Ten Ways to Build the Beloved Community
Baltimore Pastor C. Anthony Hunt lifts up Martin Luther King, Jr.’s powerful vision of the Beloved Community, calling on individuals and churches to continue to…
Browsing: Mission
Articles
Does Your Church Need a Disaster Ministry Plan?
Jamie D. Aten and David M. Boan, who head the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, say that you may never have thought about your…
Transforming Community: The Wesleyan Way to Missional Congregations
Drawing from the strength of their previous book, Transforming Evangelism, Henry Knight and Douglas Powe show us a Wesleyan way to form missional communities and…
Spiritual Growth through Mission Participation
Mission and service activities are increasingly the entry points through which people, particularly younger people, first connect with our churches. We hope that mission participation…
A More Empowering Christmas Gift Give-Away
The gifts of the Magi make perfect sense theologically, but the presents certainly weren’t practical. The arrival of a child requires diapers and bottles, cribs…
The New Realities of Engaging Newcomers
This five-minute video by the Lewis Center’s Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of how new people are coming into church communities in different…
Bringing about Systemic Change through Social Entrepreneurship
I believe that an understanding of the concepts of social entrepreneurship is critical for church leaders who seek to effect real, sustainable change and address…
Five Guidelines for Doing Good Well
A few years ago, I ran into Tony Campolo, prominent leader in missional evangelism. He had been at the Clinton Global Initiatives meeting. We sat…
Expanding a School Partnership through Community Dinners
For the past 20 years, First United Methodist Church of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been in a partnership with the Eugene Field Elementary School. About ten…
Best Practices for Short-Term Mission Trips
There is no single “right” way to do a mission trip. What works depends very much on the goals of the congregations and participants, the…
Your Community is Your Congregation
One of the greatest challenges to the church in the twenty-first century is its lack of connection to its community. Far too many churches today…
Eight Reasons I was Wrong About Short Term Mission Trips
I used to think short term mission trips were a complete waste of resources and a distraction from our church’s core mission. They basically amounted…
Effective Church-School Partnerships
Effective church-school partnerships take a true commitment and willingness to build long-term, sacrificial relationships. Learning from the many congregations that have begun partnerships with low-income…
Leadership Lessons from The Salvation Army
For most of us, The Salvation Army has been an icon of service throughout our lives. The inner workings of the Army are unknown to…
Engaging your Mission Field
Perhaps there was a time when inspiring worship and great music brought people to church. Today, however, in an increasing number of places, the quality…
Spending More on Others Fosters Increased Generosity
Three years ago, our church set an ambitious goal — to become a “tithing congregation” that gives ten percent of our church’s budget to outreach,…
Identify Community Ministry Needs by Listening
In order for churches to stay relevant to a changing world, we need to be very tuned in to what is happening “out there.” Sending…
Doing Community Ministry in the Small Church
Sometimes I interact with small congregations that assume that any significant community ministry effort is beyond their reach. They often keenly feel their limitations as…
A Christmas Tree Sale that Does More than Raise Funds
Five years ago, Vale United Methodist Church in Oakton, Virginia, began a Christmas tree sale to support the mission work that was so central to…
Picture Your Community Impact
I am averse to numbers. I switched from being an elementary education major during my junior year in college when I discovered that I had…
Take Your Ministries Outside the Walls
How do I get my church started on the missional path? The simplest way is often the best. What would happen if every ministry of…
Worship as Mission
When congregations and their leaders think about worship or about mission, it often appears that they think of the two as compartmentalized and entirely separate…
Focus Can Help Christmas Mission Giving
Many churches confront a question of missional focus, especially as the holiday season approaches. One group proposes an angel tree project. Another wants to do…
Christmas is Not Your Birthday
There was a time when churches were reluctant to take an offering at their Christmas Eve services. The reasoning was that many people at those…
Renovate or Die
Bob Farr offers a generous collection of tools for congregational development in his book Renovate or Die: Ten Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission…
Key Competencies for a Missional Congregation
The “missional DNA” of Floris United Methodist Church has been one of the keys to our growth and vitality. Fruitfulness in mission has had a…
God’s Multiplying Power
Last year I came to great clarity that God was calling our church to provide food for the hungry. I realize now that my efforts…
The Power of Praise in Awakening Missional Identity
I serve a congregation that averages 60-70 in worship and have been there five years. As preparation for a visioning process, I began meeting with small…
Mission as the Emerging Entry Point for New People
It is intriguing that the first connection people have with a congregation tends to change from time to time. For churches with struggling adult Sunday…
Helping a Congregation Connect to Mission
My congregation has been in an ongoing mission partnership with the Child Rescue Center and Mercy Hospital in Sierra Leone, Africa, since 2000. However, there…
