Take the Adventure - July 2010

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Pray Daily: A 90-Day Adventure in Prayer - July 2010
E. Stanley Ott
I am excited about a new venture we are launching at the Vital Churches Institute. After introducing over twenty-five judicatories and hundreds of congregations to concepts such as “Word-Share-Prayer,” small group life and the personal devotional life, we realized we need a way to give many more people in congregations and in judicatory gatherings a taste of these spiritual disciplines that change lives and forge friendships.  ...read more

Permission to Move Forward - July 2010
Anne Clifton Hebert
“If you’ve ever remodeled a house while attempting to live in it, you have a sense of the chaos and com- plexity of congregational renewal…your congregation is what it is today because of how it responded, or failed to respond, to the realities it faced…What your congregation will be in the future is up to you and the other members…What you do or don’t do now will make a difference...Even when the work is going well, renewal can seem messy and slow.”  (from Pathway to Renewal by Daniel P. Smith and Mary K.Sellon, p. 25 & 31) This was the way I began my annual report at the end of last year in the congregation where I serve. ...read more

How Many Different Ways to Christ? - July 2010
Chris Walker
“When I was 8 years old, I was invited to a bible camp for kids.”
“A friend invited me to church, and after a few weeks, I responded to the message.”
“I had a mystical encounter with God.  A few weeks later, I learned I needed to follow Jesus to know this God.”
“My father helped me see my need for Jesus and I put my trust in Him.”
       
Take the Adventure - May 2010
E. Stanley Ott
Last fall in the midst of two months of travel to seventeen different cities to work with denominational regional areas in growing the vitality of their congregations, I found myself singing old road songs such as Simon and Garfunkel’s, “Homeward Bound,” Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” and Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Life for all of us is a trip!
Ten Church Growth Assumptions - May 2010
Gary R. Weaver
1. Not all growing churches are healthy churches; but most healthy churches are growing churches.
2. Church growth is not just numbers and dollars, but it includes numbers and dollars (Acts 16:5).
Congregations from the Inside Out - May 2010
John W. Stewart
Among sociologists, there is a well-worn mantra: “If you want to know what the folks in Paducah are really up to, ask ‘em.” With insatiable curiosity, American sociologists have long probed what folks in Protestant churches “are really up to.”