By Thom Rainer It’s painful enough to lose any church members, but it is particularly painful when the church member was highly committed. We call these dropouts “Goners,” because they were once one of your best church members. Now they are gone. It has been both painful and amazing
Thoughts on Navigating Our Church Effectively in a ‘Moved’ Neighborhood Being neighborly is a choice, according to Jesus. Anti-Abortion Movement Faces Internal Divisions after Roe’s FallAfter the Dobbs decision, abortion foes hope to ban abortion where they can and find ‘creative approaches’ like shareholder activism to punish abortion rights supporters.
Do United Methodist congregations own their buildings? What is a trust? Can the United Methodist trust be revoked? Is there a legal process for disaffiliating from the UM Church separate from what is in the Book of Discipline? When might it make sense to use the legal process, rather than the Discipline’s process? When
Firebrand Magazine: May 1, 2022, was the official launch of the Global Methodist Church. This begins a season of transition for many pastors and churches. UMC Bishop Mike Lowry has stated that, effective on that date, he withdrew from the UMC Council of Bishops to unite to the Global Methodist
Some two years ago, I attended the Called and Co-Responsible conference at the University of Notre Dame. It was a conference about the role of the laity in the Church. One of the speakers, Fr. Michael Sweeny, O.P. made two insightful statements in his talk that resonated deeply with my
At the edge of the Castel Sant’Angelo near an entrance to the public park that at one time comprised the castle’s fortifications and near the beginning of the Via della Conciliazione that runs into St. Peter’s Square stands a statue of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380). Created between 1961 and 1962
Disunity in the Church and Among Christians Destroys Evangelism You cannot be a fighting church and be effectively evangelistic. You cannot be snarky and argumentative on social media and be effectively evangelistic. That divides Christians before the watching world. Unity is imperative for the Great Commission. Giving Everyone a Chance
Is Your Church Becoming Irrelevant? (Stop Doing These 5 Things) Carey Nieuwhof identifies five things that will put our church on the fast track to irrelevance and suggests what we can do about them. They’re Not Coming BackLower church attendance is the “new normal.” We can learn to live with