What’s more challenging (and annoying) to Christians than outright hostility? Indifference. And that’s exactly the attitude of most of the unchurched people in your community (the hostile one’s are just louder). The truth is, most unchurched people you encounter do not feel morally or even spiritually bankrupt. Actually, they’re spiritually quite “comfortable.” Reaching this group […]
Category: Discipleship
When it comes to growing disciples, we’ve been led to think we must choose between quantity or quality. I’m not sure where that line of thinking began, but it needs to stop. God calls our churches to multi-dimensional growth; discipleship is about going both deeper and wider. We aim to make spiritually mature disciples. Mature […]
This past week, our “Message Team” met for an all day off-site to finalize our plans for our message series for the upcoming year. The message team consists of 7 people on staff who meet each week to help develop and evaluate my weekend messages. A few times a year we take extra time to […]
Over the years we have been able to predict with some accuracy who is likely to show up in our lobby on any given Sunday. We always talk about Timonium Tim, the name we’ve given to the quintessentially unchurched guy and his family in our community. We plan every aspect of our weekend experience around […]
Since Pope Francis has declared 2016 a Jubilee Year of Mercy, I’ll try at least a couple times to write about this theme over the year. Mercy is operative in every healthy and growing church, and this is a good week to bring it up since Pope John Paul II established the tradition of celebrating […]
Pope Francis has declared an “Extraordinary” Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will run through November 20, 2016. What is that? It is actually a perfect opportunity to make church matter by following God’s call to extend mercy to the lost and broken. Here are four areas we’ve been trying in our parish, and we hope […]
It never fails to amaze me. It just gets earlier and earlier every year. Christmas is officially on the mind of almost every American. If you haven’t started already, your church is probably already planning to buy your Advent candles, wreaths, and lights for Christmas. But have you and your staff sat down together to […]
Things are certainly abuzz around the Catholic Church in America these days. With less than a week until Pope Francis’ historic first visit to the United States, some heavy theological debates on the table, and a whirlwind year of intense political change and debate, it’s hard to stay focused on our parish ministry. On the […]
There are many reasons why people never come to church. But there are others who try coming and, based on their experience, decide not to come back. Here’s a list of some of the most common reasons and responses given by first-time guests. They may sound superficial to the committed churchgoer, but they matter to […]
Growth is a sign of life. Of course, weeds also grow, so it’s important that your church cultivates healthy growth. Whether your congregation is large or small, affluent or financially challenged, old or new, we all want our churches to be places where the Gospel can grow. As one writer puts it, the vision is […]
