We as preachers/teachers/pastors have to figure out things to do in order to garner the attention of individuals and also keep them at our churches by making sure that we reinvent ourselves on a consistent basis.
A congregation that is not deeply and earnestly involved in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel does not understand the nature of salvation.
The right of the people to a substantive part in the government of the Church is recognized and sanctioned by the apostles in almost every conceivable way.
Ministers should impress upon the people the necessity of individual effort. No church can flourish unless its members are workers. The people must lift where the ministers lift.
The more I do bookstores, the more people come up to me from church groups. I spoke at Pittsburg State College and had 2 or 3 ministers and book groups from a couple of churches.
Because we employ no professional preachers, it means that every sermon or lesson in church is given by a regular member - women and men, children and grandparents.
One of the greatest priorities of the church today is to mobilize the laity to do the work of evangelism.
I am growing more and more aware that all too often we preachers aim at nothing and hit it.
When you are part of a megachurch, you have no responsibility to anybody else.
Preaching on Sunday mornings is such a simple thing, and by complicating it, I think we all do ourselves and the audience a disservice. It is very simple. Here is the model: Make people feel like they need an answer to a question.
I think that together the church has learned a lot, and as we know from our own oversight board, the involvement of our wonderful lay leaders has been a real grace.
