articles

Thom Rainer on shrinking sanctuaries. A seismic shift is taking place in American church facilities, a shift that will become even more noticeable in the years to come. Church worship centers or sanctuaries will become smaller than they were the past 40 years. As church leaders decide to build, a…

Lauren Hunter on annoying your congregation. With more and more churches becoming savvy in all areas of digital, mobile, and print communication, if not carefully orchestrated, it can be easy to over-communicate with the members you care most about. The last thing you want to do is to allow technology…

Chris Ruddell reveals a clever way to promote your church. Odd as it may sound, one of the scariest places to go is church. When a visitor – especially one that hasn’t been in a church for years – takes that first step inside a church building, they often are…

David Santistevan on your best role for the glory of God and the good of the church. There comes a time in everyone’s life that no one looks forward to. That time where the train takes off. Life moves at deafening speeds. Where at one point you were on the…

Rhett Smith cautions against being so outwardly focused on the needs of others that you don’t look at your own needs. The irony of the work that I do as a therapist is that ministry leaders are one of the biggest referrers to my practice. They often instinctively see someone…

“How do you stay motivated?” That’s what one of my mentees asked me last week while we were sitting around a fire in my backyard. He told me he struggled staying motivated to do anything for more than two weeks at a time before burning out and giving up. It’s…

Glenn Packiam explains that the liturgical year was developed as a way to help the spiritual formation of Christians. I’m not in love with all things old. I don’t think then is better than now. I’m not trying to get back to how things were. My journey in learning about…

David Murrow on creating men-friendly Christmas services: Kyle and Bonnie have been married almost twenty years. Kyle hates going to church. Bonnie loves it. This has caused tension in their marriage, as she subtly prays, preaches and prods Kyle toward religion, and he steadfastly resists. But Kyle “does Bonnie a…

A review of 12,000 court rulings from 2012 reveals the most-common reasons that American churches were taken to court last year. Legal expert Richard Hammar compiled the rulings and analyzed which types are rising and falling for Church Law and Tax, CT’s sister publication. His top five categories: 5) Zoning…

Kristen Gilles encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus: If we’re honest, we’ll admit that most of us struggle to look up and fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Sometimes our hearts even want what belongs to Jesus. We want our performance to…

Tiffany Deluccia on top problems churches have when trying to build a volunteer force: Tell me if this sounds familiar: Your nursery workers look…irritated. They had a passion for ministering to young parents by providing a safe and nurturing environment for their little ones, but that fire is gone. They’ve…

What do Rick Warren, Katy Perry and Jessica Simpson have in common? They’re all pastors’ kids. A fascinating new study of children of the clergy is making news today, with some remarkable insights for us all. You’ve probably heard of the stereotypical prodigal pastor’s kid who was raised in the…

From Mark Powers, Director, Worship & Music Office SC Baptist Convention: There is good news and bad news for the modern Evangelical church. The bad news is that we are in a rapid statistical decline in almost every category of evangelical life: 80% of our churches have plateaued or declining…