8/24/2010
United Methodist Communications just announced the release of the Rethink Church Edition Common English Bible (New Testament). Churches may order their own copies at $5 each to give away to church visitors or at Rethink Church events in their communities. Below is the UMCom news release: Give a Bible to someone who’s searching Nashville, Tenn: For less than the cost of a matinee movie ticket or a couple of gallons of gas, you can place the New Testament in the hands of a spiritual seeker who ...
5/6/2010
Is your church welcoming a new pastor this summer? Dr. Robert Crossman wrote a great article titled Preparing to Receive a new Pastor for the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. He also includes a link to "50 Ways to Welcome Your New Senior or Associate Pastor. Preparing to Receive a New Pastor by Dr. Robert Crossman Welcoming a new pastor in genuine and effective ways lays the groundwork for a healthy and vital relationship and for the development of stable, long-term ministries together. The ...
4/23/2010
Bethlehem First has had excellent response to the Master Greeter program. In fact, they would like every person in the church to think of themselves as a Master Greeter. Check out the attached link or contact Parker Benson for more information. From Parker: The Master Greeter stuff is great and can be found at http://www.mastergreeter.com/index.html We have shown the DVD to two separate groups and are now showing it to all the Sunday School classes. The booklet is great reading also. I ...
4/21/2010
There's no doubt that Mt. Vernon UMC in Rocky Face welcomes youth. They had a professional grafiti artist paint the room.
3/27/2010
The Korean UMC of Atlanta has some great signage. There are 39 parking spaces saved for parents of young children. What is your church saying, literally, with its signs?
3/9/2010
I came across this USA Today article that says 'Hospitality has found a home in the world of worship--and there's a lesson in this for the nation at large.' http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/12/column-churches-say-be-our-guest-.html
7/24/2009
Thoughts shared by Tom Compton, Pastor of Wesley Chapel UMC, Eatonton ReThink Church has a good number of free resources not the least of which is "Back to Church Sunday." "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." Colossians 4:5 I just wanted to tell you about something exciting! Did you know that there is a Special Sunday in September called "Back to Church Sunday"? I know, some of you will say-hey, EVERY Sunday is back to church Sunday...and it ...
4/13/2009
...The other book is more serious: Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer (HarperCollins Publishing). I had heard about the book, and finally someone pressed it into my hands to read on another long airplane ride. Much of the book is autobiography, but there are gems embedded in the story relevant to every dying church that lives in the illusion that they are a “friendly” congregation. Meyer’s repeated point is that opulent, ...
4/6/2009
Jasmine, the Mother Theresa Greyhound by Myke on March 27, 2009 In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused. In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a Greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock and known as a willing haven for Animals abandoned, ...
4/4/2009
Back on page 8B I read about Julia Kuhn Wallace categorizing churches in three ways, a hospice, a hospital or a hospitality place. She stated, "Hospice Churches are typically small, dwindling congregations." The article lacked the space to more fully explain the three categories but they are worth considering. I tend to focus on Walrath's three categories in my work with churches, the smaller church, the stable small church and the not yet big church. The smaller church looks inward and ...