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May 14, 2024 · Here are a few tips to think about as you take steps to work on your church culture. 1. A healthy culture must have ownership, buy-in and intentionality from the top. Period. Culture often flows downward. I will not work with a company or organization if I do not have buy-in and participation from the top leadership.
- 5 Things Your Church Must Prioritize to Thrive - Outreach
1. A Spirit of Grace and Kindness That Permeates the...
- 5 Things Your Church Must Prioritize to Thrive - Outreach
- The “Tov” Proposal
- Tov Church Membership
- Tov Pastors
- Tov Confession
- Tov Mission
- Reconsidering The “Good” Church
Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer offer a clear proposal for what makes a “good” church in their recent book A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing.1 McKnight is a well-known biblical scholar and author who teaches New Testament at Northern Seminary, and Barringer (McKnight’s daughter) is a...
The closest thing to a definition of “church” comes in the book’s final chapter: “A church is not a business.… A church is a local community of believers who are striving to be like Christ, both as a congregation and as individuals” (p. 215). Churches should be marked by interdependence, not hierarchy, as people work together “under the exclusive h...
A Church Called Tov sharply criticizes the “celebrity pastor” phenomenon and calls churches to resist “a celebrity culture” while cultivating a culture of service (pp. 183–200). McKnight and Barringer offer several examples of servant-leadership: the senior pastor holding babies in the nursery or regularly visiting his mother with Alzheimer’s (pp. ...
Having considered McKnight and Barringer’s approach to church membership and their vision for pastoral ministry, let’s now turn to a specific example of how a tovchurch operates in the area of public confession. Chapter 9 present Israel’s Day of Atonement practice as a model for churches committed to nurturing confession, repentance, and truth-tell...
McKnight and Barringer regularly refer to the “mission” of tov churches. For example, they write, “A Christlike church culture always has its eyes on people because the mission of the church is all about God’s redemptive love for people” (p. 23). What does this mean, exactly? In context, the authors draw a sharp contrast between “toxic, flesh-drive...
A Church Called Tov commendably calls out carnal, celebrity-seeking leadership in the church and calls for churches to cultivate Christlikeness, compassion, truthfulness, and other admirable qualities. We want local communities of believers who strive to follow Christ, confess sin and bear fruit of repentance, use their gifts to serve the body, and...
- A Biblical Purpose. Many modern-day churches have a consumer mentality in which attenders think the church exists to meet my needs. But the church isn’t about me or you.
- A Spiritual Passion. Only the Holy Spirit can develop a passion in people’s hearts for the things of God. Leaders may be able to encourage (or coerce) people in spiritual activity, but without the Holy Spirit’s work, there is no abiding change in people’s lives—no overcoming habitual sin, no ongoing walk with God, no being transformed into the image of Christ.
- An Uncompromised Position. A healthy church takes an uncompromising stand for the faith. It is a church willing to “earnestly contend for the faith.” Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.—
- An Endowment of Power. A healthy church is not one where every Christian is frantically trying to do the work of God, but one in which God’s power is working through Christians diligent in their witness and service.
- Palitha Jayasooriya
- A church built on God’s Holy Word. “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42) The believers were devoted to the teaching of God’s holy Word.
- A friendly church. “They devoted themselves…to the fellowship” (Acts 2:42) As I read through this passage, I can’t help but feel that this church was a happening place.
- A church energized by prayer and worship. “They devoted themselves…to prayer” (Acts 2:42) The believers were in constant prayer and worship, both individually and corporately, which in turn energized all they did.
- A church powered by the Holy Spirit. “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles” (Acts 2:43) We often see company websites saying that they are ‘Powered by X’ or ‘Powered by Y’ to validate the strength of a brand.
Jun 29, 2022 · Church innovation leader Matt Engel says the health of a church depends on its ability to do five things well: attract, get, keep, grow, and multiply people. Every activity or program within a ...
Mar 2, 2017 · Advertising is not marketing. Advertising tells, marketing communicates. Advertising promotes the seller, while marketing promotes the buyer. 5. They know the opposition. The world is relentlessly and successfully evangelizing to the way of destruction. May the church raise the standard to the way of the Lord. 6.
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Jun 21, 2024 · 1. A Spirit of Grace and Kindness That Permeates the Culture. The great void in current culture is grace and kindness. Thankfully, we see it in action, but it’s not the overall tone in most communities. The cultural tone today is divisiveness, judgment, exclusiveness, and discontent. The church has an incredible opportunity to be the bright ...
