Church Life

“Though we often conceive of corporate worship vertically, there’s a rich horizontal dimension too.” - TGC

“LGBTQ+ people are people. They are made in the image of God and worthy of dignity and respect…. don’t overcomplicate things. What are ways, in general, we can grow in making people feel welcome?” - 9 Marks

“congregations will emphasize evangelism more than at any point in the past three decades. Church leaders understand they can’t lead a church to growth with cultural Christians (a true oxymoron) and transfer growth” - T.Rainer

“Perceived demographics may not match actual demographics. You may think you know your community, but in many cases, church leaders have a skewed view of who lives around the church.” - Sam Rainer

“Think about words…We tend to recall the painful ones more than the affirming ones—so we must work harder to encourage others with regularity.” - Chuck Lawless

A quick survey reveals four basic approaches to the topic, most of which affirm the general teaching of the New Testament. The Generic Approach…The Business Approach…The Psychological Approach…The Pragmatic Approach” - 9 Marks

“… still today, we’re trying to reach people who might know even less than I did at the time. We need to keep that reality in mind as we evangelize and disciple.” - Chuck Lawless

“Half of U.S. Protestant churchgoers (50%) say they’d prefer to attend a church where people share their political views, and 55% believe that to be the case at their congregation already….Around 1 in 5 (19%) now strongly agree they prefer to attend a church where people share their political views, up from 12% in 2017.” - Lifeway

“The prosperity gospel is heresy…. there is something of a similar nature lurking in my own circles….the scarcity gospel. It is the belief that we should expect God to do very little through our churches or in our lifetime.” - By Faith

“I often get asked, ‘How important are announcements in the worship services?’ A corollary question is, ‘Aren’t the announcements a distraction from worship?’” - Thom Rainer