The Importance Of Church Covering

According to Phillips (2008) “In today’s moral and social turmoil, the church has functioned less like an anchor giving stability and strength in the midst of a hurricane, and more like a spider spinning a web on the hands of a clock”. (Phillips 2008, p. 240).

Congregational churches can confuse the roles of deacons and elders, in a way that people may question is his function to serve or as a person who goes to board meeting. For a congregational structure is a difficult function in a large church. With this form of church government members can reject or question any form of church leadership and authority. This can lead to the churches getting rid of its pastors or people from the church board. Some of the decisions of the church are made from the vocal feelings of one person’s convincing feelings, instead of thought out considerations.

A church whose pastor and others in leadership have failed to put in place a proactive plan for discipleship for Believers is usually a “growing” church — growing stagnant, growing cold, growing spiritually immature Christians, and eventually, many growing closed. Patte said, “There is much at stake in accepting or rejecting the challenge of discipleship…” When a pastor or a church makes a conscious decision to make discipleship of Believers a primary focus in their

These surveys show that church leaders have a great challenge ahead of them in order to prevent people from leaving church. They have to be more effective and have to think of creative ways to retain people in the churches.

It was the first time that I felt God’s presence at an annual conference. As odd as it may sound, it is true. Bishop Chow tipped off the conference with an open dialogue about the state of the church. Of course I debated with the young man next to me that it was our inability to attract and keep youth. I argued that our traditional structure has built a fence too high for millennials and screenagers (Generation Z) to climb; making them feel boxed in and unwelcomed. But Bishop Chow quickly proved us wrong. His diagnosis was that the Holy Spirit had left the church. Because we’ve become so entangled with who we are, the Holy Spirit cannot move within the church. He asserted that new programs and initiatives cannot fix a dead church; that we must loosen the chains that we’ve given ourselves so that we can fully praise God. Only then, will his people draw near. I could feel God move amidst the hearts of the conference.

“On this rock I will build My Church.” This is the timeless promise Jesus gave as he spoke to Peter in Matthew 16:18. Over the ages this bell of truth has rung resoundingly throughout church history, as the church has experienced periods of growth and decline. It provides assurance for churches as a whole. The Church must remember that Christ is it’s head and that only by his power will a congregation experience revival and revitalization.

The risk for organizations during this phase is to assess for good yet a limited set of qualities in potential church planters. Current tools are helpful, but they are lacking. What they are lacking causes a problem because what is missing in the gap is not emphasized during the earliest stages of church planter formation. What is being emphasized, in other words, assessed is being communicated as a value such as skills, ability, knowledge but what about a planter’s posture towards God, the church, and culture? Church planting organizations will often teach and train about what the purposes of the church are and what the planter needs to do in those areas but without an assessment of their current preferences

Many churches are experiencing economic hardships at this time, and the Methodist church is no exception. In addition to drops in attendance over the last half century, Religion News reports “The percentage of a church member’s income given to the church dropped to 2.3 percent in 2011 (the latest year for which numbers are available), down from 2.4 percent in 2010, according to the Empty Tomb study.” (Burgess) Because of this, many churches are feeling the strains of limited funds. But, there are ways that I believe that the church could possibly improve their situation. The problems include people treating the church as a free rider program, the church being used as a common pool resource, and people acting so that the church becomes a tragedy of the commons. Near the end, a solution will be offered, and it will be explored whether this solution lines up with the church in a normative manner.

In past decades, continuity flourished in Church life through baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and funerals. For many reasons, including shifting demographics and social mobility, such continuity has vanished. Consequently, today’s Church now ministers to people who do not share continually in church life; yet they remain the Church's responsibility simply because they are baptized. The challenge today is to treat all people, both the churched and the un-churched, as people of

Charles Engen initiates us positively by encouraging us to think what if each church would begin to see itself as God’s Missionary People. There is much to commend in his book as Engen asks the church to become in fact what it is by faith, a marvelous statement. Further insights come from statistical analysis, probing questions of eccesiology directed at questioning if we superimpose ourselves in areas of polity, form, structure or tradition upon the cultures we reach. I agree completely that making cosmetic changes or restructuring the denomination may not translate into crossing barriers from church to non church for the sake of the gospel. The church is compared with the noble works of the para church which forces us to think about how

The religious belief of Christianity is in a devastating decline in the United States, especially within the millennial generation. As a result, church attendance in America is the lowest point it has been in the last 20 years. What is the reason behind this heartbreaking trend? What can the modern church do to help combat the alarming trend of millennials who are leaving Christianity? Has the churches pursuit of becoming “seeker friendly” left a void in the spiritual depth found within traditional programming? The solution can be found in holding on to traditional roots while modernizing church liturgy and protocol to reach the millennial generation.

Struggles are subject to happen in any given church if not conducted in a way pleasing to God and in view of his word being preach and teach to his congregation of people. In a research of churches struggling, the Catholic churches are prominent ones of reference. Everywhere from Boston to Minneapolis, Catholic churches have closed or been into regional cluster. The chief reason is declining Mass attendance. In New York, Mass attendance has fallen to European levels, around 15 percent on an average Sunday, according to The New York Times. In Boston, it is even lower, around 12 Nationwide, only twenty-four of Catholics go to Mass average Sunday, down from 55 percent in 1965. Several Catholics churches throughout the United States have begun to struggle in attendance of their morning Mass, mainly in the area of youth, treatment of lesbian and gays, the respected of women’s participation in the church, and the use of birth control. Sadly, these issues many churches will face in the future generation of churches attendance. Churches cannot dismiss these everyday life situations. A collection of these issues is what makes up today’s family. If only certain part of a family is welcome in the church, then the church loses the whole family. Churches are known to have a diverse in

Change is a double-edged sword (Fullan, 2001). Change is a word that might inspire or put fear into people. Leadership is challenging when it comes to dealing with change and how individuals react within the organization to the change. Marzano, McNulty, and Waters (2005) discuss two orders of change in their book School Leadership that Works; first and second. Fullan (2001) also adds to the discussion in his book Leading in a Culture of Change, with regard to understanding change. In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individuals throughout the change process.

This makes sense as readers come understand that the church is made up of living members, therefore the church itself is a living organism. The life cycle of the church is known as St. John’s Syndrome. McIntosh illustrates this phenomenon by using a bell curve, moving through all the stages of life. St. John’s Syndrome has patterns and characteristics that are easily recognized and occur at predictable times. McIntosh spends the rest of time in part one introducing the reader to the various stages of church congregational lifecycle. Readers learn what key characteristics are so that they are able to analyze their own congregations. McIntosh presents several challenges that must be overcome as well. Readers also learn how to lead their church congregations during times of growth to avoid decline, looking for “choice points.”

Churches throughout the world teach the Good News in diverse settings. Some churches use a the pulpit to deliver their message every Sunday, while others take a more organic approach meeting outside the walls of the church in several places to deliver the message of Jesus Christ. In America, the mission of the church is set against an environment of secularism. Secular values of diversity and extreme liberty have created a culture of ‘anything goes’ that leads to ambivalence among unbelievers. The universal belief in today’s culture is that if it works for someone, it is acceptable but if it does not work for someone then it can be ignored. The