If you feel like you blinked and another decade has come and gone, you’re not alone. It’s hard to believe that we have come to the end of the 2010s. As with all milestones, it’s important to assess what happened. Or, in our increasingly fast-paced world, what “just” happened, as seismic changes seem to happen in… well… a blink.
Let me ask you a question: If you consider yourself a Christ follower, does the way you spend time, money and energy during Christmas reflect honoring Jesus at Christmas? The centrality of Jesus at Christmas? Perhaps it’s time to introduce the “Advent Conspiracy,” which is conspiring against the way our culture has taken over Christmas.
The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsy, were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested. Corrie and Betsy had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things they were to give thanks and that God can use anything for good. Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas.
Money is a touchy subject. It’s been said that the last thing that gets converted in a Christian’s life is their wallet. But we also know that the Bible teaches generosity, and specifically, to the local church of which we are a part. Many do give. Many don’t. Why is that?
It was a disturbing headline: “Church of Canada May Disappear by 2040, Says New Report.” Yes, it is being forecast “that there will be no members, attenders or givers in the Anglican Church of Canada by approximately 2040.” This was said by Neil Elliot who authored the report commissioned by the church and delivered in an address to the Council of General Synod in Ontario.
Here are 10 things that ANY church – no matter its size or budget, worship style or denomination – can do to help ensure it will grow numerically. I honestly can’t envision a scenario where any of these 10 could not be pursued and, if they haven’t yet been pursued, wouldn’t result in increased growth.
According to the Pew Research Center analysis of the National Survey of Family Growth, marriage is declining while living together outside of marriage is rising. Probably not a surprising headline. But coupled with this is how most Americans now find it acceptable for unmarried couples to live together, even if they have no plans to get married.
Today is Veterans Day. It is a well-known American holiday, but one with many misconceptions. So many that the U.S. Department of Defense issued “5 Facts to Know About Veterans Day” in relation to its observance. In honor of the day, and as my own salute of gratitude to veterans, here are the five.
Of books and blogs on leadership, there is no end. Usually detailed within them are concrete, specific tasks or skills needed to be an effective leader. This is all well and good, but the older I get and the longer I lead, the more I become convinced that what sets the most effective leaders apart is more intangible.
“The millennials and Generation Z have the Peter Pan syndrome; they don’t ever want to grow up.” To which Millennials and Gen Zers reply, “OK, boomer.” Welcome to the new standard retort to the problem of older people who just don’t get it, coming from those fed up with them not getting it.
