Category Archives: The Future of the Churches of Christ

The Future of the Churches of Christ: More Statistics from Ed Stetzer

There’s a lot of false teaching going on within the evangelical church regarding statistics. Authors sell more books when they persuade their audience that sky is falling, the evangelical church is collapsing, and their book offers the solution. Preachers more … Continue reading

Posted in The Future of the Churches of Christ, The Future of the Progressive Churches of Christ, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Direct Hit: A Follow Up Question from a Reader

I get emails (and insomnia) — Jay…I ran across your thoughts on church leadership. If one wants to be trained in how to lead a church to grow, especially a CoC preacher like myself, where would you recommend? Preferably, I … Continue reading

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Direct Hit, Part 5 (Developing Resources; Bringing in a Consultant)

We’re studying through Paul D. Borden’s Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field. Developing Resources The pastor must develop three teams to help him as change agent — 1. A prayer team to bathe the process in continuous prayer. … Continue reading

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Direct Hit, Part 4 (Urgency)

We’re studying through Paul D. Borden’s Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field. Urgency The missional vision of the church must be seen as urgent, or else the church will always find a different priority to pursue. And the … Continue reading

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Direct Hit, Part 3 (Wisdom, Exegeting the Community)

We’re studying through Paul D. Borden’s Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field. Wisdom Wise leaders guide but do not overrun sheep. They never ask more of their sheep than they are willing to do as leaders. However, they … Continue reading

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Direct Hit, Part 2 (Communications, Courage)

We’re studying through Paul D. Borden’s Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field. Communications Borden recognizes how very important communications are to church change and growth. He sounds a little extreme, but I think he’s exactly right. Every spoken … Continue reading

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Direct Hit, Part 1 (Leadership, Barriers)

I’ve stumbled across a book by Paul D. Borden, Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field. Paul led the American Baptist Churches in the northwestern US to be revitalized and to grow. Now, the American Baptists are considered mainline churches, … Continue reading

Posted in Church Growth, Direct Hit, The Future of the Churches of Christ, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The Future of the Churches of Christ: More Stats

According to a recent Christianity Today article, the Southern Baptists report yet another year of numerical decline. And the rate of decline is accelerating.

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Church Revitalization

Thom S. Rainer has long been a leading expert and consultant on church growth. He’s authored countless books, and participated in numerous studies on what works and what doesn’t. He recently posted an article summarizing what works when it comes … Continue reading

Posted in Progressive Churches of Christ, The Future of the Churches of Christ, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

The Future of the Churches of Christ: Reflections from the Comments

The readers are always good to push me to deal more thoroughly with issues through their comments. The following thoughts were originally posted by me in response to these excellent questions by Tina Sergent Seward — Jay, how should we … Continue reading

Posted in Progressive Churches of Christ, The Future of the Churches of Christ, Uncategorized | 7 Comments