do the assignments as they see others getting something significant from the exercise.

6. Make the Study Optional

There are several people in your group who will find it difficult to put in the time to do the study. If they feel it is required, you may lose those members from your group. This obviously is not the purpose for creating these assignments. So make sure that your members do not fall in the trap of feeling guilty if they are not able to do the exercises or do them in their entirety.

7. Avoid “Homework”

Unfortunately, mentioning homework prompts people to complain or run away as fast as they can. It is not viewed in a positive way by most people.

If homework or extra credit are terms that discourage your small group members from participating, name it something that gets them excited about jumping into it. Consider using terms such as:

  • Deep Dive
  • Investigation
  • Exercise
  • Study
  • Research
  • Application
  • Devotional

Question: What other methods have you used to encourage small group members going deeper on a topic? 

This article originally appeared here.

Why Churches Should Focus More on Marriage

By
Dave Willis
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communicating with the unchurched

We recently sat down with a young couple from our church. The military moved them to our area, so they didn’t have a family support system here locally.

Within the first minutes of our meeting, the wife was crying. The stress of the move had taken its toll on this young family. The husband’s long hours and pressing new responsibilities increased the tension at home. They both needed the marriage to be a source of strength and encouragement during this difficult time, but the foundation of their relationship was crumbling.

The husband and wife were dealing with the stress in their own ways. They weren’t communicating or supporting each other. They were drifting further apart instead of facing their struggles side-by-side. They desperately wanted to make the marriage work, but they weren’t sure where or how to begin.

We prayed with them and reminded them that with Christ as their foundation, they could weather any storm. We told them that they didn’t need to face their challenges alone because God calls us to carry each other’s burdens and to find healing and support within Biblical community. We gave them some resources to help them start renewing their relationship and connected them with a small group where they could find friendship, mentorship and practical support to help them through this challenging season. We recommended a good Christian counselor who could provide ongoing support and guidance and over time, they experienced healing and transformation in their marriage.

Each week countless couples just like this one, walk into our churches. Many of them appear to have everything together, but often there’s a hidden reality. So many marriages are hurting and our churches need to be a place where broken relationships can be healed and strong marriages can grow even stronger.

Through our years in ministry, we’ve had thousands of interactions with married couples from all over the world. Many of these conversations happen in our church, but the majority have taken place online with people, desperate for help, who feel they have nowhere else to turn.

Through these conversations we’ve learned that all married couples need encouragement and practical tools to help them. We’ve also observed that most married couples don’t know where to go to get the help they need. Most importantly, we’ve realized that churches hold the essential key to solving the modern marriage crisis. But sadly, most of them don’t even know where to start.

Creating and cultivating a church that champions healthy marriages is one of the most practical investments of time and resources a church can make. Here are some reasons why churches need to do more to build strong marriages:

1. Marriage, by God’s design, is the foundation of the family.

Building stronger marriages will lead to stronger families. Stronger families create stronger churches, which lead to stronger communities, and ultimately, a better world. Marriage is uniquely and sacredly designed to display God’s kingdom on earth. When marriages improve, nearly everything else improves as a result. When marriages are hurting, society suffers as a result.

2. Marriage Ministry is an effective evangelistic outreach.

We’ve found that many unchurched couples are willing to attend a service if the church can provide practical help for their marriage. When we’ve done sermon series or conferences around marriage, the result is always a boost in attendance and many first-time guests.

3. If people don’t get answers about marriage from the church, they’ll get answers from the culture (which is why so many marriages are failing).

It’s our sacred responsibility as followers of Christ and ministers of the gospel to lift up the value of a Christ-centered marriage. We must teach our congregations how to make their marriages all God wants them to be.

The need for stronger marriages in our society is apparent and it’s clear that the church could be doing more to help. But most churches simply don’t know how go about it. The good news is that doing more to build stronger marriages within your church is simpler than you might think and you can get started right away!

This article originally appeared here.

7 Church Growth Barriers Every Church Needs to Know

By
Dan Reiland
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communicating with the unchurched

The number one topic in the local church over the last 30-plus years addresses the church growth question, “How do I grow my church?” How can we break through to reach more people for Jesus?

The words change, but the issue remains the same. Years ago, we called them growth barriers, and now the question sounds more like, “How do I get unstuck? How can we get unstuck to reach more people?”

There was about a decade when we switched from church growth to church health, but it always comes back to growth. The reason for that is that healthy things grow!

There is nothing new under the sun, right? But it’s up to us to remain fresh, relevant and innovate our way forward for the sake of the Kingdom.

With that as context, here are some “fresh” thoughts for today.

Seven Big Church Growth Barriers:

(with insights for growth)

1) Diminished Faith for Church Growth

It’s possible for church leaders to stop believing. I’m not referring to faith in Jesus, but the potential for a pastor, staff member or key leader to lose faith that their church will ever work.

It’s all too common that a leader can lose heart and slide into discouragement. This is the enemy’s strategy! Discouragement is the breeding ground for complacency and maintenance. As a leader, you may remain faithful, but without any fire.

Vision is then lost. Whether the senior pastor, a children’s staff member or a small group leader, etc., when the leader loses vision, it’s not long before growth slows or stops.

Fight for your faith. Fight to believe again. Who do you know that believes in you? Get some time with them. Borrow their faith in you. Reflect back on when you believed in yourself, and remember that God is with you. It’s His church, it’s His idea, and what you’re doing matters.

2) Ministry Over Strategy for Church Growth

Those of us who lead in the local church are in it to see life change for the people we serve. Therefore, serving people for their spiritual growth is a priority, it’s what we do. But doing ministry for the sake of ministry can be a colossal waste of time if it’s not strategic.

The goal of ministry is not to be busy; it’s to realize a Kingdom productivity that results in changed lives for eternity. For too many years I’ve watched church pastors, staff and volunteer leaders exhaust themselves with little results.

The selection of your ministries must be strategic, not random. Your ministries should be lean and on purpose, not merely at the whim of anyone’s ideas. Alignment as a team is essential.

(And we know strategy without God’s power doesn’t work.)

3) Inward Focused Barrier to Church Growth

Inward focus is like a subtle bear trap. Of course, there is nothing subtle about a bear trap, except that it’s hidden. It’s not obvious. But when you realize you are caught in one, you then know you’re in big trouble.

No church starts out inward focused. A church turns inward from a good thing gone bad. Community, love, care, discipleship, family, etc., these are all great things and part of the healthy and functioning body of Christ. Until, essentially, they become the sole focus of the church.

The result is evangelism drops off, programming becomes all about what the Christians want for themselves, and the worship service begins to cater only to those in the body of Christ.

The scary thing is that all churches drift in that direction. All churches drift inward without the intentional effort to keep an outward focus on those who are far from God. It’s not easy, but it is that simple.

The leaders of the church must agree and align with a ministry that intentionally commits time, resources, effort and energy to reach out.

10 Reasons Pornography Has Power, Even in the Church

By
Chuck Lawless
-
communicating with the unchurched

I suspect most if not all of the readers of this post know somebody who has struggled with pornography. In fact, I’m re-posting this post because I’ve seen pornography once again cost somebody more than it’s worth. From the teenager struggling with new desires to the senior pastor recently caught in sin, even believers wrestle with this sin. Perhaps if we understand why pornography has so much power, we would know better how to fight against it.

10 Reasons Pornography Has Power

  1. The church is often reticent to talk about sexuality. Despite the fact that the Bible addresses the issue, we tend to neglect it. Consequently, believers hear the wrong voices about sexuality, miss the beauty of God-centered sexuality, and settle for much less than what God intends.
  2. In general, churches fail to make disciples. Solid Christian discipleship teaches believers how to adore God, wear His armor and reject the Enemy’s temptations. In too many churches, sexuality “discipleship” is limited to condemnation without godly teaching. The result is believers who are ill-equipped to fight temptation and too afraid to confess their sin.
  3. The Enemy directs us to the temporary and away from the eternal. As with Adam and Eve, the Enemy makes the fruit on the tree look so good that we ignore the long-term consequence of eternal death. The pleasure that pornography brings—temporary and fleeting though it is—trumps our desire to be faithful to the everlasting God.
  4. The lure of pornography builds on natural desires. God has created us to be sexual beings, and He gave us clear parameters for sexual expression. Those desires rightly expressed are a beauty of marriage; those same desires under the influence of the Enemy, however, can be distorted and damaging. In either case, the desires seldom go away.
  5. Our exposure to pornography is often early. To be honest, I cannot remember the first time I saw pornography. I know I was apparently so young that I can’t recall not seeing it. Early exposure leaves images in your head that never fully go away.
  6. The sin can now be even more private. In my days, pornography use required going to the convenience store, quietly asking for the magazine behind the counter, and hiding it quickly in a paper bag. Computer access now erases much of that need for “sneaking” around.
  7. “Soft” porn has become acceptable. When we allow ourselves to watch stuff that we know crosses God’s line—even though it may not qualify as XXX-rated material—we only open the door for the Enemy to press his way into our lives. He does not miss those opportunities.
  8. Pornography use has become expected. More than one study has shown that pornography use is pervasive, even among church leaders. I have even seen church accountability groups where everyone failed the previous week—and failure becomes almost the accepted norm.
  9. Pornography can only create desire, not quench it. Ungodly approaches to meet real needs simply cannot meet those needs. Indeed, pornography only makes you crave more of that which can never fully satisfy. That unmet longing leads only to idolatry and addiction.
  10. Pornography allows pleasure without the hard work of relationships and commitment. Relationships take effort. Our individualistic, hedonistic culture wants the fun without the tough work, and pornography makes that possible—or at least we convince ourselves it does.

If you are struggling with pornography, I encourage you to talk to someone. Pray especially that your Christian family, friends and children will not fall under the power of this sin. 

This article originally appeared here.

The Foolish Quest for a “Silver Bullet” in Global Missions

By
Steve Jennings
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communicating with the unchurched

We have an insatiable desire for fast results and quick fixes. Over the years I’ve lived overseas, it’s become clear that this yearning has touched our missions methods as well.

As I’ve read books on missions and sat through seminars, I can’t help but sense that we’re obsessed with finding a “silver bullet” for our Great Commission mandate. Like alchemists looking for the formula for gold, we’ve gone mad trying to unlock what everyone since the days of the apostles hasn’t discovered yet: the perfect formula for explosive, exponential kingdom growth.

In most cases, this search comes from hearts full of compassion and a desire to glorify God. But as these methods come and go—each claiming to be more biblical, more useful, and more replicable than the last—it seems we need to be reminded that we haven’t been given a commission to seek a “silver bullet.”

Of course, methods aren’t wrong. They’re inescapable, and we all have them. But when finding the perfect method or “the key” becomes the focus, we’re in danger of sacrificing present-day, imperfect faithfulness on the altar of future, “perfect” success. We sometimes fail and even refuse to evaluate the downsides of this so-called “miracle” method. When this happens, we’re inhibited from discerning real fruit from faux results.

CLASSIC MISSIOLOGICAL SILVER BULLETS

Books, articles, training courses, and seminars abound promoting the idea of rapidly multiplying churches and disciples as “the biblical pattern.” There’s much good in many of these programs. The problems, however, are threefold: less-than-careful exegesis, overly pragmatic evaluation criteria, and a failure to take into account the whole counsel of God’s Word.

For example, a discipleship program called Four Fields looks to parables that describe the kingdom of God and its growth without considering the purpose of those parables. There’s no mention that Jesus told these parables both to expose the religious leaders’ misunderstanding about the nature of God’s kingdom and to judge them for rejecting the Messiah.

Similarly, the “person of peace” approach appeals to Luke 10 as the model for kingdom expansion. Again, no one mentions the other commands in the text: to hurry, to take no clothes, and to eat only what is served. Why aren’t those as binding as the “find a person of peace” command? Other methods that were also used greatly by God in Acts—such as sermons to large crowds (Acts 2)—are also ignored.

Another program called T4T appeals to 2 Timothy 2:2, though without considering either the context it’s written in (the local church) or the qualifying requirement of training men who are known to be faithful, not simply eager or willing.

All these methods are promoted for their supposed biblical basis and their proven track record of yielding results. And in many cases, there is indeed fruit to be seen. But there are serious flaws in these systems that lead to other problems, some which won’t be realized until years later. The hurried development of “trainers” or “kingdom agents” and the furious searching for “men of peace” circumnavigates Paul’s long view for the training of “faithful men” a la 2 Timothy 2:2.

The focus on obedience in “discovery Bible studies” used in the CPM (Church Planting Movements) approach, combined with a lack of clarity on biblical conversion, easily leads to confusion that simply replaces one set of religious and moral norms for another. Leading people to become disciples without first helping them to understand why they weren’t a disciple in the first place leads to people claiming to embrace Jesus as “king” without clearly understanding their need for him as Savior. The result is people who’ve been “reached,” but not really.

Here’s the bottom line: no method is a “silver bullet.” As long as fallen and finite people are at the helm, no method will be perfect. I’m not intending to write off all methodologies as equally useless, nor do I hope to offer my own alternative method into the mix of the madness. I simply mean to point to some guiding principles for our methods, and hopefully get us to admit that simply more new methods are not what we need.

12 Bits of Easter Foolishness We Should Avoid This Year

By
Joe McKeever
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communicating with the unchurched

Here are 12 things we church leaders do on Easter Sunday that undermine our effectiveness in reaching people for the Lord Jesus…

1) Fuss at those who come.

“Well, good morning! We would like to welcome those of you we’ve not seen since Christmas! Hope you had a good winter!”

2) Put on a “dog and pony show” instead of preaching the gospel.

Never forget that what we use to attract people to our church will be required to keep them. So, if we put on a spectacular to get people in but follow it with our normal run-of-the-mill uninspired preaching/singing/etc., we are doing no one any good.

3) Present cantatas.

For reasons I don’t quite understand, some churches will forego the usual service on Easter Sunday and give the choir the entire hour for their program. This is the day to open Scripture and read it (thoughtfully, reverently!) and preach its message.

4) Do nothing.

Business as usual (translation: boring) on this greatest of all days on the Christian calendar.

5) Make it about eggs and bunnies.

Enough said.

6) Bring in a guest speaker.

Assuming your church will have visitors on Easter, they need to see the home team at work. That way, they will be able to decide if they want to return next Sunday.

7) Fail to get a record of all who attended.

It’s not enough to get a head count. You want the names and addresses—all contact information—on every newcomer.

(I suggest to ministers who welcome visitors from the pulpit, do not tell guests someone will be contacting you as a result of filling out that card. Some will not want a contact, and you’ve just warned them away from telling you who they are. Furthermore, what if your church doesn’t get around to contacting them at all? You’ve misrepresented this in their minds, and those who were wanting a contact will be disappointed.)

8) Vary your preaching approach too much.

Again—repeating number two above—whatever you do to attract people, they will expect you to continue when they return. Just preach the word, pastor, and do your best!

Even though the New Testament’s account of the resurrection fills a good portion of the four Gospels, and even though this doctrine is prominent throughout the epistles, this is no time to try to teach it all in one session.

Remember the adage: “Never serve your company an untried recipe.” (Ask any wife!)

9) Going ga-ga over women’s hats and children’s Easter outfits.

A Facebook friend mentioned this as a favorite peeve. I confess, I love women in hats and have made a point of calling attention to them on Easter Sunday. The point is not to overdo it. A pastor should never forget the poor in the congregation who would love to buy new outfits for this wonderful day, but are unable.

10) Welcoming your guests to a poorly kept building and a neglected campus.

I suggest that from time to time, pastors walk the campus during Sunday School. Tour the parking lot. Is it clean? Is there litter? Have the leaves been cleared from sidewalks? Is it obvious this area has not been cleaned in weeks? Are the buildings attractive? Is there a blight anywhere? Is the dumpster misplaced (or surrounded by overflowing boxes, etc.)? Is there sufficient paper in the bathroom? Do any rooms need painting?

The first impression guests have on arriving at your church is mighty important.

11)  Failing to pray for yourself, your team, the congregation and those newcomers who will walk into the buildings next Sunday.

12) Failing to follow up in a creative, non-intrusive way with every newcomer.

Need ideas on this? Call a friend who serves on staff in a large church that does this right and pick his/her brain.

This is a great day, friend. Enjoy it!

Successful Pastoral Successions With Dennis Gingerich

By
Beth Colletti
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communicating with the unchurched

I’m excited to have Dennis Gingerich with us today. Dennis is the founding pastor of Cape Christian Church in Florida.

One way or another, every church is going to lose its pastor. Yet very few congregations are preparing for that. Would your church survive if your lead pastor suddenly had to step back from leading? Today Dennis is here to speak with us about what that succession process looked like for him at Cape Christian.

• Start thinking about succession now. For many lead pastors, nurturing, shepherding and growing their church has been their life’s work. The last thing they want is to see the baton passed poorly and their church lose sight of God’s vision for it. Dennis was faced with exactly this question when he was about 50, and he knew he needed to begin an intentional plan toward pastoral succession now. In speaking about Cape Christian Dennis says, “I wanted it to be thriving and going up and to the right in every way five years after I’m out of the lead seat.” Don’t wait to start having conversations about succession. When lead pastors are in their 40s, they should already be thinking about the succession process and who else they can be training up for the future of the church.

• Gradual transition. Succession is a hard adjustment for some people, especially those who have been in the church for a long time and have grown along with it from the beginning. One way to prepare the congregation for the switch is to start doing team teaching. This will expose the community to a variety of voices from the stage. Slowly transition from the previous lead pastor doing most of the teaching to the upcoming lead pastor doing most of the teaching. Do half and half sermon duties a year or months before the full-time switch, then gradually increase the amount of time that the new pastor preaches until he has the full-time duties.

• Step back for the good of the church. If the previous lead pastor will continue to be involved at the church, how do you manage their role while letting someone else take over? It’s important that communication stay open during the transition process so that the new pastor can express whether he needs more or less input from the previous pastor. In all things consider what is best for the church. True leadership comes with being willing to step back for the sake of the organization. Let God work on the parts that may be hard to adjust to at first.

• Develop a timeline. Create a timeline on what tasks will be transitioned to the new pastor and when the transition will take place. Let the new pastor share his ideas and plans multiple times with the rest of the staff through meetings before the formal succession. Over-communicate, both with the staff and your congregation, about all aspects of the transition so that there aren’t any surprises. The goal is to help people understand again and again what can be expected in the days and months ahead. This will help everyone to feel secure about the transition.

• Be open from the beginning. In the interviews, ask the potential pastor if he or she will be able to get along with the former pastor. Will they feel that the previous pastor will be watching over their shoulder, or will they be uncomfortable having that leader so close? Be open ahead of time about the fact that the previous pastor will still be involved so that the new pastor won’t be surprised. Keeping everything open from the beginning will help make the transition as smooth as possible.

You can learn more about Cape Christian at their website www.capechristian.com. And you can visit Dennis’s website on church succession at www.successfulsuccessions.com.

This article originally appeared here.

The Sometimes Painful Cost of Leadership

By
Kurt Bubna
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communicating with the unchurched

As I look back over the many decades of my life, I can see two things very clearly: God’s goodness and my badness.

I can tell you a thousand stories of the grace, favor and kindness of God in my life. And I can easily tell you another thousand stories of the many times I’ve failed as a man, son, brother, husband and father.

I’m not attempting to be self-deprecating here, just honest.

I’m often a mess, but more importantly—far more importantly—I am God’s child; one who is deeply and profoundly loved by Him regardless of the good, bad or ugly in my life.

Given the realities of my human condition, you can imagine why at times I’m so grateful, and at other times so humbled. There is no doubt in my heart regarding the mercy of God.

Here’s something else I’ve come to understand: As a leader and a pastor, I’ve failed as well. Plenty.

I let people down.

I make mistakes.

I zig when I think I’m zagging!

Sometimes, when I lose focus and get in a grouchy mood, I wonder why God lets me lead. I could give King David a run for his money when it comes to complaining and depression. (Here’s a sample of David’s depression from the Psalms.)

Thankfully, when I’m done having a pity party, God whispers to my soul, “Your expectations of perfection exceed my expectations of you, Kurt.”

And then it hits me, again: If you’re going to lead, you’re going to fail. No one is perfect. No leader leads perfectly.

Failure is normal for a human in process (as I wrote here last week, we all are in process), and absolutely nothing out of the ordinary for any leader.

As I write this, the Christian world is mourning the loss of one of our heroes, Billy Graham. Without question, he was a great leader. But Billy himself would say he was far from perfect and made plenty of mistakes along the way.

However, one of the powerful qualities of healthy leaders is they refuse to get stuck in their failures. As John Maxwell often says, “Great leaders fail forward.”

Nonetheless, I’ve titled this post “The Sometimes Painful Cost of Leadership” because it hurts when you realize you’ve failed people you love.

It’s tough to see disappointment in the eyes of your followers.

It breaks my heart to look back and know there are people in my leadership wake who no longer love me, let alone like me.

No one wants to fail. No leader tries to blow it. Nobody finds joy in letting others down. But it happens, and it’s painful.

So, what should you do?

Here’s the short answer: Don’t let the reality of your inadequacy derail you from your destiny. (That might be worth reading again.)

Don’t be stubborn or proud. Don’t ignore your faults. Repent. Grow. Change. Continue to develop your leadership skills. Become better. Absolutely.

But if perfection is required to lead, then no one is qualified. If you can’t or don’t move forward in the face of failures, then you’ll never become the man or woman God has called you to be.

You will blow it at times. All leaders do. Nonetheless, stay the course and pray for grace. Stop expecting a level of perfection that exceeds God’s expectations of you.

You’re not Jesus or a superhero; you’re only human.

Deal with it and lead on.

It’s of the utmost importance that we love one another no matter what. Why? Because love is bigger than our many faults and failures. Love covers everything. 1 Peter 4:8 (Bubna Paraphrase)

What That Missing Letter to the Laodiceans Can Teach Us About Platform

By
Mike Leake
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communicating with the unchurched

Writing and preaching have at least one thing in common. Unpredictability. I’ve prepared sermons thinking that it’ll be one that might generate a decent amount of response. Then I preach it…crickets. Same thing happens with articles I write. I’ll put tons of effort into an article…crickets. I’ll just throw something up and the next thing I know it’s getting tons of traffic and shares.

I suppose another thing preaching and writing has in common is that neither are ultimately about response. The Christian preacher and the Christian writers chief aim is faithfulness. We want to be helpful to as many people as the Lord allows—but we also shouldn’t pursue a bigger platform than what the Lord has equipped us for.

I say that, but I’ll confess it can be discouraging at times to labor and labor with little response. There are Mondays when I question everything. In some of the darker times I question whether I’m called to preach or called to write. I think about shutting it all down. And I’m also realistic enough to know that I could shut down my preaching and my writing ministry and within not much time at all it’d be a non-event. I say that not depressively but truthfully. The kingdom doesn’t need me.

But I still write. And I still preach. I do this because it’s what I’m supposed to be doing today. I’m a slave of Christ. I’m not a slave to public opinion, to performance polls or to how much traffic is generated.

My model in this is Paul. He knew what it was like to be at the lowest points and the highest points. He knew what it was like to abound and what it was like to be in need. I’d say if he was a writer he’d say he knows what it’s like to be heard and to be ignored. In fact, Paul actually did have a few letters that we know didn’t make the cut.

Colossians 4:16  mentions a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Laodicea. It’s gone. The same with a couple of his letters to the Corinthians. Gone. Never to be read again. They might have made an impact in the moment, they might even have ripple effects into our day, but they are lost. They’ll never get that credit. When the Spirit compiled the New Testament, those letters which Paul labored over didn’t get the same play as his letter to the Colossians. They didn’t make the cut.

And I bet he is OK with that.

I doubt Paul is frowning in the presence of Jesus. I doubt he is sweating his discarded letter to the Laodiceans. Can you see Paul pouting because his platform could have been just a little bigger? Or if Paul did write Hebrews (which is doubtful) can you imagine him angered that some people, like Luke or Apollos, have gotten credit which belonged to him?

Paul was a slave. Slaves don’t care much about platform. They’ll stand on whatever sized soapbox the King gives them. No matter if that platform is a few rotting boards used as steps to the gallows or if it’s the largest stage in the biggest auditorium.

I’m not praying that the Lord will increase my borders. I’m just praying that He will find me a faithful slave.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Address the Student #MarchForOurLives With Your Church

By
Maina Mwaura
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communicating with the unchurched

Students and adults participating in the #MarchForOurLives this weekend have outlined three main goals they are hoping to accomplish when it comes to gun control:

Banning assault weapons
Requiring universal background checks before gun sales
Passing a gun violence restraining order law that would allow courts to disarm people who display warning signs of violent behavior

We sat down to talk to a group of youth pastors in the trenches of ministry and from a wide range of churches to ask them their thoughts on gun violence, the march, and what students need from adults right now.

After speaking to a youth group in Georgia about the walkout on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, we wanted to know how a handful of youth pastors from churches around Atlanta were addressing the protests with their students and what advice they might give the adults in their congregations for how to respond. 

Their responses will renew your faith in a lot of things, namely: The ability of church leaders to listen to one another and discuss an issue from multiple angles, the love ministers have for those they pastor, and possibly even the ability for America to come to a consensus on preventing gun violence we can all (or at least most) agree on.

We’ve compiled the highlights from their discussion in the text below, but be sure to watch the video with your church staff. It will help you minister to your people to understand the reality of youth that youth pastors face on a daily basis.

Why is this happening?

Jay: “I don’t see gun violence as only about guns. I think that the world that we live in has a problem of…how we understand good. And community and value of human life and how to treat people who are different than you. All of these things are playing into it.” – Jay Watts of Life Training Institute

Tom: I think it’s more an issue where we need to focus on mental illness…and then also maybe looking more at different social media platforms…I think before something happens, there’s always warning signs…I don’t know if we always take those seriously enough…

Lack of true, personal relationships with each other. We grew up, and we had to go out and play together. We had to build together, we had to talk to each other. We really had personal relationships. I think, with this generation, because of technology, because of social media, when you don’t have those personal relationships, you really don’t have feelings toward people. You have a generation of young people who really don’t have to communicate with other people anymore. Who really don’t know the feelings of other people anymore. If you don’t have those relationships, it’s going to be easy for me to go and harm a group of people, because I don’t really have a relationship with you, as opposed to me knowing you, and knowing your family, and knowing who you are, and saying, “Well, I won’t do that to you, because I wouldn’t want you to do that to me.” I think this generation has lost just a personal relationship feel. I think we have contributed to it, as adults, because they model what they see nowadays. We have to get back to where it becomes community. We’re talking about it. We’re stressing it, but are we really executing it? – Tom Conley of Berean Christian Church

Do you think the students participating in the walkouts are being manipulated to a certain degree?

Chase: I think we already live in a politically-charged environment…I don’t want to downgrade their access, or the fact that they’re processing this for themselves, but this is viral. This is what’s hot and fresh. It’s probably fair to say that they are repeating talking points. For some of our students, they’re very aware, very conscious of what they see the future being, and what they hope for the future. – Chase Grindstaff of Grayson UMC

Dennis: I think they’re adding to the conversation. I think this is a conversation we all agree needs to happen, and it does happen. Sadly, whenever incidents happen like this, we have these heated conversations. Then, a month, two months pass, and it fizzles out. Then, either a) which horrible as it sounds, another tragic event occurs, and then the conversation shifts. Or, b) we go back to life as normal. I think the danger there is we become desensitized. – Dennis Rivera of The Bridge Church

Jay: I actually worry, too, about how they’re going to deal with disappointment. They’re about to be disappointed. As I said, this is an immense issue, that’s going to take a long, long time, if you want to get traction on it. There’s a sense that they want to go out and see the world change immediately… Just because you were shot at, just because you’re young, does not mean that they are not going to argue with you…I’m not sure they’re realizing how hard the opposition’s going to come. A great deal of that opposition will not be charitable… Some people will be respectful. Some people will dialog with them. Some people are just going to come with hate, right out of the gates. I have very real concerns, as a Christian, and as a man who’s looking after children and young people, and deals with them a lot, how to help them get ready for the difference between the passion that is driving you out right now, and the resolve and grit that you need to determine yourself to get into, if you want to get something done over a long term. It takes a long time to do important things.

The #MeToo Stories of the Bible We Tend to Ignore

By
Carolyn Custis James
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communicating with the unchurched

The NYTimes recently resurfaced the video of pastor Andy Savage’s public apology at Highpoint Church in Memphis for sexually abusing Jules Woodson when he was her youth pastor. In it, he characterized his assault as a “sexual incident.”

The congregation gave him a standing ovation.

This latest version of the video, titled “I was Assaulted; He was Applauded,” included Woodson’s commentary. She was seventeen at the time of the assault. [please see the editor’s note at the bottom of this page]

The #MeToo movement gave Woodson the moral courage to voice her story even though the statute of limitations had expired. Her story is a vivid reminder that sexual abuse is not confined to secular settings. It happens inside the church. Sometimes sexual assault is inflicted by a trusted church leader. All too often other leaders compound the trauma by circling the wagons to cover-up and protect the perpetrator and the ministry involved. Victims are often re-abused by being disbelieved, pressured to forgive, forget, and move on, or when leaders a victim turns to for help simply fail to act.

All this without involving law enforcement or professional counselors.

If there was ever any doubt about the church’s complicity in the #MeToo crisis, the damning flood of #ChurchToo tweets that followed on the heels of the #MeToo twitter storm exposed a serious internal church problem we can no longer ignore.

When the Church is Not a Safe Place

For many, former USA gymnast (now attorney) Rachael Denhollander has become the face of both #MeToo and #ChurchToo. Her #MeToo story made national news in the conviction of USA Gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar. She was the first to accuse him publically and she gave the last impact statement at his trial.

She became embroiled in the #ChurchToo crisis when she challenged prominent evangelical leaders for a sexual abuse cover-up she described as “widely recognized as one of the worst, if not the worst, instances of evangelical cover-up of sexual abuse.” [1] The cover-up of abuse and the mistreatment she received for her advocacy for the victims led her to voice a conclusion many other women and girls in the church share.

“Church is one of the least safe places to acknowledge abuse because the way it is counseled is, more often than not, damaging to the victim. . . . It is with deep regret that I say the church is one of the worst places to go for help. That’s a hard thing to say, because I am a very conservative evangelical, but that is the truth. There are very, very few who have ever found true help in the church.”

#MeToo Stories in the Bible can help

What is tragically ironic about these current reports of sexual abuse within the church is the fact that the Bible is full of #MeToo stories. Not only should we have been the first to name them, we should be at the forefront of the effort to address and prevent sexual violence against women and girls. Yet somehow we’ve managed to sanitize, spin, or skip these biblical #MeToo stories or else we blame the women involved. They haven’t stirred up righteous indignation in us or caused us to wrestle with these texts.

Abraham and Sarah’s desperation for a son is one of the best-known stories in the Bible. Yet do we ever stop to notice the sexual abuse of Hagar? Not only was she a trafficked slave girl, when Sarah and Abraham compelled her to be a surrogate for Sarah to produce the desired male heir with Abraham, she discovered sex was part of the deal.

The dysfunction of Jacob’s family and the warring between his wives and among his sons give us some of the Bible’s most gripping drama. But have we ever wondered how those stories played out for slave girls Bilhah and Zilpah, whose mistresses (Leah and Rachel) offered them up to a willing Jacob. They commandeered these young girls’ bodies (without their permission) in the desperate quest for sons.

We also have the #MeToo stories of Esther, the Tamars, Bathsheba, and plenty of others. [2]

The Healing Power of the Bible’s #MeToo Stories

These #MeToo stories give pastors the opportunity to raise awareness of the world’s tragic history of sexual abuse and violence against women and girls. It provides opportunities for pastors to acknowledge the trauma and pain that exists today among their own parishioners and to take intentional steps to make the church a place of safety, help, and healing.

Editor’s Note: Savage has since resigned from Highpoint and released a statement. Savage writes, “When Jules cried out for justice, I carelessly turned the topic to my own story of moral change, as if getting my own life in order should help to make up for what she went through and continues to go through.”

[1] Christianity Today interview: “My Larry Nassar Testimony Went Viral. But There’s More to the Gospel Than Forgiveness”

[2] Sandra Glahn, ed., Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible

 

‘I Can Only Imagine’ in More Theaters this Weekend

By
Bob Ditmer
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communicating with the unchurched

I Can Only Imagine, the movie that shocked Hollywood in its opening weekend, is going to be in 600 more theaters this weekend.

The film that tells the story of Christian songwriter Bart Millard, brought in over $17 million in its first weekend. It cost just $7 million to make.  

It was the third most popular film in America last weekend coming in behind Black Panther and Tomb Raider and ahead of Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time but was also on half as many screens.

And while it finished third in total box office sales for the weekend, I Can Only Imagine made more money per theater than any movie last weekend.

Andy Erwin, the movie’s co-director told KALB-TV in Alexandria, Louisiana on Thursday, “We found out yesterday it rose up to number two at the box office past Tomb Raider today, and we’re going into 600 more theaters this weekend.”

Roadside Attractions co-president Howard Cohen told Variety that the distributor began to get a sense in recent weeks that I Can Only Imagine would over-perform, thanks to $1.6 million in pre-sales and 130 million trailer views.

Producer Cindy Bond had high hopes for the movie, but she never imagined the reception it would receive.

She told the Sacramento Bee, “Oh my gosh, I have not landed; I’m just orbiting the earth. My feet haven’t touched the ground. Hollywood is not ignoring this faith-based film,” she said. “This movie jumped up and said, ‘Hello!’ It elevated the whole genre.”

Money talks in Hollywood, like everywhere else, and the success of I Can Only Imagine might give film industry executives, interested in pursuing religious moviegoers, an improved standing with movie studios and actors. Faith based movies have generally lacked the star power, financial backing and production quality to compete with secular fare.

But it will take more than one movie to convince studio heads, who are perceived to be out of touch with Christians.

“It’s easy to put these movies on the side,” Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst at ComScore told the LA Times. “But it’s hard to ignore movies that are this successful on a regular basis. I feel like this genre is really coming into its own.”

The recent success of movies like Hacksaw Ridge, Heaven is for Real, War Room, Son of God and now I Can Only Imagine suggests faith based films have arrived.

But acceptance is still slow even in the face of impressive financial numbers. “Hollywood is still learning,” said Chris Stone, founder of the Christian advocacy group Faith Driven Consumer, which says 17% of Americans make purchasing decisions primarily based on their religious beliefs. “The community is hungry for content, and there’s very little content that is strictly made for them.”

Meanwhile, while Millard is thrilled about the box office reception for the film, he told KALB there’s a bigger story behind the bottom line, “No one is out of the reach of Christ. If people walk away with that kind of hope, then we’ve done our job.”

21 Funny Church Signs Even Jesus Would Laugh At

By
Megan Briggs
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communicating with the unchurched

Churches have to be creative these days to boost attendance. There are several churches that are trying clever remarks and pithy comments to compel visitors to come. These funny church signs range from clever, to punny, to flirting with offense. They will assure you the creative spirit is alive and well in Christ’s church.

Whichever way you look at them, though, you have to hand it to the sign guy or gal. They certainly are thinking outside the box!

21 Funny Church Signs

This one was obviously written by the associate pastor…

 

Whoa. So deep.

 

Correction: The church does not kill people.

 

No one can accuse this church of false advertising.

This one really pushes the boundaries on being relevant…

What a relief that will be!

Seriously, though, just come already.

They’re not wrong…

 

In your face, devil!

Update: John Ortberg Responds to Bill Hybels Allegations

By
Megan Briggs
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Bill Hybels
Wikimedia Commons

Update April 3, 2018

John Ortberg has broken his silence on the allegations since the Chicago Tribune article was published. On April 2, 2018, Ortberg published a post to his blog which articulated his concerns with the way Willow Creek handled the investigation of the allegations. Ortberg believes the investigation was not inherently independent. According to Ortberg, he and some board members of the Willow Creek Association expressed concern over the fact that the firm that conducted the investigation was on a retainer by Willow Creek and “exclusively represents management.” He believes the women who came forward with allegations were not properly represented in the investigation. Additionally, Ortberg says this is “not a reconciliation issue between Bill Hybels” and himself.

“The idea that we have colluded to manufacture or encourage these stories is untrue and a diversion. Any call for reconciliation is a complete distraction from the real story. The stories of the women themselves are the main concern,” Ortberg wrote.

Update March 23, 2018

Willow Creek’s elder board has a released a statement in response to the Chicago Tribune article that was published last night. Pam Orr, the head of the elder board at Willow Creek, shares an outline for the investigation conducted by the church and also the later investigation conducted by an outside lawyer. Orr states:

“I want to be very clear. Our full Elder board, as well as each Elder that has served over the time of this challenging situation, believes that we have functioned according to biblical standards, with utmost integrity and exhaustive diligence in navigating this situation. We are in full support of Bill and are grateful that he will continue in his role as senior pastor until he plans to transition in October 2018.”

Bill Hybels also included his thoughts on the Tribune article. He maintains he did none of the things his accusers are saying and states “the lies you read about in the Tribune article are the tools this group is using to try to keep me from ending my tenure here at Willow with my reputation intact.”

 

Until today, perhaps the most national news-worthy thing Bill Hybels had done is announce his eventual retirement from being the lead pastor of Willow Creek Church, a transition which he has planned meticulously. That all changed, though, when the Chicago Tribune published a story about allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at Hybels by prominent current and former leaders at Willow Creek.

Hybels has said he believes those making the claims against him have “colluded” against him in an effort to discredit his ministry.

According to the Tribune, which conducted an investigation into the allegations, the claims of misconduct are numerous.

“The alleged behavior included suggestive comments, extended hugs, an unwanted kiss, and invitations to hotel rooms. It also included an allegation of a prolonged consensual affair with a married woman who later said her claim about the affair was not true, the Tribune found.”

The Tribune interviewed church members (current and former), elders and staff members of Willow Creek, and reviewed hundreds of emails and “internal records.”

After learning of the allegations some four years ago, elders of Willow Creek initiated the reviews. The vast majority of Willow Creek’s congregation was not aware that an investigation had been going on with the lead pastor at the center. However, some privy to the investigation were not convinced it was being conducted properly and “at least three leaders of the association’s board resigned over what they believed was an insufficient inquiry.” Pam Orr, Willow Creek’s highest ranking elder, assures the public the investigation was thorough and trustworthy. Orr says the church hired an outside lawyer to assist in the investigation, and both the lawyer and the church came to the conclusion that there is no clear evidence that Hybels behaved inappropriately.

Speaking to the Tribune, Hybels publicly addressed the allegations and the investigation started four years ago by the elders.

“This has been a calculated and continual attack on our elders and on me for four long years. It’s time that gets identified,” he told the Tribune. “I want to speak to all the people around the country that have been misled … for the past four years and tell them in my voice, in as strong a voice as you’ll allow me to tell it, that the charges against me are false. There still to this day is not evidence of misconduct on my part.

“I have a wife and kids and grandkids,” he added, praising the elders for their work to look into the allegations. “My family has had enough and they want the record clear. And they feel strongly supportive of me saying what I have to say to protect my family and clear my family’s name as well.”

Hybels’ accusers include Vonda Dyer, former director of Willow Creek’s vocal ministry. In 1998, Dyer claims Hybels called her into his hotel suite while they were in Sweden and unexpectedly kissed her and suggested they could lead Willow Creek together.

Another accuser is Nancy Beach, the church’s first female teaching pastor. The Tribune says Beach recounted “more than one conversation or interaction she felt was inappropriate during moments alone with Hybels over the years.” However, Beach was very hesitant to come forward with her experience due to the fact that Hybels helped propel her career in ministry forward.

Among those who claim the church’s investigation was not sufficiently thorough are a few prominent members on the board of the Willow Creek Association, a nonprofit organization behind the annual Global Leadership Summit. John and Nancy Ortberg (Nancy is a member of the board) learned of an allegation from Leanne Mellado, wife of Jimmy Mellado (currently the head of Compassion International, but previously the head of the Willow Creek Association). A woman approached Mellado with a description of an affair between herself and Hybels. The woman has since revised her claims, but Mellado and the Ortbergs are not convinced.

When the Willow Creek Association also decided to drop the investigation against Hybels, more board members decided to walk. “Ortberg, along with Jon Wallace, president of Azusa Pacific University, and Kara Powell, executive director of a research center at Fuller Theological Seminary, resigned from the association board in January 2015, later citing what they deemed an inadequate review,” the Tribune states.

Additionally, Compassion International, a big sponsor of the Global Leadership Summit, has decided to withdraw its support of the conference this year.

John Ortberg also said he tried for nine months to get Hybels to meet with himself, Nancy, Jimmy and Leanne Mellado to no avail. Hybels refused to meet as a group without meeting with each individual first. The Ortbergs and Mellados decided not to meet under those circumstances.

In Hybel’s interview with the Tribune, he denies any participation in each of the allegations being made against him.

J.D. Greear: Gospel Above All

By
J.D. Greear
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communicating with the unchurched

This June, members from Southern Baptist churches around the country will come together for our annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. As many of you know, I have allowed my name to be placed in nomination for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). This is a weighty decision for me and one I take by the counsel of the leaders of The Summit Church and with the encouragement of my wife, Veronica.

As I prepare for this summer’s annual meeting, I have been reflecting on where I believe God is calling us, as a Convention, in the days ahead. The basic passions I expressed when I was nominated for SBC president in 2016 have not changed, and as I have written elsewhere, I am more committed to them than ever.

Chief among my passions for the SBC at this time is that we reinforce our identity as a gospel people, putting the gospel above all. We do not find our unity in worship styles or in views on eschatology or in political positions. We find our unity in the gospel. Whatever preferences we have must be secondary to this unifying standard.

What Is the Gospel?

I know that the word “gospel” has gotten to be so common in some circles that it has become stripped of its rich meaning. But the word was so central to Jesus’ ministry that I simply can’t get away from it. So what, exactly, do we mean when we say “gospel”?

The key word in all the gospel is “substitution.” At the Summit, we say that the gospel in four words is, “Jesus in my place.” Jesus went to the cross, not merely to die for you but to die instead of you. He took your burden of sin so you could put on the mantle of his righteousness. That’s the good news of the gospel: Jesus lived the life we were supposed to live and died the death we were condemned to die.

This principle of substitution separates Jesus’ gospel from every other religion. The great religions of the world all teach that you must do something to please God. Go here. Say this. Rub this. Touch that. Do this. Don’t do that. Pray this. Chant that. If you do these things often enough and well enough, God will accept you—or so you hope.

The gospel, on the other hand, is about what Jesus has done for you. In every other religion, the prophet is a teacher that gives you a plan to earn God’s favor. In Christianity, you get the story of a Savior who has earned God’s favor for you and gives it to you as a gift. You can spell religion “D-O.” You can spell the gospel “D-O-N-E.”

The Gospel Is for Christians, Too

Those of us in the church don’t usually deny the gospel. But we do tend to forget it quite a bit. For many of us, the gospel functions solely as the entry rite into Christianity; it is the prayer we pray to begin our relationship with Jesus; the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of the “real” Christian life.

The gospel, however, is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity; it is the pool itself. It is not only the way we begin in Christ; it is the way we grow in Christ. As one pastor puts it, the gospel is not just the ABCs of Christianity, but it is the A-Z. All of the Christian life flows from the good news of what Jesus has done.

That’s why growth in Christ is never going beyond the gospel, but going deeper into the gospel. The purest waters from the spring of life are found by digging deeper, not wider, into the gospel well.

We Southern Baptists have always been a gospel people, and I pray that we will constantly and loudly and unashamedly talk about the gospel. None of our Bible lessons will be complete without it, because without the story of God’s grace the Bible can become instructions to obey without the power to obey. None of our ministry strategies will take off without the gospel, because we aren’t running a business based on pragmatics; we’re responding to God’s lavish grace with open hands. Nothing we do should ever lack a gospel-motivation and a gospel-focus.

We cannot remind ourselves of this truth often enough, because our hearts are hard-wired to run back to works-based righteousness. Grace is not natural to us, and so the gospel remains news even for those of us who have followed Christ for years.

As I often remind the people at my church, this kind of repetition is healthy and necessary. After all, when I’m sick of saying it, my leaders have usually just heard it. And when they’re sick of hearing it, the rest of the church has just become aware of it. That’s the kind of persistence we need when it comes to the message of the gospel.

Urban Myths of Children’s Ministry

By
Dale Hudson
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communicating with the unchurched

An urban myth is a strange or surprising story that many people believe, but which is not actually true.

You probably remember some you heard growing up. Here are a few of them.

Alligators in the sewers of New York City. The myth is that someone (probably a snowbird) brought some baby alligators back from Florida and flushed them down the toilet. They ended up growing into giant gators roaming the sewers.

The fake moon landing. The myth is that NASA faked the moon landings in a movie studio.

The Jedi religion form. This myth claims that if enough people fill out “Jedi” as their religion on their census forms, the government will have to make it an official religion.

Walt Disney cryogenically frozen. The myth says his body was frozen when he died with the hopes he could possibly be brought back to life from technological advancements. It says his body is stored in a deep-freeze chamber under the “Pirates of the Carribbean” attraction.

Pop Rocks and Soda explosion. This myth says if you mix pop rocks and soda, it will explode in your chest.

The truth is, these are just myths. There are not alligators in New York’s sewers. We really went to the moon. Jedi is not recognized as a religion by the government. Walt Disney was cremated in 1966. Mixing pop rocks and soda may give you hiccups and burping for a few minutes, but it won’t explode in your chest.

Over the years, there have been some “urban myths” that have circulated about children’s ministry as well. While they are not true, they have been believed by many. In fact, walk into many churches and you will hear these myths still being perpetuated. Let’s examine some of these and talk about why they are just myths.

Urban Myths of Children’s Ministry 


Children’s ministry is just childcare. This myth sees children’s ministry as a babysitting service that is used to keep kids in check while the real ministry to adults happens.

The truth: Children’s ministry is ministry at the most critical time in a person’s life and is the most important ministry in the church.

If you serve in children’s ministry, you are entering a black hole that you will never escape from. This myth causes people to run from serving in children’s ministry. People fear they will be cut off from other adults forever and be doomed to corral hyper-active kids for the rest of their time on earth.

The truth: Children’s ministries want people who love serving with kids. Serving in children’s ministry is one of the best ways to grow in your faith. And you have the opportunity to form friendships and deep relationships with the other adults you serve with.

Children are the church of tomorrow. This myth is partially true and is meant to inspire people to invest in the future of the church.

The truth: But the complete truth is this. Children are the church of today and tomorrow. They can be the church today. They can make a difference today. They can be leaders today.

Children can’t enter a relationship with Jesus until they turn 12. This myth often uses the analogy of Jesus going to the temple at age 12 and says kids under the age of 12 should not be allowed to make a formal decision to follow Jesus and be baptized.

The truth: Jesus’ parents brought him to the temple to fulfill the requirements of the law regarding his confirmation. At 12, he was supposed to enter the period of life where He would have immediate dealings with the law, receiving it no longer through the instructions of His parents, but having been brought by them into a knowledge of its requirements. This was about Jewish tradition.  

The Bible tells us we must have the faith of a child to come to Christ. Children can understand the Gospel and enter a relationship with Jesus before the age of 12.  

Each child is different and there is no set age of accountability. Around the age of 7-8, children begin to be able to think abstractly and understand the meanings behind terms such as “Jesus is the bridge back to God.”   

This doesn’t mean children in kindergarten can’t come to Jesus, but it does means that parents and churches should make sure a child has a clear understanding of the Gospel before they make a decision.  

We are not to push children into a decision, and on the flip-side, we are not to hold kids back from a decision if God is at work in their life. Rather we are to walk alongside children as the Holy Spirit draws them to God.

4 Signs Your Youth Ministry Might Be Headed for Trouble

By
Greg Stier
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communicating with the unchurched

Every year I have the awesome privilege of connecting face-to-face with thousands of youth leaders across the country. During this time I have had several gut-level conversations with youth leaders and have noticed a pattern in the majority of youth ministries that are headed for trouble.

There are at least four clear warning signs.

But, in addition to sharing these warning signs with you, I want to suggest an immediate corrective action that will help you to begin moving in the right direction. So, without further adieu, here are the four warning signs:

Warning Sign #1: It’s internally obsessed, not outwardly focused.

Youth ministries that tend to be all about what’s happening inside the four walls of the youth room become spiritually inbred and culturally impotent. True disicpleship entails sending teens on mission every single day to their friends, classmates and teammates and not just teaching them God’s Word—because it’s during these Gospel conversations where many teenagers begin to truly know and own their faith.

Think of it this way, if you pour milk into a sponge and don’t squeeze it out, the milk will sour. In the same way, if our teenagers take in the milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2) but never pour it out to their peers, they too will spoil.

Corrective Action: Train your teenagers to share their faith and get them doing it right away. Check out Shine for a simple, effective and fun training resource.

Warning Sign #2: It’s built on human strategy, not divine wisdom.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom …”  1 Corinthians 1:25

Far too many youth ministry programs are built on a human tradition rather than on divine wisdom. Blaring music, goofy games and superficial sermonettes tend to dominate the youth ministry landscape. While it’s great to have fun, there is often not enough focus on prayer, the Word, deep fellowship and relational evangelism (along with a game of dodgeball from time to time!).

Youth leaders are inundated with curriculum and programmatic choices. It’s tempting to choose what may seem to keep our teens entertained and in their seats for the next four to six weeks rather than what they really need to hear and experience.

Meanwhile the greatest youth ministry book of all time (the Bible) and the greatest opportunity to gain divine wisdom (prayer) lay covered in proverbial dust in the corner of our youth rooms.

Corrective Action: Read the book of Acts and ask yourself what were the elements that kept the early church excited and thriving and how can you begin to apply those elements in your youth ministry culture?

Warning Sign #3: It’s about attendance, not percentage.

Bigger is not always better. Jesus proved this true when he dispelled the gawking crowds and settled for his youth group of 12 or so in John 6:60-69. For Jesus, it was about percentages, not attendance.

It was about two primary percentage numbers:

First, it was about the percentage of commitment in his followers’ hearts. Jesus demanded 100 percent commitment. Sure joining “Team Jesus” was free, but getting on the starting squad required everything. If you don’t believe that, re-read Luke 14:25-35. In the same way we should judge part of our success as youth leaders by how many of our students are all in for Christ and His Cause.

Second, it was about the percentage of new disciples plugged into our youth ministries as a result of the Gospel being advanced. This is true not just of Jesus and his fishy band of disciples (Jesus reached Andrew, Andrew reached Peter, and so on), but of the early church as well. In Acts 2:47 God “added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The early church grew, not due to transfer growth, but explosive new conversion growth.

How is your youth ministry doing in these two areas? What would you guess your percentages to be when it comes to full commitment and new conversion growth? If both numbers are low then your youth ministry may be headed for trouble.

Corrective Action: Beef up your teenagers’ commitment to THE Cause by taking them on a mission trip, evangelistic outreach or a deeper level training event like Lead THE Cause.

Warning Sign #4: It’s personality led, not value driven.

“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.” 3 John 1:9

What was true of the early church (a dynamic leader wanting to be the center of attention, decision-making and everything) is also true of modern youth ministry. Bake a youth ministry with the main ingredient being a youth leader’s winsome personality, then, when the sizzle fades, you’ll find out there was no steak after all. But if you make and bake your ministry with biblical ingredients, then whatever you cook will taste good (although it will give the Devil indigestion!).

With this as a backdrop, there are two primary types of youth leaders I’ve met. There are the flexers and the grinders. The flexers, like body builders posing, flex their sense of humor, vast ministry experience and winsome personalities to get a crowd of teenagers. This brand of ministry can seem to work for a while, but, in the end, it will crumble when the leader leaves or falls.

The second type of youth leader I’ve met are the grinders. They are the ones who grind the values of God’s Word deeply into their lives and into their programs day in and day out. They may not be the flashiest or the funniest, but they are often the most fruitful. Why? Because they’ve made their youth ministries about Jesus and his values, not themselves and their personalities.

Corrective Action: Take the Gospel Advancing diagnostic to see which of the seven values you are strongest and weakest in when it comes to your youth ministry. Then choose from the menu one best practice/resource you can use in both your strongest and weakest area.

What are some other warning signs of a youth ministry headed for trouble and what are some corrective actions a youth leader can take to avoid it?

The Secret to Inspiring Others!

By
Kurt Bubna
-
communicating with the unchurched

Inspiration matters.

Inspiration is that experience you feel deep in your soul, a longing to do something creative, fresh and maybe even brilliant. You encounter or see something that motivates you to take a risk and to go way outside of your comfort zone.

To inspire someone is to motivate them and spur them on to something incredible. In fact, the word comes from the Latin inspirare, which is a combination of two Latin words, in—“into” and spirare which means “breathe.”

So, to inspire is to breathe into someone’s soul in the sense of imparting a revelation or an idea that powerfully influences and animates that individual to action.

I remember the first time I was inspired.

About a thousand years ago there was a TV program called Daniel Boone. It was about a real American folk hero who was a pioneer, explorer and frontiersman. The series ran from 1964 to 1970, and I don’t think I missed a single episode.

I wore a Daniel Boone hat, carried a Daniel Boone hatchet and long-rifle (a BB gun), and I still can sing the theme song to this day.

The life and times of Daniel Boone so inspired me that I built my first log cabin when I was just nine years old (for real) and my second with some friends when I was 15. Of course, the first one wasn’t much and certainly was not fit for human habitation. However, I fought off a bunch of “bad guys” from that homestead, and I loved my cabin.

I remember the last time I was inspired too.

It was while my small group (a Rooted Group) served lunch at the local Union Gospel Mission (UGM). We had the opportunity to hear from Curtis, a young man in the program whose life has radically changed because of Jesus and the ministry of UGM.

I cried as I heard his story of rescue, redemption and restoration. And I thought, if this guy can change, anybody can change; I won’t ever give up on anyone ever again. Curtis’ story breathed hope into my soul.

So, what’s the point in this blog?

Here it is short and simple: Are you being inspired by others and then living in such a way that you inspire those in your sphere of influence?

If not, why not?

The secret to inspiring others is to be inspired by others.

Someone breathes into you, and you breathe into someone else. Inspiration doesn’t happen in a vacuum because there’s no air (i.e., breath) in a vacuum.

Are you reading something inspiring, or is it trashy and worthless?

Are you seeing greatness in others or watching too many hours of mind-numbing television?

Are you engaging with those who motivate you to dream and to grow, or is the crowd you run with full of Debbie Downers?

Are you investing time with God in prayer and in His Word (the ultimate inspiration)?

Inspiration matters.

So, when’s the last time you felt inspired?

If it’s been too long, or if you can’t even think of the last time something or someone inspired you, then perhaps you need to get out of the rut you’re trapped in and breathe in something fresh.

With a slight twist to something Maya Angelou once wrote, maybe it’s time to “let someone be a rainbow in your cloud.” In other words, open your soul to the brilliance and creativity of others in a way that illuminates the possibilities.

You see, inspiration is contagious.

So breathe in.

Just breathe.

Do your best to inspire and encourage others. Like a master builder, continue to create something new and awesome in each other. – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (Bubna Paraphrase)

10 Free Email Marketing Software Solutions for Churches

By
Andrew Conrad
-
communicating with the unchurched

Update 1/25/18: It’s been almost two years since our last update, so we double-checked the existing solutions, checked the comments for new suggestions, and added new screenshots. We also removed options that are no longer free or met the post’s rating criteria.

A 30-second television commercial during NBC’s broadcast of the Super Bowl on February fourth will cost you a cool $5 million, according to Sports Illustrated.

Luckily for small business owners, that’s about $5 million more than you need to be spending on marketing your growing business.

That’s because — despite rumors to the contrary — email marketing is still a highly viable strategy in the year 2018. Better yet, you don’t even need to pay a dime for email marketing software.

Below, I’ll delve into ten well-known free email marketing software systems that you can use to scale your small business marketing. For each, we’ll look at what you get with the free plan, what you get if you decide to upgrade, and some pros and cons.

Software options presented in order of overall user rating and number of reviews in Capterra’s directory.

1. MailChimp

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Reviews: 2,650+

An animation showing how to navigate lists in MailChip

Navigating lists in MailChimp

After its 2014 breakthrough on the back of a brilliant podcast marketing campaign, MailChimp is perhaps the most widely-used email marketing system for small businesses with an estimated 15 million+users. And it’s more than just a popularity contest winner. In a recent email marketing survey of 60 small business owners, it received rave reviews from its users.

Free plan: Forever Free plan for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month

Paid plans: Start at $20/month for unlimited email

Pros

Cons

  • Difficult to customize sign-up forms
  • Some features excluded in free version, including autoresponders, spam filter diagnostics, email client testing, delivery by time zone, advanced social media monitoring, and email/chat support

Have you used MailChimp? Leave a review!

2. Mailjet

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Reviews: 65+An overview of Mailjet's template galleryThe template gallery in Mailjet

With a name like Mailjet, it’s got to be fast. The company is based in Paris, but operates in more than 150 countries, including the U.S. Marketed as an “all-in-one solution,” Mailjet aims to be a one-stop-shop for email marketing.

Free plan: 6,000 emails/month or 200 emails/day for unlimited contacts

Paid plans: Start at $9.65/month to remove the daily sending limit, Mailjet branding, and add 24/7 customer support

Pros

  • No limit on contacts, even on the free plan
  • The user interface is simple and easy

Cons

  • Some useful features, like A/B testing and marketing automation, are behind the Premium paywall (starting at $15.50/month)
  • Several users found the contact and distribution lists to be tricky to navigate

Have you used Mailjet? Leave a review!

3. SendPulse

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Reviews: 45+A screenshot of the push notification process in SendPulseSending a push notification in SendPulse

A relative newcomer to the email marketing scene, New York-based SendPulse has been around since 2015. It offers a generous free plan and has garnered many positive reviews in its short existence. The system also offers SMS texts and web push notifications (for an additional charge).

Free plan: 15,000 emails/month for less than 2,500 subscribers

Paid plans: Start at $9.85/month

Pros

  • The high threshold on the free plan means that you won’t have to pay until you’ve really had a chance to see what SendPulse is capable of
  • The system is simple and easy to pick up in short time

Cons

  • Some users found the template options to be a bit limited
  • In some users’ experience, the system performed slowly when completing tasks like sending emails and importing contacts

Have you used SendPulse? Leave a review!

4. Benchmark

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Reviews: 35+

Benchmark's email campaign editor

The Benchmark email campaign editor

Founded in 2004, Benchmark focuses on simple email marketing and appeals to those with an eye for creative design thanks to its ability to customize email templates. It is also available in eight languages.

Free plan: Free for Life plan for up to 2,000 subscribers and 14,000 emails/month

Paid plans: Start at $13.99/month for up to 600 subscribers and add features like advanced automation and A/B testing. Add-on features include list verification ($3/1,000 contacts), image hosting ($5/month), and dedicated IP ($28.95/month).

Pros

Cons

  • While you can have unlimited contacts in your Free for Life plan, they have to come from your Benchmark subscriber sign-up form (can’t be uploaded from your CRM or other sources)
  • Limited customer support on weekends; live chat and phone support are available Monday through Friday, 9:30 AM-8:00 PM EDT

Have you used Benchmark Email? Leave a review!

5. SendinBlue

Overall rating: 4/5

Reviews: 125+

A SendinBlue sample email template

An email template in SendinBlue

The colorfully named SendinBlue is an email marketing service from France that has been around since 2010. They now have a North American office in Seattle, and offer services in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German.

Free plan: 9,000 emails/month (300/day limit) to unlimited subscribers

Paid plans: Start at $25/month for 40,000 emails/month with no daily limit to unlimited subscribers

Pros:

  • Thanks to its simple design, you need very little technical know-how to launch a campaign
  • The system offers automated text messages as well (for an additional charge), so you have two channels to reach your customers

Cons:

  • Reviewers are split on SendinBlue’s customer service; some love it, while others have reported rough experiences
  • Some users find the main interface to be a bit convoluted

Have you used SendinBlue? Leave a review!

6. Zoho Campaigns

Overall rating: 4/5

Reviews: 65+Screenshot of Zoho Campaigns' social media campaign managerThe social media campaign manager in Zoho Campaigns

Zoho Campaigns, the email marketing tool from California based SaaS developer Zoho, offers a generous free plan that includes premium features like A/B testing, reports, and templates.

Free plan: 12,000 emails/month for up to 2,000 subscribers

Paid plans: Start at $5/month for unlimited emails to up to 500 subscribers

Pros

  • You can design your own templates
  • Integrates with other Zoho products, such as Zoho CRM, as well as G Suite

Cons

  • The system is a little more involved than others, meaning it could take several hours to launch a campaign
  • You can’t embed videos in your emails

Have you used Zoho Campaigns? Leave a review!

7. MailerLite

Overall rating: 4/5

Reviews: 65+

An overview of MailerLite's email template gallery

The MailerLite template gallery

MailerLite, based in Lithuania, is one of the cheapest email solutions around, and aims to make everything easy for first-time email marketers. The company claims that more than 300,00 companies use its services to send more than one billion emails every month.

Free plan: Unlimited emails to 1,000 subscribers

Paid plans: Start at $7/month for unlimited emails to up to 2,500 subscribers (when paid annually)

Pros:

  • MailerLite is a lite solution; first-timers won’t be confused by a lot of features
  • A/B testing, autoresponder capabilities, and embed forms to gather emails are all included in the free plan

Cons:

  • Advanced marketers may find that it lacks many features they need
  • The template gallery is a little skimpy compared to the competition

Have you used MailerLite? Leave a review!

8. VerticalResponse

Overall rating: 4/5

Reviews: 15+

A screenshot of the A/B testing process in VerticalResponse

A/B testing in VerticalResponse

One of the more established solutions on this list, VerticalResponse was founded in San Francisco in 2001 and has grown to more than one million users. It’s now part of the portfolio of Minnesota-based check printing giant Deluxe Corp.

Free plan: Free for 4,000 emails/month to up to 300 subscribers

Paid plans: Start at $11/month for unlimited emails, automated follow-up emails, live phone/chat support, landing pages, and VerticalResponse logo removal

Pros

  • Includes social media scheduling tools for unlimited posts on Facebook and Twitter
  • Built-in integrations with many of the major CRMs, such as Salesforce, SugarCRM, Zoho CRM, and Nimble

Cons

  • No automation features such as autoresponders or event-triggered emails, or A/B testing, unless you pay for the Pro Plan ($16/month)
  • Unsubscribes from any VerticalResponse emails are also opted-out from the VerticalResponse user databases, so you might lose some subscribers through this system.

Have you used VerticalResponse? Leave a review!

9. Mad Mimi

Overall rating: 4/5

Reviews: 15+

A screenshot of Mad Mimi's primary dashboard

The main dashboard view in Mad Mimi

Arizona-based Mad Mimi — now part of the GoDaddy portfolio — is a popular solution for beginning email marketers due to its extreme simplicity. Plus, it has the most unique name and logo on this list.

Free plan: Free for unlimited emails to 100 subscribers

Paid plans: Start at $10/month for up to 500 contacts

Pros

  • The simplicity of the system makes it easy to work with for newbies, and the comic-style interface brightens up the experience
  • Great customer service

Cons

  • Since their free plan is only good for up to 100 subscribers, it’s only useful for very small companies and freelancers
  • Mad Mimi is missing some fairly standard features, such as full A/B testing, even on the paid plans

Have you used Mad Mimi? Leave a review!

10. Campayn

Overall rating: 3.5/5

Reviews: 3+

A quick look at Campayn's ROI reporting functionality

ROI reporting in Campayn

Representing Canada on this list, Toronto-based Campayn has a simple interface that is designed for email marketing newcomers. Even the free version includes some advanced features like forms, automation, and basic reporting.

Free plan: 12,500 emails to 500 subscribers with one autoresponder

Paid plans: Start at $19/month for 15,000 emails to 3,000 contacts

Pros:

  • Comes with a built-in contact manager, which is ideal for companies that are too small for a CRM (although, with so many free CRMs out there, are you ever really too small for a CRM?)
  • Lets you embed opt-in forms on your website to easily collect email subscribers

Cons:

  • Campayn can get pricey, as you have to pay to have more than one user. A plan for 10,000 subscribers and three users shakes out to $79/month.
  • Campayn reviews outgoing campaigns to ensure high deliverability, but that can put campaigns into a holding pattern that could potentially last hours depending on the time of day

Have you used Campayn? Leave a review!

Your recommendations?

Know any other good free email marketing software solutions?

This article originally appeared here.

Finding Freedom at the End of Yourself

By
Liz Wann
-
communicating with the unchurched

God has used marriage and motherhood to bring me to the end of myself. In my single years, I took pride in my emotional stability, my innate strength, my independence and even my lack of felt need for a man. I didn’t even think I was too bad in the godliness department.

Yet it wasn’t long after embarking on the ship to motherhood-land that I realized how impatient and angry I could be. And five years into my marriage, I was struck by a blow I was always afraid to face. Both of these instances drove me to my knees in desperation.

The last seven years of marriage and motherhood have bitten chunks out of my usual stable emotions, showed me how weak I actually am, killed my independence and helped me feel needy for one particular man: the sinless Savior who died for me.

Our Cultural Lack of Neediness

When I skim through social media outlets, expressions of neediness are not the typical share. Instead, what I see from many women is self-affirmation. Women are trying to cling to this idea that we’re strong enough and good enough as a way to combat the lies from others and ourselves.

Svend Brinkmann, a Danish psychology professor and leader of the anti-self-help movement, explains how the success of the self-help industry reveals the anxiety and instability of modern life. He says:

The self-help books promise to orient the individual toward something that is meaningful. The problem is that what is meaningful, according to the self-help industry, is always what is within the individual; so the person must look within themselves, listen to their inner voice, find meaning within.

Professor Brinkmann argues that this constant inward turning is making us more unhappy:

So many studies have shown that meaning is found in our relationships, with others, with the world, with society, with nature—with something beyond ourselves.

In our culture of self-help messages, I’m told to “believe in myself,” I’m told “I’m strong enough,” I’m told “I can do it all and be it all.” Yet freedom is actually found in admitting we aren’t good enough and strong enough in and of ourselves but that we need something outside of ourselves to help us.

What if our affirmation didn’t need to come from us but came from a higher source? A source unflinching in its stability. A source, as Professor Brickman says, that is “beyond ourselves.”

Many women today find their source of encouragement and freedom from positive self-help thinking. But what if telling ourselves that we’re strong enough isn’t enough? We’d rather believe we have it all together than believe we have a Savior who holds everything together for us.

We’d rather heap heavy loads on ourselves than look to the One who carries all our burdens (Matt. 11:28–29). We’d rather think we’re good enough and can handle things on our own, instead of running to the throne of grace in time of need (Heb. 4:16). We are full of ourselves, when God desires us to come to the end of ourselves. He bids us to come and die so we can rise with Him in the resurrection power He provides.

An Unlikely Source of Freedom

Five years into my marriage, I was deeply wounded as my husband and I went through marital hardship. Throughout our restoration period, I discovered how unlike God I actually am. My natural first response to being sinned against were feelings of hatred and vengeance; whereas, God’s natural first response to our sins are kindness and mercy.

At one point, I felt like I had nothing left inside me to offer my husband. I felt empty and bereft of love because I was so hurt. I cried out to God and asked Him to help me love my husband in a way that I knew I couldn’t naturally. God answered my prayer and slowly filled me with a supernatural love from Him—a love that runs deeper and truer than any earthly romance. Realizing my neediness freed me to love in a deeper, Christ-like way.

The times where God has brought me to the end of myself in marriage and motherhood are the worst and best times. Like the death of Christ on the cross, the best and the worst collided. There was pain, there was suffering, and ultimately, there was death. But it was the most beautiful thing to ever happen in our world.

In the hands of a loving Father, coming to the end of ourselves is a beautiful thing leading us to more life in Him. Coming to the end of ourselves means walking the road of humility that God has laid out before us. It’s the same road that our Savior walked ahead of us. We’re called to tread the road where Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death (Phil. 2:8). It doesn’t feel good and it’s difficult, but on the other side is freedom and life.

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