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Good news
for small churches |
Well it's about time small churches got some good news. For eons they
have been the orphaned step child of the American church movement. Dense
denominations have spent most of their resources and time developing
ministries for middle and large congregations. Small churches were
expected to use the same ministries and become larger. Over the last 30
years things have started to change. Scholars, like Carl Dudley, started
studying small church life and they discovered, surprise, that small
churches and their larger brother and sister congregations have almost
nothing in common. As Terry Hatfield, a former district executive of
mine, used to say, comparing small churches to larger congregations is
like comparing apples and oranges.
continued
here
Share What
You Know
The value of any
organization – including small churches – lies in its
leadership. For it is leadership that defines and
envisions what an organization is about. When I think
about organizational structure three levels come to
mind. Those are first level leaders, second level
leaders, and support people. Successful organizations
figure out how to draw leadership from all three levels.
My hope is that
gochurch.info will eventually serve as a resource for
all three levels of leadership. With more small churches
turning toward part-time or even free ministry, and more
congregations returning to the New Testament style of a
priesthood of all believers in their ministry, new ways
to resource leaders must be found.
The basic concept of
gochurch.info is about leaders sharing their knowledge
and insights by Web technology.
continued here
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New Kids Make No
Change in church
LIFE
You may have heard people say that having
children brought them closer to God. Well,
according to a study by the George Barna group,
having children does not bring most parents
closer to church.
In
partnership with Orange, a division of ReThink
Group, a nation wide study of 700 parents with
children under 18 years of age reported that 50
percent of that group said children made no
difference in their relationship to church.
Parents in the Northeast and West and college
graduates were the most likely to hold this
view. Among atheists and agnostics, nine
out of 10 said that becoming a parent had no
influence on their connection to a faith
community. Among self identified Christians 47
percent said having a child made no difference
in their connection with a church.
About 17 percent
said having a child helped them reconnect to a
church after a long period of non attendance.
Another 20 percent said they were already active
in their church but became more involved after
having children.
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How Faith Varies By
Church SIZE
There are clearly significant differences
between the smallest and largest of
Protestant churches in terms of the
theological beliefs of adherents according
to new research by the Barna Group.
see more |
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montykeeling@gochurch.info