I Need Sundays

I Need Sundays – Where did you “graduate” from your need for the body of Christ?

Ten Reasons Why Church Membership Is Biblical

Ten Reasons Why Church Membership Is Biblical – “Is church membership biblical? Yes. The reason is that the biblical nature of church membership is established from a variety of passages and considerations. Here’s a cumulative case of ten reasons why church membership is biblical.”

Reaching the Dechurched Is a Whole-Church Effort

Reaching the Dechurched Is a Whole-Church Effort – “Despite its challenges, dechurching provides church leaders a unique opportunity to equip church members to make the most of their relationships so they forge robust connections with each other.”

7 Ways To Deliver Constructive Criticism

7 Ways To Deliver Constructive Criticism – “There are times where someone needs to offer constructive criticism and there are better ways to deliver that criticism.”

The Church: A Family of Redemption

The Church: A Family of Redemption – “The local church paints a picture of a greater reality: God takes broken people and makes them whole through the family of God. He has sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem a people—his people—to himself that they might enjoy him forever. This is an eternal and unfading family, but it’s also a family for the not-yet season that we live in.”

How Do You See People?

How Do You See People? – “I often see people with labels attached, and those tags may either dismiss or enlarge who they are in my esteem.”

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Confronting a Brother or Sister in Christ

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Confronting a Brother or Sister in Christ – “Christian love requires that we must at times confront one another about sin patterns that hinder growth toward spiritual fruitfulness and maturity.”

Polishing Sunday Shoes on Saturday

Polishing Sunday Shoes on Saturday – “There was never a debate about whether we would be going. There was no need to fit church into the family schedule. The weekend schedule of the Tripp family was planned around the one thing we would never think of missing: Sunday worship.”

Counseling for Normal Christians

Counseling for Normal Christians – “People come to us just as we come to others: compound and complex, confused and confusing. People are seas, with hearts hidden deep. And God calls us to be divers.”

A Healthy Church Is a Messy Church

A Healthy Church Is a Messy Church – “Even Paul had to deal with a messy church. No church is perfect, and every church, if it’s growing and the Spirit is working, is messy.”

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Confronting a Brother or Sister in Christ

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Confronting a Brother or Sister in Christ – “Christian love requires that we must at times confront one another about sin patterns that hinder growth toward spiritual fruitfulness and maturity. However, before we embark on what I like to call “the ministry of confrontation” let’s be ready to ask ourselves some questions.”

 

The Meaning of Membership

The Meaning of Membership – “When you follow Jesus, you become a member of his forever family, his church, the Body of Christ. There isn’t a way to opt out from this. There isn’t a second step, additional requirements, or fees. It’s a package deal.”

4 Practical Reasons to Join a Small Group

4 Practical Reasons to Join a Small Group – Small groups hold multiple benefits for every believer. Here are four big ones.

We Cannot Pursue Godliness Without Community – “Apart from life in community with other believers, you can’t practice the “one anothers” that lie at the heart of not only community, but spiritual growth.”

Man Shall Not Live by Online Bread Alone

Man Shall Not Live by Online Bread Alone – “Friendship is the real thing. Social media is a supplement. The only reason social media gives you the feeling of friendship is because you already know what real friendship is.”

What Is the Great Dechurching?

What Is the Great Dechurching? – “As a nation, we’re currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in the history of the United States. Tens of millions of formerly regular Christian worshipers nationwide have decided they no longer desire to attend church at all. These are what we now call the dechurched.”

 

Greet with a Holy Kiss? Applying an Uncomfortable Command

Greet with a Holy Kiss? Applying an Uncomfortable Command – “The emphasis, given that the kiss of greeting was already common and assumed, was that early Christians do so, unlike Judas, with holiness. Greet each other, as family, and without sin.”

Overcoming Disagreement For God’s Glory

Overcoming Disagreement For God’s Glory – “Even our very best plans often meet with significant snags. Many variables can conspire to derail our plans, but one in particular often proves a great help or hindrance in our efforts: people. Planning would be so easy if it weren’t for other people with other opinions!”

Putting Down Roots: a Call to Young People

Putting Down Roots: a Call to Young People – “This is a time for young people to get off the conveyor belt, and sink down roots for the long-haul, not to a local church somewhere over the horizon, where everything is more convenient, but to the flesh and blood people you already know in your local church.”

Intergenerational Friendships in Church

Intergenerational Friendships in Church – These kinds of relationships are not only good, but are incredibly helpful. This article talks about why, and offers some suggestions as to how to facilitate them.