- Charting a Course in the New Reality
In 1997, the Board of General Superintendents declared the United States and Canada “mission fields.” They understood that the cultural role and social value of the church was changing in the face of increasing secularization, and that along with immigration and the growth of multicultural groups, these transitions would dramatically affect how ministry would be understood and accomplished in the future.
by: Bryon K. McLaughlin - Times Have Changed!
I am old enough to remember dial phones, carbon paper, vinyl records, and hand-crank car windows. After school, I played sandlot baseball until dark. Today, many of these neighborhood diamonds sit empty while kids stare mesmerized into video game screens. When I was a kid, the service station attendant ran out to meet you at the pump, washed your windows and filled your car with gas, all for free. Times have changed.
by: Bob Broadbooks - How the Local Church Has Responded to the Financial Crisis

It may surprise you that 37% of Nazarene pastors described their church’s financial health as either good or excellent in the Faith Communities Today survey conducted in the summer of 2011.* Yet, that still leaves almost two out of every three churches whose finances are—at best—tight, but manageable, or—at worst—in serious difficulty
by: Kenneth Crow & Richard Houseal - Turning Church Spectators into Active Participants

The story told in John 21:15-19 is almost too familiar. Three times Jesus asks if Peter loves him, three times Peter says yes, and each time Jesus responds with the commands: “Feed my Lambs.” “Take care of my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” Ministers know this passage and yet most feel lucky to see even half their flock at church.
by: Scott Thumma & Warren Bird - On “Being Church” A Wesleyan Understanding of Unity in Diversity
I... beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:1-6).
by: Mary Lou Shea - The Centrality of Worship
All kingdom work is rooted in worship. Or, to put it the other way around, worshipping the God we see at work in Jesus is the most politically charged act we can ever perform. Christian worship declares that Jesus is Lord and that therefore, by strong implication, nobody else is. What’s more, it doesn’t just declare it as something to be believed, like the fact that the sun is hot or the sea wet.
by: N.T. Wright - Advice to a Young Planter
The future of the Church lies in reproducing disciples, and a proven method is the multiplication of churches. These new church plants may or may not look like the “traditional” church. I have three decades of experience pastoring and planting “traditional” churches—if we can still call them that. The advice I offer here comes from that experience, yet I have great interest in missional models.
by: Kim Richardson - Missional Church Planting

It is often observed that starting new congregations with a missional imagination and posture is easier than reorienting existing ones. This is so in part because the process of planting a new church is inherently missiological and open ended.1 Leaders of new congregations must ask the key missional questions of identity and purpose that existing congregations often take for granted.
by: Craig Van Gelder & Dwight J. Zscheile - Putting the “Fun” in Funeral
MY SO-CALLED CLERGY LIFE: HUMOROUS OBSERVATIONS ON THE CARE AND FEEDING OF SOULS
Every pastor has a funny funeral story but won’t admit it--at least not to the laity. However, when the clergy get together at the café on Monday mornings, drinking strong black coffee, trying to re-group from Sunday, we start talking. Well, it’s Monday morning as I write this column and my coffeedrinking clergy buddies are out of town; therefore, I will confess to you.
by: Mark Hollingsworth - An Enthusiastic “Yes” to Yes in Christ by Howard A. Snyder
When I opened Yes in Christ: Wesleyan Reflections on Gospel, Mission, and Culture by Howard Snyder, my expectations were high. I hoped to read a collection of insightful, reflective, challenging, fresh articles grounded in John Wesley’s thought and practice and conversant with the issues of today’s Church. I was not disappointed!
by: Brad Estep