What Do You Need?
“Fill ‘er up!” I nervously stared at my fuel gauge not long ago as the low gas warning light illuminated. I was in the middle of the national forest, and it was well past midnight. Poor planning on my part had put me in a predicament, and I could only hope for either an open […]
How Can a Church Raise Funds?
The church is a divinely ordained organization with a divinely ordained purpose. The local church is authorized to spread and defend the gospel (1 Timothy 3:15), to teach and edify its members (Ephesians 4:11-16), and to relieve its needy members (Romans 15:26). The church needs money to do this work. The question of how a […]
Jesus Wept
Famous musician and composer Ludwig van Beethoven is renowned the world over. The fourth movement of his ninth symphony, Ode to Joy, is the most recognizable melody on the planet. The emotions universal to mankind able to be revealed through his musical compositions are undeniable. His fifth symphony, also universally well known, is done with […]
Helpful Tips for Worship
Worship is our response to God’s greatness. Our worship flows from recognizing who God is and what He has done (Psalm 95:6-7). While worship can be both personal and corporate, meaning publicly with the body of Christ (Hebrews 10:25), the six tips here relate to public worship. Worship brings us closer to God. It fosters […]
N-P Memberships and P-T Members
I confess that I struggle to keep up with the latest trends regarding appellations and abbreviations of pop culture. It seems I’m constantly “googling” a mentioned someone or something to see who they are or what it means. Just the other day I heard a comedian share a similar difficulty by stating that until recently […]
5 Reasons for Declining Church Attendance in America
I’m not really happy with the title of today’s missive. Why not? Well, it’s because the issue isn’t just about church attendance, but rather about worship. Maybe I should have called it “Worshipers in America are Declining in Number.” So, I’m not particularly happy with the title — but it does express something relevant that […]
Churches, Don’t Lose Your Relevancy
I was listening to a podcast a couple of weeks ago that featured the lead pastor of the First Baptist Church in Okeechobee, Florida. He was talking about the main elements leading to his church’s explosive growth. He said he identified barriers for young families attending worship on Sunday and found that preparing breakfast for […]
Jesus: Higher Than Angels
Paul wrote 13 letters which bear his name, and while the book of Hebrews is believed by many to also have been written by him, the writer chose not to identify himself. Since that unknown writer did not tell why he chose to leave off his identity, men may surmise but will never know his […]
Christ’s Glorious Church
Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, […]
When Young Disciples Ask, “What Is Institutionalism?”
How should we answer them? A simple definition is that institutionalism is seeing God’s church as a network of congregations with its traditions and organizations. Biblically, of course, God’s church is simply His saved people whose names are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:23). Only He knows who they are. The historical divisions over institutionalism in […]