Paul relayed to the Corinthians his encouragement that “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Corinthians 14: 40). He said this after describing the truly chaotic worship going on in one of the house churches. Participants got up and talked whenever they wanted and many of them expressed themselves in strange […]
Read MoreMainline church denominations are shrinking away. Understanding why is important. But the bigger issue is what to do about turning around that trend. Part of the solution is to recognize how and why church networks are replacing church denominations. Networks are loose affiliations of churches with shared interests and common church cultures. Denominations are churches […]
Read MoreThe job of church leaders, according to the Apostle Peter, is to faithfully administer the various forms of God’s gifts to serve others (1 Peter 4:10). The practicalities of administering such gifts are very challenging. The hardest part is finding enough jobs for everybody in their shared congregational life. Ironically, traditional church leaders complain they […]
Read MoreMuch of what happened to Christian churches in America can be illustrated by the well-known bell-shaped curve. It provides part of the explanation to what is happening to mainline churches. The top of the curve represents the mid-point in the distribution of any characteristic over a large population. People who have more of that characteristic […]
Read MoreThe two words in Greek are proskuneō, which is used fifty-five times, and sebō, which is used fourteen times. We have a clue to which one should be used by Christians today in recognizing which biblical writer used each. Almost all of the thirteen uses of sebō are in Luke’s Gospel and Acts. Almost all […]
Read MoreZion was the first Lutheran church in Cleveland, founded in 1848 to serve the German immigrants in industrial Cleveland. It turned into the Lutheran megachurch of its time, with a sanctuary that seats 1,200. That building remains in use on East 30th, although attendance now averages about twenty. I drive by it frequently. Endowments have […]
Read MoreThe three biblical symbols for the Spirit at work are the dove that sat on Jesus’ shoulder at his baptism, and the tongues of fire and rushing wind at Pentecost. Jesus described the wind as unpredictable. Consider the following interpretation of what those symbols represented. The tongues of fire suggest energy, the kind associated with […]
Read MoreWhen I was teaching Organizational Behavior, I used a scheme that focused on how a worker learns expectations for his or her role contributes to the work of that organization. A role is the set of expectations for what the worker will say and do while on the job, like what an actor says and […]
Read MoreWhat would an ideal fellowship of the Spirit look like? Start with informal fellowships. It might be three couples dining out and sharing what God is doing in their lives. It might be four friends at a coffee shop talking about a new faith insight one of them had. It might be a Christian caregiver […]
Read MoreA keen insight recently from psychology is that people have differing personal spiritual temperaments. Recognizing these differences opens up more valuable ministry opportunities. A spiritual temperament is the way each of us personally relates to God best and most naturally. Spiritual temperaments influence where and how we most often sense God speaking to us, refreshing […]
Read MoreAvailable on Netflix, the multi-episode series Greenleaf is very good at addressing some of the basic issues in church life. It is about a fictional African-American megachurch in Memphis. The Greenleaf family that founded and leads this congregation has all sorts of difficulties brought on by the failings of everyone in this family. Portraying those […]
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