Doing a Christmas Eve Offering Well
In our culture, Christmas is a season of giving when church-goers and non-church-goers alike are inclined toward generosity. I witnessed a Christmas Eve service in which…
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Articles
Add Off-Site Christmas Eve Services This Year
Many churches know they are not connecting with the world around them but don’t know what to do about it. One marvelous way to reach…
Connect Community Events to Worship
For years, Harvest Church hosted a community-wide dodgeball event for teenagers. We advertised it well, and hundreds of kids participated. The winners got cool prizes…
The Ten Minute Rule
The first impression guests leave with determines whether they will be back. So what is it that goes into a good first impression? We interviewed…
Considering the Context of Worship
When I was appointed to pastor a new church start, I began to dream of what “my” new church would look like. By the time…
The Missing Person in Worship Planning
Every congregation begins as an outwardly-focused group of believers, intent on reaching out to those with whom they want to share the Gospel message. Without…
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…
Forging More Collaborative Relationships between Clergy and Musicians
In all of the churches where I have worshiped and worked, the core ministry team is the same — the pastor and the musicians —…
Worshiping at Two Vital Congregations
Readers of Leading Ideas are familiar with the Lewis Center’s focus on the church’s challenge to “reach more people, younger people, and more diverse people.”…
The Sunday Everything Went Wrong
Building credibility took time in my current congregation. I followed a well-respected pastor, and I had fewer years of experience than my predecessors. It is…
