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Ultimately, the mission of this site is to set forth an understanding of the Bible that will allow for a reunification of the Churches of Christ.
A two-day seminar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama beginning Friday morning and ending Saturday at 5:00, to make certain our guests can return home in time for church on Sunday. Classes would be taught by elders, ministers, and members at the University Church (and a few special guests) on a variety of topics focused on practical guidance on how to be the church God wants.
POLL
(I realize you can’t make a firm commitment without a date. This is just to determine if the idea is worth pursuing.)
We have this peculiar, American way of reading the Bible. We think that if we’ll obey God’s commands, he’ll make us rich and give us good mental health. There are preachers whose sermons are filled with bromides about how Christianity will heal our relationships and give us peaceful feelings. It’s not true.
(Mat 5:10-12) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Luke 21:10-12) Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. 12 “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. Read more »
[This is part of a series of Sunday school lessons I'm teaching this summer. The material repeats material from some earlier posts, but has some new material as well.]
The Lisbon Earthquake
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 had a dramatic impact on European Christianity. The prevailing attitude was that we believe in God; therefore, God will protect us. After all, the Portuguese were ruling a large part of the world. Certainly, the rest of Europe felt the same way, as the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch were near the heights of their worldwide empires.
And yet the earthquake struck on All Saints Day, a Catholic holy day, while worshippers were in church. Cathedrals collapsed, killing thousands of believers.
Lisbon’s great cathedrals, Basilica de Santa Maria, Sao Vincente de Fora, Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina, the Misericordia – all full of worshipers – collapsed, killing thousands. Lisbon’s whole quay and the marble-built Cais De Pedra along the Tagus disappeared into the river, burying with it hundreds of people who had sought refuge.
When I read Tim’s review, I figured he was doing his friend a favor, but I needed something to read while I killed a little time and so I figured I’d see what the book is about — but with great skepticism. You see, most self-published books are pretty awful. But I came away impressed. Very impressed.
Just as Todd Deaver’s Facing Our Failure destroys one of the linchpins of conservative theology — their utterly absent theology of apostasy — Corbitt’s Missing More Than Music obliterates many of the arguments that instrumental music is sin. I mean, the man has left the a cappella-only advocates with nothing to argue. Read more »
First, what is the true Biblical plan for deacons, if we can even retrieve one.
Second, what’s the best way to organize the ministries of the church, consistent with the first point?
What deacons are really supposed to do
The organization of the early church is patterned, in part, on the Jewish synagogue. Both the synagogue and early churches were overseen by elders. Both judged disputes between their members outside the government’s court system (1 Cor 6:1-8).
However, the synagogues had no office called “deacon.” Read more »
This will be a short series of posts on deacons. Most Churches of Christ appoint men to two offices: elders and deacons. In fact, it’s often been stated that a church is not “scripturally organized” if it doesn’t have both elders and deacons.
Five stories will help demonstrate the challenges we face regarding the appointment of deacons.
First story. I attended an ElderLink conference in Atlanta some years ago. In a classroom packed with 40 or so elders, the speaker addressed the selection of deacons. When it came time for questions, one elder asked, “I just want to know how to get the deacons to do their jobs!” Loud “amens” resounded throughout the room. The speaker allowed that he had no idea how to solve this problem. Read more »
Young and single adults are more likely to be in megachurches than in smaller churches.
Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less.
Many attenders come from other churches, but nearly a quarter haven’t been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch.
Attenders report a considerable increase in their involvement in church, in their spiritual growth, and in their needs being met.
Forty-five percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church.
New people almost always come to the megachurch because family, friends or co-workers invited them.
What first attracted attenders were the worship style, the senior pastor and the church’s reputation.
These same factors also influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.
Attenders can craft unique, customized spiritual experiences through the multitude of ministry choices and diverse avenues for involvement that megachurches offer.
• In 2006-07, 30% of regular attenders in the average congregation were older than age 60, compared with 25% in 1998.
• The percent of regular adult participants younger than age 35 in the average congregation dropped from 25% to 20%.
Older people long have been over-represented in American congregations because religious participation increases with age. Women also long have been disproportionately active in congregations. But unlike women, the over-representation of older people seems to be increasing. This probably stems from people living longer and young adults participating less than they once did. Young adults participate less in part because they marry later and are more likely to be childless. Married people with children are among the most likely to be involved with congregations.
This is worrisome indeed. You see, young adults are marrying later and therefore are less likely to be in church. What makes us so sure they’ll come back when they have kids? Read more »
Duke University has just released a report of its National Congregations Study for 2006-7, comparing American churches with churches in 1998. It’s an interesting read. The survey includes 2,740 congregations across the country, and so is among the most detailed and statistically valid surveys available.
• Most congregations are small but most people are in large congregations.
• Worship services are becoming more informal.
• Congregational leaders are still overwhelmingly male.
• Predominantly white congregations are more ethnically diverse. Read more »
Scott Thumma argues that “niche” house churches and megachurches both are offering individuals a product they are interested in. “In certain ways, the megachurch is the complete opposite of the house church, but with hundreds of ministries, programs, and fellowship groups, it offers intimacy and choice in one package.”[19]
THe house church movement is growing rapidly in this country. It’s hard to measure because house churches aren’t listed in the phone book or any denominational directory, but it’s big. Why? In part because we live in a society desperate for real community. Read more »
Only one [other] external factor was significant in the growth or decline of the church—the change in the population of its zip code. Fast-growing churches—those that increased by more than 20 percent in attendance—were more likely to be located in zip codes where the population growth was higher than the national average. If a church declined or was stable, it was more likely located in a low-growth zip code where population growth was lower than the national average.[14]
Olson, American Church in Crisis, 132-133.
Some churches deal with this by packing up and moving to the high growth part of town. Most don’t have that option. Read more »
Being a church of 1000+ attendees or under 50 attendees
Well, I wasn’t expecting this one.
David Olson points out that large (1000+ attendance) and small churches (1-49 attendance) are growing at the fastest rates. “While the larger churches grew according to expectation, the smallest churches actually grew at a faster yearly rate. The churches that declined the most were those with a weekly attendance between 100 and 299.”[9]Read more »
In the Churches of Christ, it’s all about the elders. Lousy elders produce lousy churches. Great elders produce great churches. Divided elders produce divided churches. Great ministers are vital, but the best ministers in the Churches can’t overcome lousy elders. It’s that simple. Until a church produces a generation of Godly elders, it won’t grow — or if it grows, it’ll growing in a bad way (such as by sheep stealing or becoming cultic). Read more »
[Relocated from Part 4 and substantially rewritten] Conclusions
We see two very different strands of thought winding through history — Abraham and Phinehas, Paul and Saul. The disciples of Phinehas attempt to follow him by destroying God’s enemies. They believe God will credit them with righteousness for defending God’s truth — against the Romans, against the Nestorians, Orthodox, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Consubstantianists, New Lights, Anti-seceders, and Burghers — and against whoever disagrees with today’s editor.
Nowadays, there’s not a print publication in the Churches of Christ that will allow a word to be published contrary to the editor’s beliefs. The Gospel Advocate won’t even print letters to the editor that aren’t effusive in their praise of the publication.
Debates in the 20th Century Churches of Christ were often embarrassingly brutal — filled with invective and ridicule. The attitude was: we’re on God’s side. Therefore, victory should be won at all costs. That attitude hasn’t entirely left us yet.
This attitude is inherited from the Zealots, from the intolerance of Medieval Catholicism, and from the Reformation — when warfare, the Inquisition, and the stake were the preferred means of persuasion. They are not Biblical. Read more »
Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Restoration Movement, is noted for many things. A couple of things that are rarely commented on, but very important to my point of view, are his attitudes toward his debate opponents and toward those who disagreed with his writings in his periodicals.
Campbell engaged in a series of debates over the course of his career, some with national notoriety. One was moderated by Henry Clay himself. And he managed to get through each of these without personal invective and often forming a close, personal bond with his opponent. Campbell felt that it was critical to treat his opponents as well as he wished to be treated.
One of his most important debates was against a famous atheist, Robert Owen, and Campbell had Owen has a house guest at his farm. They remained friends afterwards, despite their fundamental disagreements. Read more »
I went to a seminar a long time ago that measured church growth on involvement percentages. You need 20% to 30% involvement to keep the doors open, teach classes, etc. 40% to 50% will generate growth. 60% is the maximum involvement rate anyone can achieve.
I don’t know. I suspect that at my church we are at least at the 60% rate, although we’ve not measured it in a while. But why aren’t we at 100% (with allowance for those too sick or burdened to be involved)? Is it that the newer members aren’t willing? Actually, it’s just as much that the older members aren’t willing. And what kind of Christianity have we been teaching if involvement is considered, you know, optional? Read more »
The Catholic Church and Reformation churches felt obliged to kill heretics. The Reformers were more tolerant of heresy, as the earlier Reformers had been branded heretics themselves. But neither side allowed much in the way of dissent.
Both sides fought wars against the other, and both sides burned heretics. The battle between the two was particularly severe in France. This is from the Encyclopedia Britannica –
The Conspiracy of Amboise, formed by Huguenots [French Calvinists] with the object of kidnapping the boy-king Francis II (March 1560), resulted in the death of all the plotters except Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé. But the Reformers had become so powerful that Gaspard de Coligny, their most famous leader, protested in their name at the assembly of notables at Fontainebleau (August 1560) against all violation of the liberty of conscience. The attempt at peace failed. After a number of Huguenots assembling for worship in a barn at Vassy were massacred by soldiers of the Roman Catholic Guise family, Condé declared that there was no hope but in God and arms. At Orléans on April 12, 1562, the Huguenot leaders signed the manifesto in which they stated that as loyal subjects they were driven to take up arms for liberty of conscience on behalf of the persecuted saints. Read more »
U.S. Protestants are less likely to belong to “mainline” denominations and more likely to belong to “conservative” ones than used to be the case. Evidence from the General Social Survey indicates that higher fertility and earlier childbearing among women from conservative denominations explains 76% of the observed trend for cohorts born between 1903 and 1973: conservative denominations have grown their own. Mainline decline would have slowed in recent cohorts, but a drop-off in conversions from conservative to mainline denominations prolonged the decline. A recent rise in apostasy added a few percentage points to mainline decline. Conversions from mainline to conservative denominations have not changed, so they played no role in the restructuring. Read more »
A reader asked about being alone in the building with the female church secretary, on those days that he is the only minister on duty. I’m not sure I have the answer, but before even attempting an answer, I need to cover some ground some readers may not be familiar with.
A very important book regarding how affairs begin is Not Just Friends, by Shirley Glass. The book is filled with the results of extensive studies and research in this area, and the author knows what’s she’s talking about.
Nowadays, the majority of affairs begin at work. They begin as male-female friendships, often over lunch. The two talk about work. Soon, they talk about family and marriage. They come to realize that their friend is far more sympathetic and easier to talk to than their spouse (there are no kids around, no one is exhausted from a long day, etc.). Pretty soon, they’d rather be with their office buddy than their mate. Over time, the relationship becomes physical. Read more »
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