Church Life Archives - Page 14 of 105

First person: Why people really pick a church

August 7, 2025

Pastors, your community is full of people quietly searching for a church home. But not everyone is looking for the same reason.

Engaging the lost years of congregations

August 4, 2025

Interventions may occur during pastor transitions, strategic planning efforts or the construction of a new building. Otherwise, the underlying, less visible issues of the life cycle of congregations are ineffectively addressed.

Pastors, burnout and the myth about a mass exodus

July 31, 2025

“While this story isn’t all wrong, the assertion that pastors are leaving the pulpit in droves because of ministry burnout is a myth. The research tells a different story.”

First person: How to handle dying programs in a church

July 25, 2025

Most of our churches have at least one – that is, a program that’s not working anymore. The activity goes on, but it’s now more a habit than a transformational ministry. Here are several options to address this kind of ministry:

Are AI sermons ethical? Pastors grapple with pros, cons

July 22, 2025

On any given Sunday, churchgoers settle into pews as a clergy person takes an ancient holy text and figures out what it has to say about our lives today. But how would worshippers feel if they found out that sermon was written by Artificial Intelligence?

Study: Mainline pastors less likely to hold historic Christian doctrine

July 22, 2025

According to the National Survey of Religious Leaders report, “Clergy who lead predominantly white mainline Protestant churches are much less likely to hold traditionally orthodox Christian beliefs than clergy in any other group.”

Study shows most churches still pass the plate

July 21, 2025

According to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors, almost 3 in 4 say their congregation collects physical offerings by passing something around at the worship service.

‘Come-to,’ ‘go-to’ or ‘abide-with’ associations

July 21, 2025

An association ideally functions like a family of congregations collaborating on God’s mission within their context. This reduces the necessity to invite people to a building.