Tag: membership

People in your church that you should be talking about at  elders/leaders meetings

I recently saw a post from Steve Kneale  about who you should talk about at elders’ meetings.  I did not disagree with the post but rather I thought it might be helpful to show another way of cutting things. Those moving in These are people who are new to the church or not yet members. … Continue reading People in your church that you should be talking about at  elders/leaders meetings

Should we make our church harder to join?

“Yes and no” The question is raised by Tim Suffield here. Or rather, Tim answers the question from his perspective with a hard “yes”. He argues that we shouldn’t be too easy to join, that “welcome requires walls” and that this means a church should be clear in communicating what makes it distinctive and what… Continue reading Should we make our church harder to join?

Leaving faithfully

So, what happens when it is necessary to leave your current church?  This may be because: You are having to move due to work or family reasons There’s a specific opportunity to serve God in a new context You disagree with the church over a significant issue in terms of doctrine, direction of travel etc.[1]… Continue reading Leaving faithfully

Sticking with church through tough times

It’s one thing to stick with a local church when everything is going well.  If the church is growing, there’s a great music group, you relate well to the pastor and there are so many encouragements. What happens when the church is struggling though? What happens when there’s been falling out, the praise isn’t great… Continue reading Sticking with church through tough times

Baptism, conscience and sin

The other day I wrote about how I approach the question of people who have been baptised in a paedobaptist context and whether or not a baptistic church should treat that as valid when welcoming someone into membership. The article was part of a series on baptism but it was responding to something Steve Kneale… Continue reading Baptism, conscience and sin

Baptism, paedo-baptism and the conscience clause

I’ve been writing a few blog posts about baptism and paedobaptism over the past few days and of course, this brings us to the question about what to do when there’s disagreement within a church on Baptism. My friend Stephen Kneale is very clear in his mind on this. He writes about it here. Steve’s… Continue reading Baptism, paedo-baptism and the conscience clause

Why are people attending church less frequently?

One of the trends that quite a few people have noticed in recent years has been the change in definition of what it means to attend church regularly. To those of us in church leadership, who have been Christians for some time, regular attendance tends to mean “at least once a week.” However, the reality… Continue reading Why are people attending church less frequently?

Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?

One of the graces in COVID is that it has pushed us hard to think about some key aspects of church life such as “What really is gathered worship?” and “What are the priority ministries of a church in the week?” There has also been quite a bit of discussion about when, how and why… Continue reading Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?