What Happened To Our Churches

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Turning Insights into Actions

The very best research on congregational life reaches this simple conclusion: Highly effective congregations have leaders with the key attribute of an unrelenting, uncompromising focus and drive to help grow people into disciples of Christ.

My conclusion is that the old traditional churches have a Spiritual problem, spelled with a capital S for Spirit. We have not paid enough attention to the Holy Spirit, who is Christ’s Spirit with us now. I propose 8 recommendations for what pastors and church leaders can do to regain vitality in their congregations.

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Our Part in the Big Picture of God’s Sacred Romance

As we draw closer to God’s heart, the journey of sanctification is more likely to engage our hearts when we realize the much bigger love story of what God wants in our relationship with Him — a sacred romance with us. Appreciating his unending love can arouse our hearts to participate more in the joy of sharing his love with others. We are part of something much bigger — the greatest love story ever told.

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Inviting the Spirit to Let Christ Become More at Home in My Heart

Sanctification is the journey of being drawn closer to God.  It is not an accomplishment we achieve on our own.  The Holy Spirit is the key actor. So what is our part in the process of sanctification?

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Spiritual Journeys of Growing Closer To God

Think of your life with God as a journey. Your ultimate destination is the Celestial City in eternity. In this life, what’s the next step you aspire to in being drawn closer to God? In Paul’s terms, what more of Christ’s full stature will you reach for? In Luther’s terms, where would you like to see your new nature in Christ become stronger and what of your old sinful nature would you like drowned out?

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Keep Trying Innovative Ministries

We can probably all agree the world is changing and poses a real threat to the advancement of the kingdom if we as the church become irrelevant to the changing environment. So what do we do?

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Shifting the Starting Point for Sanctification

The purpose of sanctification is not to win God’s favor to get into heaven; Christ already took care of that. Today a hunger for “getting into heaven” is no longer prevalent in our current society. But there is great hunger for the fuller, more abundant life that Jesus came to offer in this life we are living now. To become more like Christ is the goal of sanctification. It conveys movement from far away to very close. Promoting such growth provides practical goals for ministry.

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A Christmas Reflection — How Much of God is With Us?

At Christmas, we love to sing Oh, Come, Oh Come, Immanuel. We celebrate that God is with us. This Christmas, ponder how much of God is with us in the baby born in Bethlehem. For Christians in the earliest centuries, this was a serious theological issue.

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Has Your Church Attendance Recovered From the Pandemic?

Church attendance took a heavy hit during the pandemic. Will involvement ever go back to pre-pandemic levels? The pressure is on now for churches to demonstrate that they offer something beyond what other cultural institutions can do.

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The Case Method Teaching Approach Offers Much for Spiritual Enlightenment

What the Bible says remains central. Do you want the Gospel to have a greater impact on people’s lives? Start with specifics, then add reflection and theory. Is the old approach of starting first with biblical theory easier? Definitely. But that leads to the question of how important it is to be effective in your ministry. Which approach can be best used by the Spirit to touch and change lives?

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Finding More Switches for Enlightenment

Spiritual Enlightenment happens when switches get turned on. Ministry is all about finding those Spiritual switches that work for people at various stages and situations in life.

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