Outreach To Children

THE WARDROBE IS COMING: only one month till the release of the new Narnia film. It offers many opportunities for the gospel. CPO (in UK) and ATS Tracts (in USA) are producing Narnia-related literature. ATS says, "We already have one tract out and will be releasing a special addition closer to the movie launch. We are also building a website that will have two sides: a resource portion for evangelists, and a gospel section for the lost."

Narnia: A Life-Changing Journey

American Tract Society

Christian Publishing and Outreach - United Kingdom

Safeguard Against Workplace Infidelity

If you work with a Flirty Frank or Tempting Tina, there are some ways you can stand strong against temptation.

Coworkers often are required to work on projects or solve problems together, and the resulting closeness can build teamwork — but it can also build a feeling of intimacy. Be honest with yourself. If you’re dressing to please someone at work or lingering in the parking lot hoping that person will ask you to lunch, stop now, before you’ve gone too far.

If you’re in doubt as to what conduct is inappropriate, ask yourself, Would I do this in front of my spouse? And if you’re still not sure, ask yourself, Would I do it in front of the Lord? (You are, you know.) Here is a simple rule to keep you on the straight and narrow: If you’d have to lie about it – don’t do it! Read more to safeguard against workplace infidelity.

4 Reasons Your Church Should Use Outreach Advertising

Advertising should be a part of a church’s outreach and evangelism efforts. Advertising is not evangelism; it is a means of causing people to consider your church. Once connected, the church can help a person to consider Christ. However, how will the community know your church exists unless they are told?

For those outside of the natural network of your church families, they are left to figure out on their own how to find you and the hope you offer. It is the responsibility of the church to identify and articulate the needs, potential solutions, and most importantly, what motivates people to engage the solution. This is marketing, and is simply one of many tools that we can use to present the hope of Christ to the unchurched.

Follow this link to learn how you can answer the skeptic who is concerned about bringing "worldly" methods to the spiritual work of the church? Here are four reasons, adapted from a new manual that you can share to support outreach advertising as an appropriate method for use in your church.

Help your Church's Small Groups Climb Toward Intimacy

The people in your church's small groups are like mountain climbers on a mission. They're meant to be teammates who grow together as they reach for higher and higher goals. And God wants them to eventually arrive at the summit of all relationships - intimacy.

Here's how you can help those in your church's small groups climb toward intimacy

Believe in the dream.Emphasize that small groups are well worth the hassles involved in joining and participating in them. Assure people that, by relying on God's power, they can overcome whatever obstacles stand in their way and enjoy significant, lasting, and meaningful relationships with their brothers and sisters in Christ. Read the complete article.

God's ready to do 'a new thing,' but is your church?

As a leader, do you find yourself in reaction mode? Are you responding to people, problems, and your ministry environment, or are you trying to develop a ministry strategy that will help your church move in a new direction so that it has a growing impact on people’s lives?

God promised us in Isaiah that he has a new path planned for our lives and our ministry: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland" (Isaiah 43:18-19).

The challenge of sharing Christ with this postmodern world seems overwhelming at times. How do we bring the message of truth to a society that runs from people who have the answer? The church must pursue a "new thing." We must constantly be acknowledging that yesterday’s methods most likely will not bear fruit tomorrow. There is a way in the desert that God will reveal, but we must actively pursue Jesus and His new direction for our ministry.

Read the complete article by Tony Morgan, pastor of administrative services at Granger Community Church.

Churches learn to '‘close the back door,’ keeping new members involved

Throughout the New Testament, those who were saved became active members of an existing local church, or local churches were formed and they became active in them.
- Elmer L. Towns

Choose a typical Sunday morning in the United States. And on this typical Sunday, let us take a hypothetical visit to a church selected at random. The church is a Christian church; it may be independent, or it may belong to a denomination. Let us stretch our imagination a bit and make ourselves visitors from first-century Jerusalem, where the first Christian church is experiencing explosive growth.

While w are amazed at the world 2,000 years later and marvel at all of the technological advances, we are visiting for another purpose. Our brief journey into 20 centuries of future is made to see how the church is doing after two millennia. We have chosen a church in a relatively new nation called the United States.

Before entering into the church building for worship services, we are told that the church as 500 members. We are pleased that a typical American church has such a healthy numerical membership. Our pleasure, however, is quickly turned to despair when we enter the sanctuary. Our quick count of those present tells us that only slightly above 200 members are worshiping together on this typical Sunday. Where, we exclaim, are the nearly 300 who are absent? Read the complete article by Dr. Thom Rainer.

Thriving Through Ministry Conflict - Part 2

Last time, we compared life in the Blue Zone to life in the Red Zone. For a leader facing conflict, a Blue Zone response is focused on competing values and on issues related to mission and vision. By contrast, a Red Zone response focuses on personalities and escalates conflict because personal stories become more important than issues related to ministry values. We looked at a series of diagnostic questions for leaders who want to determine in which Zone they are operating in a given conflict.

This month, we look at how to get out of the Red Zone and how to begin to thrive through ministry conflict. We can start to leave the Red Zone when we learn more about the theme of our personal life story. Finish part two of this article.

Thriving Through Ministry Conflict - Part 1

In a survey published in 2004. Leadership journal reported that 95% of pastors reported experiencing conflict in the course of their ministries. The survey respondents listed the following as the top four sources of conflict: control issues, vision and direction disagreements, leadership changes, and the pastor’s style.

Issues regarding conflict are confusing. Is conflict good or bad? Should it be avoided or embraced? Is conflict usually the fault of pastor or board? Should conflict be managed or ended?

Conflict is necessary and even beneficial if it is correctly focused. Even painful conflict can become a positive force when it is caused by substantive questions about values and issues. Conflict becomes destructive and unmanageable when it strays away from substantive issues and begins to involve our personal stories. Read the rest of part one.

Pastor Wanted—Superheroes Need Not Apply

What is it about superheroes that everybody loves? Whether it’s Superman being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, or Spider-Man slinging and swinging from building to building, or Neo entering the Matrix to alter destiny, people love a good superhero story. Not only do most people love superheroes, they want to be superheroes —including pastors.

Many churches have come to expect their leaders to function as superheroes, and many pastors have too easily put on the cape. Flawless, fantastic, and unflappable. Never making a mistake and handling every situation perfectly. Churches want a guarantee that the weak and innocentwill never have to experience pain and disappointment, and that Gotham City (the local church) will be protected from all harm.

When danger comes knocking, churches want to be able to shine a light from the bell tower and call Super Pastor to the rescue. They want pastors who can rescue lagging budgets, capture and detain every hurt, fly boldly where no man has gone before, save us from the flaming meteor that’s hurtling toward us, develop a state-of-the- art headquarters, build a team of other superheroes, and all the while gleam a pearly white smile and flex a confident pose.

Since I know the superhero expectation exists in our world and in the church, allow me to be the voice of biblical and practical reason: Pastor, while God will do awesome things in and through you as you live and minister in submission to him, you’re not, nor will you ever be, a superhero! I suspect that, for most of you, those words will be a giant relief rather than an insult.

To read the complete article, follow this link.

Lightweight Tables Heavy on Value

Modern materials and high-tech construction are revolutionizing the table market.

It's hard to imagine a church activity that doesn't employ the versatile, multipurpose, folding table. With all that use, is it time to replace those beat-up, worn-out old tables? If so, there is a lot to consider. Those heavy plywood and particleboard tables still have their uses, but if you're constantly setting up, taking down, and moving tables around, you need to look at what's available in today's lightweight table options. And the term "lightweight" in no way implies lack of strength, durability, and value.

A Weighty Decision

The criteria used to select an appropriate table are size, shape, strength, durability, affordability, and weight. Today, the emphasis in table selection rests on table weight. While laminated-top wood and pressboard tables may meet the affordability and strength criteria, they fall short in durability and weight. Each heavyweight wooden table typically requires two people to setup, move, or take down. Particleboard tables also don't deal well with being dropped, which, given their weight, is a frequent event. Read more about tables.

Stage Lighting for Modern Worship

When it's time for an upgrade, here's what you'll need to know.

Christian sanctuaries have always emphasized natural light. Flooding the church interior with streaming hues from stained glass windows is a centuries-old process designed to teach the story of redemption. Natural light passing through vast expanses of plate glass came into fashion when technology afforded architects the ability to span walls with transparency. However, as worship styles have changed to accommodate drama and modern musical performances, the need to control light has made lighting systems a necessity. Read more

This year's Best Book

By Josh Hunt

I'd like to say I read a lot of books, but it isn't really true.

What is true is that I start a lot of books and I buy a lot of books. I got rid of 20 boxes last summer and 10 more boxes this summer.

I have heard various approaches to buying books, like, "I never buy one book till I finish the one I am reading." Or, "Whenever I see a book that looks interesting, I wait two weeks to make sure it is something I want to read."

My approach works pretty much like this: if it looks remotely interesting to me, I buy it. I doubt I finish 5% of the books I start. There is a sizable percentage of books that I buy that I never even finish the first chapter. Every now and then, I will go on an Amazon rampage looking for books on a particular topic, and I will buy a pile of them. As I look around me just now, I see a couple that I don't even know for sure if I have opened or not.

Every now and then, I run across a really good book and I actually finish it. Sometimes, if it is a really great book, I will read it more than once.

I have read Bruce Wilkinson's "The Dream Giver" twice. I have listened to the audio twice. I am almost finished watching the Video. This is a reasonably good book!

How important is the dream?

One of the things that Bruce Wilkinson points out is that dreams are not an added extra to life. They are not a bonus for people who need an extra challenge. They are not the icing; they are not the cake; they are the meat and potatoes. They are not incidental to life any more than the basket is incidental to basketball. There are other parts of the game, to be sure: dribbling, ball handling, passing, team-play, off court stuff like weight training and watching films. But, there is a reason they call the basket the goal. When we score we call it a goal. It is the goal. It is the point. It is the object to the exercise.

The BIG DREAM that the "Dream Giver" has for each one of us is central to our lives. It is the point. It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of taking kids here and paying bills and earning a living that we fail to make a life. The life is all about fulfilling the calling that God has for each of us.

Paul said, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philip. 3:14 (NIV) He had a calling, a dream, a goal, a passion--something that pulled him forward.

Bruce Wilkinson rightly points out that this calling has to do with meeting some big need. The BIG DREAM that the "Dream Giver" gives to Ordinary is not about buying a big house and driving a fast car and sitting in a comfortable chair in front of a big screen TV. It is about helping someone, building something, writing something, preaching some sermon, feeding someone. In short, it is about living out kingdom life.

One of the things that makes this books so compelling to me is the life that produced it. I have known of Bruce Wilkinson for years and watched his life and ministry from a distance. He was rocking along, doing a good work for God through Walk Thru The Bible Ministries when God placed his hand of blessing on him through the little book The Prayer of Jabez--based on an obscure verse in the Old Testament and a prayer that Bruce has been praying since seminary days. That book shot to the top of the New York Times best seller list. He has sold over 22 million copies of books (all titles) to date. (A context here: a book that sells 100,000 copies is considered a huge success.) To say that he was at the pinnacle of his career and had it made is a gross understatement.

What did Bruce do with all that fame and fortune? He followed his dream. He moved to Africa to see if he could help bring in the kingdom of God in Africa. What do I mean by that?

To feed the hungry through Never Ending Gardens
To clothe the poor
To stop the spread of AIDS
To find fathers for the fatherless
To preach the gospel.

It is a big need and a BIG DREAM to meet that need. Bruce Wilkinson is living out the message of the "Dream Giver."

(See 'Dream for Africa' for details--but be careful, you just might find yourself being touched by a BIG DREAM and following Bruce to Africa.)

How difficult is the dream?

The books I read (or start reading) all fall under one category: how to.

How to grow a church
How to live the Christian life
How to pray
How to communicate
How to have a great marriage
How to evangelize
How to run a business
How to lead

I have read a lot of these books. It is one of the reasons why I don't finish most of the books I buy. I have read enough of them, that they all start sounding alike after awhile. I had a friend who used to say to me, "Never read a book you could have written; never attend a conference you could teach."

Most of these books have a bad habit of oversimplifying. Sometimes, it is even in the title:

'Seven simple steps to an effective prayer life'
'Three easy ways to retire early and comfortably'
'Spanish: Fast and easy'

We all wish it were true. We wish it so strongly that when someone tells us we can have it and it will be easy, we believe them. The 'Dream Giver' is not one of those books. Bruce Wilkinson is very straightforward about the difficulty of following the 'Dream Giver's' dream for your life. If you would follow your dream you can expect some of the following obstacles:

• You must discover your BIG DREAM. Your BIG DREAM may have to do with supporting the BIG DREAM or others. Not everyone is a leader. God created far more followers than leaders, and it is a good thing. Your BIG DREAM may involve supporting Bruce Wilkinson's BIG DREAM and going to Africa to plant a Never Ending Garden. I'd invite you to follow my BIG DREAM of helping the kingdom push back the darkness by living out group life at its most base level--the small group, and seeing that group grow and divide, grow and divide, grow and divide.
• You must get out of your comfort zone. The BIG DREAM is always outside of your comfort zone.
• You must overcome the Border bullies--real life people (normally friends and family members) who discourage you from following your BIG DREAM. It is helpful to find a Border Buster who can help you break out of Familiar toward the BIG DREAM.
• Next comes wasteland. This might be a good time to point out that much of this parable has strong connections with stories in the Bible like Joseph's story, Moses' story and the story of the people of Israel leaving Egypt to follow their BIG DREAM to go to the land of promise. Did they enter a wasteland? So will you.
• Sanctuary. Bruce Wilkinson calls this an optional part of the journey, but a necessary part for any true God-follower. After the wasteland and before fighting the giants, God calls you aside to restore your soul.
• Giants. Israel faced giants and so will you. Some of the giants include Moneyless, Corruption, Rejection, Failure. In order to realize your BIG DREAM, you must conquer each one of these.
• BIG DREAM. Like any good story, this one has a surprising twist at the end. The BIG DREAM is not the end; it is only the beginning.

How many dreams are there?

Following the 'Dream Giver' is a way of life. It is not something we do one time, but many times. We accomplish one dream, and then, that becomes our new land of Familiar and the 'Dream Giver' gives us a new BIG DREAM. Bruce has been working this process for years. Now, his BIG DREAM is for Africa.

Dreams come simultaneously in different areas of our lives. In one area we may be in the wasteland. In another area of our life, we may be just getting started, understanding our BIG DREAM or facing our border bullies.

This book came at a good time for me. My BIG DREAM has been to help the capital C Church double by helping small groups and Sunday School classes double every two years or less. I also had a BIG DREAM to keep my kids fed. For years, I struggled with the giant of Moneyless. I thought for a long time that I could conquer this giant with the sword of Video. But, that proved to not be the solution for me. About 2.5 years ago, I scrapped video production and began concentrating on doing more conferences. I have doubled the number of conferences that I do and, and I am happy to report that Moneyless has been fatally wounded, though it is not dead yet. I had worked so hard on this sub-dream, that I almost forgot the big picture of the BIG DREAM. This book helped me to refocus on the task of helping as many teachers as I can to double every two years or less.

I am going to be experimenting with some options to double and then double again the number of people I speak to. I can't double the number of meetings--I am away from my kids as many nights a year as I care to be. So, the next battle is doubling the number of people at each event. With the wisdom the 'Dream Giver' provides, I will pursue the slaying of that giant. What an adventure.

Visit Josh Hunt's web site.

Outreach To Children

THE WARDROBE IS COMING: only three months till the release of the new Narnia film. It offers many opportunities for the gospel. The American Tract Society is producing Narnia-related literature. ATS says, "We already have one tract out and will be releasing a special addition closer to the movie launch. We are also building a website that will have two sides: a resource portion for evangelists, and a gospel section for the lost."

This is one of those incredible God-sent appointments. Now is the time to be planning to use Narnia to reach children and indeed adults. The window of opportunity will be relatively narrow - a month or two. When it's gone, it's gone.

WORDLESS BOOK. "If you want a way-cool witnessing tool for your kids, for your church's Harvest Festival or as an alternative to Halloween's ghoulish paint this October, check out the free wordless book-type temporary skin transfers here. Mine lasted for nearly two weeks and I got to explain it to lots of people," writes KidsPlace newsletter about this NAMB resource.

From the 'Web Evanglisim Guide' - View the guide on our website.

A Structure Runs Through It

Both free-flowing praise and traditional hymns can be included in an extended time of worship.

Some musicians, not to mention some longtime church members, find the move to worship choruses in today's churches threatening.

Organists, for example, can have difficulty getting the proper feel for choruses with a pipe organ, and they fear they will eventually find themselves on the periphery of the music ministry.

Others, raised on traditional hymns, find choruses repetitive and boring, the free-flowing praise format undisciplined and aimless. Read the complete by Barry Liesch.

The Epidemic of Busyness Among Christian Leaders

ep•i•dem•ic (ĕp-ĭ-dĕm´-ĭk) n. An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely.

There's a cure that's freely available.

It's no overstatement to say that legions of Christians are infected by "an outbreak of a contagious disease," a disease that seems to be spreading "rapidly and wildly" throughout the culture. It is especially prevalent among U.S. Christians in leadership positions, but also appears to be widespread among a similar demographic overseas. Moreover, women are more susceptible than are men, though a strikingly high percentage of both genders have been affected. Follow this link to read more.

Quotes From Church Leaders

"If those who prepare for leadership are looking for the safe place, who will lead the church into the dangerous places?" - Erwin McManus in An Unstoppable Force (Group, 2001)

"Membership in a small group is a better predictor of whether people volunteer or give money than how often they attend church, whether they pray, whether they've had a deep religious experience, or whether they were raised in a Christian home. Social action is not a consequence of belief, in other words. I don't give because I believe in religious charity. I give because I belong to a social structure that enforces an ethic of giving." - Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, September 12, 2005

"Volunteers should be reminded, again and again, that they're valued; that what they're doing is part of the redemptive drama that's been going throughout human history; that the role they are playing is not insignificant; that God treasures every task they perform, every hour of service they render." - Bill Hybels, The Volunteer Revolution, (Zondervan, 2004)

"The church is not an agency to be served, but a workforce to be deployed." - Ocsar E. Feucht, Everyone a Minister, (Concordia, 1974)

Help Your Church Grow Through Clarity Of Vision And Unity Of Leadership

Just like when athletes hit a "wall," our ministries can sometimes hit barriers of growth that we can't seem to get past. In these times we need to turn to the fundamentals, ministry principles that don't change over time but have an amazing ability to propel us to new ministry heights. In this article, John Jackson focuses on clarity of vision and unity of leadership ? two fundamentals that can help you break down barriers to growth. Read the rest of Dr. John Jackson article.

New 40 Days Campaign Start Dates For 2006

Learn how 40 Days can transform your congregation through God's purposes for our lives and communities! Since 2002, over 20,000 churches of all denominations and sizes have experienced the transforming power of individuals living out God's purposes.

There are three start dates to choose from: January 15, February 26, April 30, June 11, and July 16. If you're considering any of the campaigns, there are a few changes that you won't want to miss. Find out more here.

Discipleship: 2 Guidelines For Growth

Reaching people for Christ is only the beginning. Chuck Lawless recommends church leaders envision a discipleship plan for their church and start discipling new believers right away. Tapping into the enthusiasm of a new believer is essential to foster spiritual growth, instill scriptural teaching and train lay leaders. Read more.