In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship element. If these primary goals are accomplished, then worship will not be empty and simple-minded. Instead, the worship atmosphere would be held to a higher standard and, she believes, both pleasing to God and attractive to those who do not know God. "Reaching Out without Dumbing Down" is a book intended for church leaders, elders, or pastors who are considering altering their current worship style to attract more unsaved people. The author provides excellent standards to help pastors and worship leaders plan, execute, and evaluate worship services. These same standards also provide a great opportunity to educate the church family on the reasons behind the use of certain worship elements. Although written for church leadership, everyday church members would also benefit from understanding the concepts that Dawn is directing at God-empowered leaders. Ms. Dawn's work is predominantly scholarly, and she cites several other works at great length.... ... middle of paper ... ...Not as a firm guide, but as thought-provoking advice on how corporate worship can impact an ever-changing culture. I think any worship leader would be impacted by Dawn's questions: • Is God the subject of your corporate worship? • Does your worship build the Christian character of the individual and invite them into the community of Christianity? • Are you dumbing down your content to reach out? • How will you reach out in the midst of a market-driven, television age? All of these questions must be pondered and discussed by those who lead, knowing they will be held accountable for their answers and actions at the end of the age.
While the major thrust of this manual is to help Christians in a nursing home ministry, this final part enlarges the scope a bit to help churches organize to meet the needs of elderly people both inside and outside of nursing homes.
In my paper I will talk about my visit to The Community Church at Murphy's Landing (CCML). I have chosen this particular Church because it is a family church type and my neighbor goes there and she encouraged me to go with her. I went there with my neighbor on April 6, 2014.This church is an appropriate for this assignment because the people there are welcoming me with an open heart and they are willing to help and provide me with information. When I visit the Church’s site I read these words “We know visiting a new church can be intimidating. But, we want to help you to be as comfortable as possible when and if you join us”. The people gather in the church weekly to glorify God in joyful worship. The expressions of worship on CCML take many forms a prayer, a hymn of reverent awe, a guitar ringing with a chorus of praise, or a warm handshake and a welcoming smile. Their weekly services begin at 9:30 each Sunday at church. Also, they have weekly podcast if anyone wants to listen online. They have many types of services for parents, kids and students. People at CCML were so friendly; they gather around me and start welcoming me, one by one. People there introducing themselves to me, one after another and provide me with their contact information and help. Then we start talking about the church services and Christianity in particular. The mission of CCML was knowing, growing and loving. They seek to live out our mission by worshipping together as a local community of believers, growing in spiritual maturity through discipleship, education, and small groups, caring for one another within the context of the larger church body and small groups, and Communicating the love of Christ to our world, both through local outreach and global mis...
Gary McIntosh earned a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Rockmont College. He pursued a career in the business world before being called by God to enter into ministry. He attended Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, graduating in 1982 with a D.Min. in Church Growth. McIntosh has served as Vice President of a church consulting company as well as accepting a call to teach at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. In 2005 he earned a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological seminary. He is the recipient of several awards, including one from American Society For Church Growth. McIntosh is a distinguished author when it comes to church growth, appearing in several journals as well as having authored over eighteen monographs regarding church growth.
The church meeting is for worship and for the growth of the saved. The fellowship on the Sunday is to energize us to reach out to the lost. The primary elements of the Sunday worship is the Lord's Supper, prayer, and preaching. Singing and fellowship are important secondary elements of the Sunday service. However those aspects easily become the primary focus of the service. So I make them lesser and it is easier to achieve balance in the service. My preaching must be understandable to even the most uneducated Christian. Furthermore, preaching must be solidly exegetical. I must never afraid to preach the hard things of the Gospel. We should allow non-Christians in the Sunday service, but do not seek them out for that service.
Christianity is one of the largest religions in world with believers spreading across barriers of language and culture. Christianity can come in many forms with beliefs on different subjects varying wildly, but there is one practice that remains relatively the same: church attendance. The ritual of getting up every Sunday morning and attending a church service including a sermon by a pastor and sometimes a smaller, more focused lesson given during what is called “Sunday School”, is something that is practiced by many faithful Christians across the world and the United States, in particular. Attending church is a practice that is integral to the Christian faith as it is shown in the Bible. It informs and impacts the lives of many believers of
This chapter came in handy because I was able to engage the congregation by asking the necessary questions to get their buy-in before actually setting the change in stone. Although I was ready to implement the change, it was not executed until the congregation saw the benefits and rewards. This practice is not always the best way, because time may or may not allow it. Mistake 3 : Fail to appreciate the power of fear.
Prior to reading this book I have to be honest and say that I had some false conceptions about worship. That sounds kind of scary to say but, through this booked I learned again and at a deeper level the importance of living in communion with God.
Rainer, Thom S. I am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference. Nashville, TN.: B&H Pub. Group, 2013.
Raised by evangelical Christian parents who switched from High Church traditions to non-denominationalism during their adulthood, encountering megachurch culture was an inevitable byproduct of my upbringing. Early on in my life, our family experienced church in a small, intercultural environment that...
Satterlee Anita. (2013), Organizational Management and Leadership: A Christian Perspective. 2Ed. Synergistics International Inc. Raleigh, NC
Webber was interested in how both the early church and the Old Testament worshipped, the problem in worship today he feels is bigger than just what instruments are used it goes deeper into the construction and substance of worship. There is defiantly a crisis in worship today. Worship in churches today lacks the ability to keep its audience interested , he describes it as dry and self-centered and says that it is because the vision of God and story in past, present and future history has been lost. Webber states that evangelical worship today fails to recreate Gods story, the evangelical worship service tries to pull out emotional responses and impart information to the congregation. Webber desires the Church
Not all-church growth is beneficial. Churches tend to take on the persona of their pastor. If the pastor is an evangelist then they church will produce evangelists, if they are a deeper teacher then the it will produce deep thinkers. Because of this, churches need a team to lead them so they do not become one dimensional, placing the fate of the church on one persons shoulders (Reimer, 2016). A church can experience rapid growth in a specific area but if it can’t compliment that area to make the discipleship process well rounded then cripples the people. A church can’t be so focused on evangelism that it doesn’t spend time making sure that proper discipleship is taking place with the people that they are
It was magnificent. The first thing to catch my eye was a monstrous chandelier that hung from the 50 foot ceiling. It was awe inspiring. As my eyes surveyed the room, it was hard to miss the antique maple pews that provided seats for approximately 300 people. Plush emerald green carpet was the grounding to the room. It's path led directly up to the stage which was home to a variety of items. The band, pulpit, arid baptismal were the most obvious. Above the stage was a huge dome, it was colored in shades of blue, mauve, white, and several other soft accents. A bright light was right in the center of its point. Our gazing was soon interrupted when the official greeter returned. This time she was quick and to the point. She collected our cards and informed us that service was about to begin. Within a matter of minutes, a middle-aged man stepped up to the pulpit and asked us to stand.
Bolger, Ryan & Gibbs, Eddie. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian community in postmodern cultures (Grand Rapids, MI) Baker Academic, 2005
Ritchie, M. (1999). Community bible chapel. The story of the church – Part 4, Topic 5. The Protestant