Tag Archives: church growth

Integrating newcomers into the life of your congregation

Everyday Ministry

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Most people would agree that if you don’t identify, connect and care for newcomers they are likely to either never return, or to stay on the fringe and eventually drift away feeling disconnected, unwelcomed and perhaps disillusioned. Everyone would agree that this is not the outcome the community of Christ wants for those that Jesus brings to our doors. (more…)

Laying the foundations at Church by the Bridge

Pastoral Ministry

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On the 6th February 2005, a small group of 42 people from St Thomas’s North Sydney met for the first time in the little church building on the main street of Kirribilli. According to their pastor, Paul Dale, the focus was to try and be a local church in the community, living out the gospel and trying to reach people in Kirribilli with the good news of Jesus. Just over four years later, Church by the Bridge has five congregations meeting in the building and about 400 people who are part of the church. Paul Grimmond spoke recently with Paul Dale about his role as pastor of this church plant and the place of one-to-one ministry in his busy life.

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The church on the move: An interview with David Cook

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David Cook, Principal of Sydney Missionary and Bible College (SMBC) in Croydon, NSW, Australia, recently authored an excellent guide for those wanting to preach through the book of Acts: Teaching Acts (Christian Focus, 2007). Peter Hastie speaks to him about preaching, mission and what the book of Acts has to say about church growth.

Peter Hastie: The book of Acts is said to be a ‘tonic for the soul’. What are some of the things that Luke says are crucial for our spiritual strength and vitality? (more…)

The strategy of God

Pastoral Ministry

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Just what should we be doing in Christian ministry? Do our churches need a vision document, a mission statement or a strategic plan? Phillip Jensen says that strategy is important, but our job is not to work it out; God has already done that.

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Planting the Café Church

Pastoral Ministry

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How to turn a languishing evening service into a lively, welcoming service with a bit of creativity and a lot of help from God, by Bob Burnett.

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Doing what works (part 2): The Bible’s marching orders

Thought, Sola Panel

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In the first part of this article (in our last Briefing), we looked at the pluses and minuses of pragmatism. We saw that ‘doing what works’ is a quite legitimate path to follow in one sense, because God has created an orderly world. Yet pragmatism has its limitations, as a result of the complex and flawed nature both of the world and of ourselves. We ultimately need a revelation, a word from outside, to guide us.

But how does the Word guide us? In our last article, we looked at one approach, the so-called ‘Hooker Principle’. Let us begin Part II, by looking at a related but much more recent way of using the Bible.
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I will build my church

Pastoral Ministry

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The challenge of church planting

Perhaps it is because whenever we read the verse, we think of claims to papal power and the need to prove that Peter was not the first pope. Whatever the reason, we often forget the other more positive side of Matthew 16:18: “I will build my church.”

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Should we pump it up?

Everyday Ministry

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What is the optimum size for a congregation? From one point of view, the answer seems obvious: you want more and more people in your church because that means more and more people in the kingdom. But it just might be that those two things don’t necessarily go together.

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The pornography of church growth

Pastoral Ministry

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A postcard from America.

Dear Tony,

How are you doing? That’s what Americans keep asking me. Not ‘how am I going’, but ‘how am I doing’. I have a theory that the difference between American and Australian culture is encapsulated in those simple phrases. The US variety is dynamic, assertive, achievement-oriented. It’s all about who is trying harder, doing better. The Australian equivalent seems more laid-back—a reference to sort of wandering along, taking it easy and seeing what happens along the way.

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