It’s that time of year when the church sanctuary is transformed into downtown Bethlehem circa first century AD, and the parking lot may or may not host some sheep.
A View from the Pew: What Is Your Church’s Website Saying?
October 24, 2023 by
By now even the most stubbornly resistant to technology among us have navigated the World Wide Web and have expectations of how it should work.
The Hybrid Church
September 27, 2023 by 1 Comment
The pandemic of 2020 forced all of us into innovation mode for a short time, and in some places there was great pressure either to continue online or to return to in-person worship in the building.
A View from the Pew: Church Coffee
April 25, 2023 by
At some point in the past 20 to 30 years, we reached the tipping point of churches first allowing, then serving coffee every time the doors are open.
5 Guidelines for Building a Racially and Culturally Diverse Church Staff
April 19, 2023 by
One of the best ways to communicate a goal of racial and cultural diversity is to have a diversified staff. Actions do speak louder than words.
Connections 02.12.2023: Partners with God
February 5, 2023 by
I grew up in First Baptist Church of Warm Springs, Georgia, a very small town with a huge amount of history.
A View from the Pew: Imagining Church Without Responsibilities
January 18, 2023 by
With Christmas and New Year’s days falling on Sunday this cycle, I had the unique experience of attending church back-to-back weeks where I just participated in worship, caught up with my church family, and went home.
My Undelivered Stand-up Routine for Those Not Likely to Come Back to Church
November 8, 2022 by
How is everybody doing tonight? You look great. You’re less sober than the people I usually talk to.
Six Ways to Embrace Your Uniqueness
August 30, 2022 by
As we put our hands to the plow of the new year, consider these six ways of transforming yourself and your Sunday school class.
¿Qué Quieres?
June 8, 2022 by
¿Qué quieres, Lorena? ¿Qué quieres? I repeated it to myself as I stared at my reflection in the window of an almost thousand-year-old church. What do you want?
A View from the Pew: Resetting the Church Habit
April 27, 2022 by
We’re a few days removed from Easter, and many formerly faithful church attenders find themselves at a crossroads. Rather than lecture about the importance of showing up to church, I’m moved to offer a few ideas on getting back to church consistently.
Crossroads: The Body of Christ
January 24, 2022 by
Talk about a time in your life when you had to work as a team with others. Talk about what your role was and how each person had a different role. What were you trying to accomplish?
A View from the Pew: Lighting the Advent Wreath
November 24, 2021 by
With the exception of that time one of the deacons set the church lawn on fire while trying to get rid of fire ants, I don’t remember much fire at church during my formative years.
A View from the Pew: Trunk-or-Treat vs. Trick-or-Treat
October 27, 2021 by
Last month I explored the concept of fall festivals as church events and how to think about them in the current context. This month, I’d like to spend a little time unpacking a specific form of the fall festival known as “trunk-or-treat.”
Formations 10.24.2021: The Church
October 17, 2021 by
When we imagine our ideal church, maybe we think of the utopian dream church that Luke describes in Acts 4:32-37. Wouldn’t this be church at its best?
Break the Huddle
October 6, 2021 by
The Fall is the most wonderful time of the year. Why? Football season. All three of my young boys play football; between them, that’s three games and a dozen practices every week.
Crossroads: How Should We Live?
March 22, 2021 by
I loved going to church as a child. I loved Sunday school, VBS, choir, worship, and everything else I went to. I wanted to be there every time the doors were open. In fact, there was one Sunday morning that I woke up late and ran into the living room to ask my mom why she hadn’t woken me up for church.
Evangelical Common Worship on National Holidays
November 11, 2020 by
In general, we come to common worship from a week in which a secular society has tried to shape our identity as something radically different than what Scripture says it is.
A View from the Pew: Looking at Your Phone During Church
October 20, 2020 by
A question that has surfaced in my mind during these strange times is “When is it okay to look at your phone during church?”
What I Wish the Evangelical Church Would Believe About Me
July 1, 2020 by
Here is what I wish my friends in the evangelical church would believe about me (for that’s the only person I can speak of) as someone who has gone outside the doors of that brand of Christianity: It was never about leaving Christ.
A View from the Pew: When is it Okay to Go Back to Church?
June 23, 2020 by
You may already be back in your traditional place at church on Sundays, or you may be wringing your hands and wondering when it is safe to rejoin your church family in person.
A View from the Pew: Lessons from Virtual Church
April 15, 2020 by
For regular church attenders, the isolation policies and shelter-in-place mandates of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt most acutely on Sundays.
A View from the Pew: Preserving the ‘Tie that Binds’ when Politics Divides
March 24, 2020 by
The church of my childhood left many indelible impressions, but none more than unifying act of baptism. To reinforce the communal nature of this sacred ritual, we traditionally closed the service with the singing of “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”
Connections 03.22.2020: The Church of the Shepherd
March 15, 2020 by
There are local churches called The Church of the Shepherd or The Church of the Good Shepherd. Those are good names. After all, as Psalm 23 affirms, the Lord is our shepherd.
Why I Love the Church Most on Ash Wednesday
February 26, 2020 by
I was reared as far from the Church as one can imagine. No Easter, Christmas, or Mother’s Day services for me, so this business about ashes seemed strange and at first a bit silly to me upon surrendering to Jesus at age 20.
Connections 01.26.2020: Unifying Grace
January 19, 2020 by
Division within a church is incredibly painful. I know this from experience. Maybe you do too. I was part of a church fellowship for ten years before deciding to leave because the divisions were so disruptive.
A View from the Pew: 5 Tips for Helping your Kids Pick a Church
October 15, 2019 by
We recently packed up our oldest and dropped him off at college for his first semester, setting off all the alarm bells parents experience when relinquishing direct control over their child’s choices.
A View from the Pew: Talking Church with the Unchurched
September 11, 2019 by
During my college experience in a campus ministry I once heard a speaker say there are three ways to tell what people truly care about: how they spend their time, how they spend their money, and what they talk about.
A View from the Pew: Bivocational Church Staff
July 31, 2019 by
The model of local church staff members having other forms of employment is a trending topic in my life these days.
Are Church Weddings Becoming Obsolete?
June 18, 2019 by
Remember when June was the time for weddings? Remember when the church was the setting for weddings?
A View from the Pew: The Case for Undesignated Church Giving
April 30, 2019 by
Every Sunday before I wake my boys, I have a ritual: I go to their box of offering envelopes, remove the one for that date for each of them, get pens from the drawer
A View from the Pew: 5 Ways to Make Lent More Meaningful
February 27, 2019 by
Whether the season of Lent has been part of your tradition or not, it can be a helpful time of spiritual reflection and growth. I didn’t grow up observing it, but when introduced to Lent about 20 years ago, I enjoyed this annual time of intentional focus on my discipleship.
A Church “Meet Cute” for Valentine’s Day
February 13, 2019 by
One of the well-established plot devices of the modern romantic comedy is the first meeting of the would-be couple. Known in movie parlance as the “meet cute,” it is the defining moment of the story.
A View from the Pew: Resources for Daily Devotions
January 29, 2019 by
If you are doing your best to start 2019 with a renewed focus on your spiritual disciplines, then I would encourage you to consider what resources you use to facilitate a meaningful daily time with God.
A View from the Pew: Remembering MLK at Church
January 15, 2019 by
Any day honoring a man, even one who made a lasting impact on society, can be complicated. Dr. King possessed a combination of heroic traits and human frailties, as do we all, that we must by mindful of while planning this Sunday’s service of worship.
A View from the Pew: Security at Church
September 25, 2018 by
One incident during a Sunday morning service from my childhood sticks out in my mind. I was young, probably between 5-10 years of age. We were sitting in our regular place on the third row in the middle section of the sanctuary.
Putting the ‘School’ Back in Sunday School
August 28, 2018 by
I ask my children weekly during out drive home for church, “What did you learn in Sunday school today?” I know, it sounds really old fashioned when I do it, but the basis of the question is the assumption that Sunday school is an educational activity. It is called “school,” after all.
Formations 07.08.2018: Eating in Worship
July 1, 2018 by
When the Bible says, “Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places,” what do you do (v. 3)?
A View from the Pew: Long Courtships
June 19, 2018 by
Like the age-old question “How many licks does it take to get the center of a Tootsie Pop?” those seeking a new church home often struggle with how long they should visit a particular congregation before joining. It seems it takes people longer and longer to feel ready to commit to a local church these days, and even the most consistent churchgoers have a hard time settling on a church.
A View from the Pew: What to Look for When Visiting A New Church
May 22, 2018 by
Finding a church can be frustrating, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Instead of focusing on the color of the carpet or the wardrobe of the pastor, here are nine clues to help you find your local church home.
A View from the Pew: When Your Kids Don’t Like Church
March 21, 2018 by
We make our children do lots of things they don’t want to do. Homework. Brush their teeth. Go to school. Take a bath. Go to bed. Eat their vegetables. Share their toys. The list goes on and on. And many of these activities are non-negotiable for our children.
Putting the ‘Fun’ in ‘Fundraiser’
February 20, 2018 by
Both my stomach and heart are filled each year at my church’s annual chili cook-off and dessert bake-off. Always well-attended, the cook-off is a high point for our church. The fellowship and food serve as a backdrop for fundraising for hunger-related causes, or perhaps it’s the other way around.
A View from the Pew: Breakfast of Champions
January 16, 2018 by
Breakfast has been labeled by nutritionists and marketers alike as the “most important meal of the day,” but eating breakfast at church can be tricky. Not only do you have to avoid the powdered doughnuts if you’re wearing dark colors, but avoiding a carbohydrate overload can be next to impossible.
A View from the Pew: What to Get Your Church Staff for Christmas
November 28, 2017 by
While the rest of the world started Christmas preparations on November 1, many Christian churches in the U.S. generally wait until after Thanksgiving to turn their focus of worship to the celebration of Christ’s birth. Whether or not your church has a “Hanging of the Green” service or observes the season of Advent, parishioners often turn their thoughts to showing their appreciation to their church staff with holiday gifts.
Dreams for the Church
November 1, 2017 by
I like Reformation Day. Probably more than a person should like Reformation Day. I’ve written Reformation Day carols. I used a Martin Luther bobblehead in this past Sunday’s communion meditation. At our youth Halloween party, I dressed up as the Wittenberg-by-way-of-Asgard Avenger Martin Lu-Thor. Yes, I like Reformation Day quite a bit.
A View from the Pew: Constant Non-Contact
October 24, 2017 by
One of the most visible and important ways laity serve in Baptist churches is through the role of deacon. Though it varies in form and function from church to church, one essential task as outlined in Scripture is taking care of people in the congregation as an extension of the ministry of the staff.
A View from the Pew: Resetting Your Defaults
September 26, 2017 by
During a recent commute home from a work, a friend called to check in. Our typically wide-ranging conversations landed on church, and he asked me directly why I feel such an obligation to attend every week. I pointed out that I did miss a Sunday in July when the family went on vacation, but otherwise my family is there every time the door opens.
A View from the Pew: Eating at Church
August 29, 2017 by
It’s known by a hundred different names—potluck, fellowship meal, church social, Wednesday night supper. But no matter what you call it, eating a meal at church is special. My kids love it. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or supper, they relish the ability to load their plates with their own choices.