Resource Search Results

Two Pastors on Leading by Giftedness and Stewarding Diversity

Kizombo Kalumbula and Artie M. Lindsay Sr. helped found a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, modeled on leading by giftedness. Gradually Tabernacle Community Church realized that their natural diversity was a gift from God meant to be stewarded during “such a time as this” in American culture.

Conversation | April 11, 2023

Kizombo Kalumbula and Artie M. Lindsay Sr. on Work and Worship

Valuing diversity in worship includes but goes beyond multiethnic considerations. It also means helping people of different ages, abilities, and vocations see themselves as living out their part to usher in God’s shalom. Two pastors offer practical insights for congregations interested in work and worship.

Conversation | March 27, 2023

Artie Lindsay on Working as One Church in the Neighborhood

Artie Lindsay is the teaching pastor at Tabernacle Community Church, a multiracial congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In this edited conversation, he talks about the joys and challenges of serving the Alger Heights neighborhood.

Conversation | March 20, 2023

Two Pastors on God at Work in Ordinary People and Places

Moses Chung and Christopher Meehan cowrote the book "Joining Jesus: Ordinary People at the Edges of the Church." They hope these stories will give people and congregations hope, encouragement, and imagination to see what God is already doing in their neighborhoods.

Conversation | January 23, 2023

Lee Hardy on Housing, Justice, and Worship

Completing a grant project on faith communities and affordable housing convinced Lee Hardy that justice and worship are internally linked. That’s why he says worship services should include housing justice, and Christians and congregations should advocate to change unjust systems.

Conversation | March 01, 2021

Faith Communities and Safe Dwelling Places

Philosopher and author Lee Hardy noticed derelict buildings near his church for decades before realizing that faith-based communities have valuable resources to address the affordable housing crisis.

Feature Story | March 01, 2021

Georie Bryant and Reynolds Chapman on Prayer Walks

Sometimes Christians worry that praying in public will be embarrassing or offensive. Four congregations in Durham, North Carolina, organized a prayer walk that connected with neighbors.

Conversation | November 26, 2019

When Local Churches Learn and Worship Together

Four congregations in Durham, North Carolina, discovered that planning worship, learning, and reflecting together helped them be better witnesses in their East Durham neighborhood.

Feature Story | November 26, 2019

Renee Reimer on Being Rooted and Grounded in God’s Creation

Worshiping outdoors and bringing nature into worship helped one church experience more connections between God’s creation, worship, and neighbors.

Conversation | October 10, 2017

Worship that Blesses the Whole Community with the Whole Gospel

Most Christians know that Jesus calls us to love God with all we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Canaan Community Church changed its worship to truly follow the Great Commandment.

Feature Story | August 06, 2015

Jonathan Brooks on Ministering with the Community

The pastor of a church where love makes the difference explains why they no longer do outreach ministry.

Conversation | August 04, 2015

Green Congregations Promote Sustainability

Whether your church goes solar, diverts money from utilities to missions or plants a community garden, you can find creative and sustainable ways to model that the earth is the Lord’s.

Feature Story | May 28, 2013

Randy Weener on Multisensory Worship that Welcomes Neighbors

Randy Weener co-leads Wyoming Kingdom Enterprise Zone, a church multiplication initiative by Reformed and Christian Reformed churches in Wyoming, Michigan. In 2000 he planted a Reformed Church in America congregation in Allendale, Michigan. In this edited conversation, he talks about multisensory worship in that congregation that welcomes neighbors.

Conversation | September 12, 2012

How Churches Meet Their Neighbors

Here is the uncomfortable truth about becoming a congregation that loves your neighbors as you love yourselves: You have to go out and meet them.

Feature Story | September 12, 2012

Becoming Churches that Love Our Neighbors as Ourselves

Representing the love of God to neighbors works best in congregations that have a clear vision reflected in worship and prayer.

Feature Story | September 12, 2012

Love your Neighbors: Practice what’s preached

Acting on sermons about loving your neighbors is easier if you see yourself as able to give, join others in serving, and see your loving service as an act of worship.

Article | Feature Story | August 22, 2012

Preaching the Great Commandment

Do your church’s sermons disciple worshipers to love God and their neighbors with all they have? What does that love look like in your neighborhood?

Feature Story | August 22, 2012

How to Connect Church-Based Community Ministry Programs to Corporate Worship

Starting with his own very diverse church and community connections, Tony Campbell explored the many different ministry opportunities Christians have to deepen relationships between church and community, and offer a variety of ways to celebrate those relationships in worship.?

Audio | March 22, 2010

Worship that Renews the Me and Transforms the Us

Drawing from their diverse ministry experience, Jim and Rose Dekker --in Latin American ecumenical and spiritual direction-- and Jonathan Bradford --in a U.S. urban context-- explored the biblical concepts of knowing Christ the servant and serving Christ the Sovereign Lord. All of life must really be worship.

Audio | January 01, 2009

Love Your Neighborhood: Thinking about Church Buildings and Congregations as Part of the Neighborhood

This session considered a church building as being part of, and contributing to, the neighborhood that surrounds it. We explored how a building connects to a neighborhood in terms of scale and style, helping to shape the public realm, and how threshold points operate between the church and the public.

Audio | January 01, 2007