Dating Churches or Settling Down Visiting churches seems a lot like dating: both parties are, in theory, on their best behavior and hopeful of a positive outcome. Dating is fun—for a while. There’s variety and excitement for each outing, but eventually an emptiness emerges, and you yearn for more. You seek connection, you want commitment, […]
Three Things We Need to Do Because of our standing with God the Father, as a result of Jesus, the author of Hebrews tells us to do three things: 1. Draw Near to God God wants a relationship with us and we should want one with him. We need to seek him with all diligence […]
New Approaches for an Old Denomination It’s a holiday weekend. Our son and daughter-in-law are out of town, so we’re free agents. A return trip to the Megachurch is in order, but our daughter invites us to go to a church she and her husband have visited the past couple of weeks. A friend from […]
For both visitors and regular attendees, three keys exist to having a successful, meaningful, and Spirit-filled church experience: attitude, prayer, and expectation. Following these steps can make most any church experience—despite its shortcomings—a positive one. Consider these five discussion questions about How to Go to Church. 1. In going to church I’ve experienced both positive […]
3 Tips to Have a Positive Experience When going to church—whether as a visitor or a regular attendee—there are three keys to having a successful, meaningful, and spirit-filled experience. These are attitude, prayer, and expectation. Without addressing these critical elements, many church services will fall short of expectations. Following these three essential steps, however, can […]
Jesus Focused on the Kingdom of God, Not Church Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, but we made a church instead. What if he never intended us to form a church? After all, Jesus did tell his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). Let’s look at where else the […]
Segregating Attendees into Members and Nonmembers Divides Jesus’s Church In our look at things the church must change, we’ve already considered our buildings and facility, our paid clergy and staff, and our tithes and offerings, that is our charitable giving. Now we’ll turn our attention to some secondary issues, starting with church membership. Membership is […]
First on our list is a church from a small conservative denomination. Their denomination website says they have thirty-three churches in North America, eleven of which are within driving distance from our house. The closest one is five miles away. In contrast, they have five more international locations. A Bad Reputation I’ve never met anyone […]
Moses Explained the Three Key Elements of Worship and We Still Follow Them Our churches today function in much the same way as outlined in the Old Testament. We follow the Old Testament model for church. We pursue these same three key elements. We meet in a building, hire paid staff to represent God to […]
We Must Do Better at Our Religious Meetings “Why do you so hate the church?” Shocked, I furrow my eyes and scowl at my friend. “I don’t hate church.” “But you’re always criticizing it in your blog.” This gives me pause. True, much of my writing about church doesn’t celebrate what she does well but […]