Your church size has huge implications. Church leaders often define their career worth in terms of people in the pews. It always seems to surface within the first two or three minutes of conversations among pastors. How’s attendance been recently? Read more…
Stop Medicating Your Church
A couple of years ago, one of our girls came home with a troubling look on her face. She was flushed and downcast. Her typically joyful seven-year-old attitude was gone. “Daddy, my throat started hurting at lunch time and it’s stillRead more…
Growing the Church
There are several ways a congregation can grow. However the two most often seen is “transfer growth” and “organic growth.” Transfer growth is the addition of new members through a merging of congregations, or believers moving from one congregation toRead more…
Minority Report
Listening to voices of dissent and discontent can be hard. Listening to them well can be painful. Listening to people express tension when you have planned and worked so hard toward unity can be almost impossible. The voices are there. TheyRead more…
A 21st Century Reformation of Supernatural Power: a response to Hwa Yung
Evangelistic progress in the West, and its downside There’s little doubt that recent gains have been made in the Western church in terms of evangelism. While evangelistic growth has been roaring ahead in the Global South, those of us whoRead more…
Infant Mortality
Originally posted at http://www.justinlong.org/2010/07/infant-mortality/ During the early years of the church, one of the factors contributing to its survival was charity. Rodney Stark in “Cities of God: the real story of how Christianity became an urban movement and conquered Rome”Read more…
Role & Significance Of Translation Of The Bible
The role of translation of the Bible and the significance of this is particularly noticeable in the expansion of the church in African contexts
Migration & Ethnic Conflict
In 50 years as missionaries, my wife and I have become familiar with immigration laws and offices in the countries where we served: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the United States and now Spain. As recently as 2007, in Valencia, weRead more…
Prosperity Gospel: Blessed Charity or Corruption?
“We determined that we were going to do things for ourselves and not be dependent on outsiders to support us” shared a Pentecostal pastor (Bob) from rural Africa during a theological class recently. “But”, he added (onerously to me!) “ItRead more…
Dialogue in Perspective
Years ago I was put off by the term dialogue because I perceived it to be a compromise to our call to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I did not understand at that time that dialogueRead more…