Presbyterians by the Numbers
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Perspectives on Presbyterians and the larger religious scene from the research staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
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Posts with tag: church growth
September 18, 2012Learnings from Others Failures
Can we learn how to live and thrive by learning why others failed to start?- Posted at 6:00 a.m.
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September 12, 2012
A Growing Church is a Dying Church
Whenever a congregation goes looking for a new pastor, the first question on their minds when the committee interviews a new candidate is: Will this pastor grow our church?
I’m going to go ahead and answer that question right now: No, she will not.
- Posted at 6:00 a.m.
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August 21, 2012
Why Church Plants Fail
I remember going to the church office the day after I was ordained, sitting down at my big new desk, and wondering what in the world I was supposed to do now. . . . I didn't know what else to do so I prayed.
- Posted at 11:19 a.m.
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January 30, 2012
A number of years ago
A number of years ago, I was leading a workshop on evangelism for a group of folks who mostly represented the liberal and middle of the road side of our tradition. We were discussing the various reasons folks had for not sharing their faith. Some spoke of their hesitation to share that grew out of their concern that Jesus might not be the only way to God. How could they witness to their relationship with God through Jesus Christ when other ways might exist?
One pastor then said something like this in response to those concerns:
“Not sharing your …
- Posted at 6:00 a.m.
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January 23, 2012
I was standing in line
I was standing in line at a store after church when a woman in front of me began to verbally lay into the clerk who was helping her. She was visibly upset and began what would be a profanity laced tirade that would have made tennis great John McEnroe(am I showing my age) blush. The manager came over to help her…bad idea. This just seemed to provide more fuel for the fire. I couldn’t help but think that this woman could have benefited from hearing the sermon from this morning. After about round two of this interchange, she turned around …
- Posted at 12:18 p.m.
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January 9, 2012
Jesus or Christ?
Jesus or Christ?
We love our titles. Minister. Pastor. Preacher. Reverend. For me, I’ve always been uncomfortable with titles. Some aspire to them. I run from them. After I was ordained, I was asked often, “What should we call you?” “Pastor, Reverend, What?” I would reply, “Philip, that’s my name.” I received many blank stares. I’m not sure they like calling their Pastor by their first name with out any title attached. I’m sure it was out of respect for the office and part of their tradition but it always rang a little hollow to me. It always created …
- Posted at 12:06 p.m.
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April 8, 2011
News Links for the Week of April 4
Church Draw
Lovet Weems notes that Sunday School was the primary entry point for church life. Then it was the worship service. Now it is service and mission work.
Mission as the Emerging Entry Point for New People
Biblical Illiteracy
A group of theologians have taken to cyberspace to address biblical illiteracy.
Theologians Launch Blog to Tackle Biblical Illiteracy
Presbyterian Congregational Trends
In case you missed it, while we were meeting in Louisville last week, Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce released a report on Trends unfolding in Presbyterian Congregations.
Looking inside Presbyterian congregations
Church Trends
Eileen Lindner …
- Posted at 3:30 p.m.
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