Evangelization

My Church Is For Me, Not About Me

Recently I was reading one of my favorite “church” blogs, Pastor Tony Morgan (The Unstuck Church Group) and came across this striking aphorism: “My church is for me, but it’s not about me.” I am often asked what was the single most important thing we did, decision we made, or turn we took, that had […]

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Discipleship | Evangelization

How to Use the Summer

The season of summer can be a quieter time at many parishes. Unless you’re in a resort community, attendance inevitably drops as faith formation programs end and parishioners go on vacation (or just sleep in). While summer should be a time of rest and refreshment for pastors and parish staff, it is also an important […]

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Evangelization | Vision

An Investment in the Next Generation

The COVID ordeal of the last year has impacted us all in many ways and raised many concerns. One of the most widely shared concerns is the negative impact it’s having on our children and young people. School closures, sports cancelations, social distancing; everything else they’ve experienced, everything else that’s been taken away from them […]

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Evangelization | What's new at Nativity

This Easter: Dream Big…Think Little

Influence is force. It is compelling force, effecting actions and behaviors, opinions and thinking of others and, eventually, the outcomes they experience. Regardless of anyone’s religious beliefs, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant influence on the history of Western Culture for almost twenty centuries. In some ways, our biggest challenge actually comes in appreciating […]

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empty church
Evangelization | Making Church Matter

What If They Don’t Come Back?

Recently a friend forwarded to me an “OSV Talk” (think Catholic “Ted Talk”) given by Dan Cellucci, with Catholic Leadership Institute. The piece, titled “What If They Don’t Come Back?”, is a candid look at the reality of the ever-shrinking population of church-going Americans and the effect the pandemic will have on this well-established trend. […]

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Evangelization

5 Ways to Bring People Back to Church This Fall

If there is a single, principal fear that pastors and church workers share in this season of COVID-19, it is the fear that people simply won’t come back to church. Declining attendance was already an established pattern pre-COVID, which has now simply accelerated. Church leaders know that with disaffiliated parishioners comes the loss of funding […]

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