They’re having an interesting discussion at the Warfield List about what do with the over abundance of ministerial candidates. Here’s my tuppence:
church growth
Missional Monday: Easter, the High Holy Day in the Church-Growth Calendar
It didn’t happen for us this year, but it did for Danny Hyde. In the introduction to his sermon yesterday morning pastor mentioned that he again received a barrage of invitations from local evangelical congregations to their Easter extravaganzas.
Church Growth is Dead
So says Pastor Marty Fields of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Laurel, MS.
Idea: Let's Try Every Way But Christ's Way? (or maybe not)
re-post from 29 August 2007 on the old HB. — Thanks to a link by Justin Taylor I read an article by Nancy Morganthaler this morning that is disturbing on so many levels I hardly know where to begin.
The Spirit of Carl Trueman is Upon Her
Julie Neidlinger has had it “hipster” pastors. (HT: Alex Webster)
Ecclesial Apartheid?
What’s weird is that it’s often intentional.
Video: Bob Godfrey on "Church Growth"
Links here.
Encouragement for Small Congregations
Thanks to Shane for reminding us of some earlier work by William Willimon.
Better to Be on God's Side with a Small Church…
I admit that I don’t know the pressures you are facing or how dire things may look for the future of your church without some half-way covenant of church membership. But better to be on God’s side with a small church, than . . . Continue reading →
What If "Church Growth" Methods Were Built on a False Premise?
According to this piece by Kevin DeYoung, they are.
Sovereign Consumer vs the Sovereign God
Chris Gordon has been “off-roading” lately and has made some interesting discoveries about the nature of late-modern evangelical worship.
The Crystal Cathedral Isn't What It Used to Be
Christianity Today reports that the Crystal Cathedral is experiencing a serious financial crisis. One is tempted to have a little fun at the cathedral’s expense. The possibilities for possibility thinking here are interesting. What is more interesting, however, is that the congregation . . . Continue reading →
Thoughts on the PCA’s Proposed Strategic Plan
Martin Hedman is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California and he’s a PCA church planter in the LA metro. He’s also had significant training as an “industrial engineer.” These, he says, are the “efficiency experts.” As a pastor, church planter, and a . . . Continue reading →
Using the Common to Advance the Sacred or Using the Sacred to Advance the Common?
One need not be a Christian to observe truths about the way organizations work. Those true observations are what I mean by “common” (not neutral). They are true because they are observations about the nature of God’s general process, even if they . . . Continue reading →
Is the Strategic Plan Presbyterian?
“There are some attributes of a thing that can be altered without compromising its basic character. You could remove the stone cladding of Buckingham Palace to reveal the red brick underneath and it would still be Buckingham Palace. Yet if you painted the White . . . Continue reading →
"Sectarians" v "Relevants" in the PCA and the Strategic Plan
“Nowhere has the disagreements between the “sectarians” and the “relevants” been more evident than in the discussions regarding the Regulative Principle of Worship, women in diaconal ministry, and the cultural mandate of the Church. The Metro New York Presbytery of the PCA, . . . Continue reading →
What if the "S Curve" Isn't?
Martin raises questions about the major premise behind the PCA’s proposed strategic plan.
Colson Calls for Doctrinal Boot Camp: But Which Doctrine?
In 1994 Chuck Colson attempted to convince evangelicals that the decline of the culture was so precipitous that they needed to set aside the historic Protestant doctrine of justification in favor of an intentionally equivocal statement about how we are accepted by . . . Continue reading →
How To Fence the Lord’s Table (2)
How to Fence the Lord’s Table (Part 1) There is irony in fencing the Lord’s Table. What should be a joyous celebration, after due preparation of course, and a communion of believers with their risen Lord and with one another, is for . . . Continue reading →
HB Classic: The Program-Driven Church
[This post was first published on the HB in 2009] One link led to another and I happened recently upon the website of a large NAPARC congregation. As I often do I looked to see who the pastor was. That link led me . . . Continue reading →