News
Ray Bakke – the founder and academic dean of Bakke Graduate University of Ministry – revealed his vision to have Madison, Wisconsin become a laboratory for urban ministry at a reception for Madison’s faith community at Fountain of Life Family Worship Center church on Sunday afternoon, October 15th.
The Rev. Jim Anderson had hit the wall. The 30-year-old Evangelical Free Church pastor had been working day and night as a "church planter" in Iowa, starting congregations and serving them before moving on to start from scratch all over again. It was good work, and work he loved. But it was also endless.Read more.
COMMENTARYIn 2004, Swedish Pentecostal pastor Åke Green preached a sermon in which he denounced homosexuality as a "cancerous tumor" on society. A Swedish court subsequently sentenced him to one month in prison for hate speech (a charge that was eventually dismissed). Americans were shocked by the incident, but not alarmed. After all, those poor Swedes have no First Amendment protection of even the most eccentric religious beliefs, a protection Americans have as a matter of course.Or do we?Read more.
ST LOUIS, MO (ANS) — Attendance at American churches is less than half of what we have believed in the past, according to Dave Olson, director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, and director of the American Church Research Project. According to a news release from Mission America Coalition, Olson addressed the Mission America Coalition annual conference on its closing day with groundbreaking new research about the state of the American church. Instead of relying on limited survey data which is then extrapolated to the entire population, Olson has worked for years to build a database of actual…
It’s not out of the ordinary to see Muslim women in veils or chador, or Orthodox Jewish women wearing long skirts, long sleeves and wigs to cover their hair. But it is unusual to see an American Christian woman covering her hair or adopting a distinctly modest style of dress that defines her as a person of faith in a secular society. Read more.
New Berlin – With a logo that looks like a coffee stain, it’s clear The Ridge Community Church is a bit different. There won’t be power-tool demonstrations at the pulpit but other steps are being taken to make the target group – unchurched, beer-drinking, sports-loving 35- to-38-year-old guys – as comfortable as the wives and children with them. Read more.
COMMENTARY–Since World War II, the evangelical church has spent a lot of time, money, and energy on activities designed to grow the church – from bus ministries in the 1960s to rock music in the 70s and 80s to direct mail campaigns today. Individual churches have grown dramatically, but the truth is that there are more people and fewer churches in America than at any time in the last half-century. And the influence of the church in this country is perhaps at an all-time low.
When I was attending an event a few months ago where my book, Dark Journey Deep Grace, Jeffrey Dahmer’s Story of Faith, was on sale, a friend of mine was excitedly showing the book to another friend and urged him to buy it. The second man refused to even consider the book. When my friend asked why he reacted that way, the man said, “Because of what he (meaning Jeffrey Dahmer) did.” When my friend told me this story, we both agreed that this man understood the first part of the title, but missed the best part, the last part.…
DALLAS (ABP) — Worshippers hear them speak each Sunday, and a steady stream of people visit them each week. But for many pastors, ministry makes a lonely life.Though they often relate well to large groups of people on many different levels, ministers nationwide have reported difficulty in forming authentic personal relationships. And that feeling of solitude takes its toll, experts say, sometimes to the detriment of those involved. Read more.
Lessons from the Amish for the Greater ChurchCEN (Phoenix, AZ Oct 2006) Facing the emergencies of this past week in the Amish community brings home reminders for all Christians, churches, and ministries. As the Amish Community in Lancaster PA buries their beloved daughters and sisters, they remind us that to forgive is divine. Inviting the family members of the assailant to their usually closed funeral services, and offering to assist them in their grief with tangible gifts of kindness are a witness made in heaven.