church as abbey
In all the conversation about churches and change, one particular topic seems to be the unmentioned gorilla in the room -- clergy pay. By clergy pay, I mean what most of us had in mind when we went to seminary -- "I'll get this great theological education
church as abbey
Tonight I served as the "community host" for Family Night Out with No Reservations at one of our local restaurants. Families were invited to eat dinner together, and the idea was to get parents and kids talking about drug and alcohol issues during dinner. Kids under-12 ate free,
church as abbey
Steve Taylor* started an interesting conversation about a sustainable spiritual collective. He even renamed his blog sustain:if:able kiwi. Fortunately he's still at the same url, so you can find Steve here under his new nom de plume. But back to my point. Steve tackles the missional
bless the world
I'm playing around here and this is the rough draft of 101 Outreach Ideas for Small Churches. Any others you want to add? I'd love to hear any stories you have about any outreach ideas you've used. I'm working on a book,
bless the world
Here's the powerpoint I used in my NOC2008 workshop, Small Churches Make Good Neighbors. I'm using the abbey church model, and discussing the 10 aspects of the ancient celtic abbeys applied to churches today. The ppt is on SlideShare, so you can view and download the
church as abbey
A friend of mine sent me Seth Godin's new book, Tribes . All Godin's books pack lots of new thinking between their small covers. I'll post more about it after I'm finished, but already I've run across these gems: * "A
bless the world
NOC2008 surpassed my expectations! I got to hear Erwin McManus, J John, Francis Chan; and I sat in on Doug Stringer's workshop titled, Who's Your Daddy? Great title and great seminar. I met Ed Stetzer of LifeWay, and Gary McIntosh of Talbot Seminary; plus, the great
church as abbey
Wednesday I fly to San Diego for the National Outreach Convention -- NOC2008! I'm leading the workshop, Small Churches Make Good Neighbors: 10 Ways Your Church Can Change Your Community. I hope you're meeting me there, but if not, you can follow all the action at
bless the world
"You feed them." Those were the words of Jesus to the disciples. A big hungry crowd needed to be fed, and the disciples had come to Jesus for a solution. Jesus challenged the disciples to feed the crowd themselves, but they protested they were not able to. Now,
church as abbey
Thumbing through an analysis of our community today, it hit me. There are too many churches in our area. Within a 5-mile radius of our church, there are 25 other churches. And, this doesn't even count churches without telephones, which include at least 8 more that I know
bless the world
Most churches participate in some kind of food closet, which is primarily a way to supply emergency food to those who need it. But, what if everyone needed food? What if the global food supply system collapses or goes into deep distress? How do churches help then? Chatham House, a
church as abbey
We're in a transition in our church some 4 years after my arrival as pastor. Our congregation is aging, and younger families have left the church, primarily because we didn't offer the programs that larger churches in our area offer for children and youth. We recognize