Discussing Church 2 The church is three years old and meets in a strip mall. Their goal is to “grow deeper, not wider.” Everything about this church is the opposite of last week. Consider these four church discussion questions for Church #2: 1. I park near the door. I later realize they leave the prime […]
Discussing Church 1 The church has no online presence, as well as an uninviting exterior. But the people inside are friendly, and we feel at home—mostly. But overall, they are a friendly church. Consider these four discussion questions about Church #1: 1. An unwieldy wheelchair ramp tacked onto the front of the building desperately needs […]
Discussing Church Visits I’m preparing to go to Church #1. The enemy harasses me. I don’t want to go. I now understand why the non-regular church attender can so easily stay home despite their best intentions. The living room recliner and television remote are much more inviting and much less threatening. Consider these two church […]
Don’t Misrepresent Your Church Service With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #52. This church offers two services. They call the first one blended, combining traditional and contemporary elements, whereas the second one is promoted as contemporary. Both […]
Don’t Do Church Wrong I think we’re doing church wrong. At first I assumed it was just me, but today’s church is stuck in a rut, an Old Testament rut. We follow an Old Testament model for church. Moses’s Method: The Old Testament Model When God gave Moses the Law, he established some key expectations […]
Lead Well With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #49. Out of several hundred people, only one greeted us before the service. His name was John, and we later learned he was the senior pastor. For an extra-large […]
Good Preaching is a Start, but it’s Not the End With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #46. Although the minister won me over with his teaching, his good preaching, the first half of the service remains my […]
Celebrate Your Minister With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #43. This congregation received us warmly and embraced our presence. They exuded a sense of family, just as true church should be. I felt a peace. I felt […]
Have High Expectations With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #42. I carried high expectations for this church, but I experienced a disappointing day when we visited. What they delivered fell far short of what I anticipated I […]
Reaching Future Generations With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #38. So many elements of this church excite me: a message with substance, elements in the service that pointed me to the worship of God, significant community before […]