The Great Hope Church Change

Victory Baptist Church is a case study of revitalization. It serves to show that it is possible that younger churches can become complacent very quickly when they experience growth at such an awesome rate. Victory Baptist Church seems to have a promising future in sight. One of the main goals of the associate pastor is to keep a sense of urgency and change occurring. Most of all, he know that this work cannot be done without the help of the Holy

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

Gary United Methodist Church is a small congregation of less than fifty members with an average worship attendance of ten or less. The congregational leaders, known as the administrative council, are looking for ways to increase attendance, which has been dwindling over the last few decades, and find new ways to engage in mission work in their small northern Minnesota community of less than 3,000. A decrease in employment opportunities over the last thirty years and the shutdown of two major employers in the town have led to the mass exiting of families with children. The town has several properties that are either condemned or dilapidated. Recently their schools combined with a neighboring town to offset the lack of enrollment and suspend the closing of both sets of schools.

When it comes to ensuring the fulfillment of the vision and mission of the church it is important to sweat the small stuff. Toler and Nelson gives insight as to how important it is to be proactive when it comes to ministry. We should pay attention to the seemingly insignificant details because the minor details can make the difference in the ministry’s success or failure.

Hillcrest Baptist Church is a body of believers located in a small mid-west city that has experienced double-digit growth for the past nine years. Over the course of the last forty-two years, God has allowed only three senior pastors to serve. The longevity of the pastorates contributes to the strong lay leadership and positive community reputation. On the surface, Hillcrest appears very healthy. A survey of the average congregants would record this overall disposition. Numerical growth and vibrant services contribute to the attitude of satisfaction. Contrariwise, the systems and structure of the organization pose a serious threat to the continuation of expansion and vitality.

The Lazarus Project and Grace Ministries: The Role of Religious Nonprofits in Addressing Personal and Social Problems

The general location I chose for this church planting project was in the inner city areas of Baltimore, Maryland. There are currently no daughter works and only three preaching points in the Baltimore City area. It is because of this that I decided to use one of the three preaching points as my foundation. Based off of information from the Reever family, I chose the preaching point in Armistead Gardens. This preaching point is located 20 mins northeast of Central Baltimore near the Inner Harbor area and 20 minutes southwest of the mother church in Rosedale area. The demographics of Armistead Gardens is made up of white, lower class individuals. The majority of these individuals are either, middle aged and single mothers, teenagers, or children. There is a very high presence of gang activity and crime. It is here that the Abundant Life Church of Baltimore, Maryland, pastored by David Reever, sends out a group to hold weekly meetings in a space rented from a Baptist church. This group consists only of one single adult and one married couple. The attendance currently runs between 10-20 people per week.

The challenge of communicating in multiplied exponentially when a church undergoes major change. Leaders must communicate what change is being made and why it’s being made for years. Principle: Commit to major change, then minimize risk.

In this way with the ideas and teachings of Gospel and their devotion to the Lord they teach the world the necessity of love and affection. As the Lakewood Church Community Donation Center believes that God is present in every human being, profit is of no importance to them. They always engage themselves in serving the poor and uneducated by raising donations. Not only that they provide permanent shelters, food and clothing to those people who wander aimlessly or who are spending their life in great distress. They also deserve special means in giving education to the children who are orphans. They have special concern for children and arranges for them special shelter to stay where they can involve themselves through different activities and of course offering their prayers to the Lord. So the church community concerning Lakewood takes an active part in donation, the process by which they serve the poor people all over the

The purpose of this essay is for this Author to analyze when to withdraw and understand along with diagnosing an exercise that will support God’s activity in individual lives and the church. With this said, the Author will examine and analyze the system, to include: 1) Congregation Core issue; 2) Goals and applicable actions; 3) Characteristic of a Virus; 4) Signs of Congregational Virus; 5) Present and Past congregational viruses; 6) Congregation response to viruses; 7) Viruses and the Health of the Congregation; 8) Congregation rigid or not and those involved; 9) Congregation need to learn; and 10) Why need to learn and Learning does for life and mission.

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Blythe will contact small business owners for either cash donations or items listed. She will also contact her local LDS church organizer for

The emerging church movement consists of a diverse group of people who identify with Christianity, but who feel that reaching the postmodern world would requires it to radically reshape the chruch’s beliefs and practices to conform to postmodernism.[14]

This section will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the cyber mission, the theological understanding of the cyber mission, and the need for a cyber-mission today in inaccessible countries and areas. A positive aspect of cyber space is that the missionary working area becomes wider and we are today living in the era of cyber space. With cyber space the borders of nations that restrict oppress the Christian religion can be crossed. The cyber space becomes a new missionary work field and it has many unique features to reach into un-reached nations and people groups living in restricted areas.

Furthermore, it is vitally crucial for the church leadership to clearly articulate its missional vision, which is to be embraced by the rest of the church’s community. The process of spiritual transformation starts from the invitation and continues through engagement and discipleship. This transformational process embodies the missional vision and the language for 'right now ' and 'here '. Surely, the church’s vision ought to be aligned with the missional attributes of the gospel itself, which are 'the good news is for everyone ' and 'belonging before believing '. Our witness should take place amidst relationship and listening. One principle that I consider to be exceptionally useful in my community is St. Patrick’s idea of Celtic Evangelism: establish community, engage in conversation, and invite commitment (2009, 101).