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Small churches sometimes feel weak or irrelevant. Intentional worship practices can help them discover their value before God and to the community.

Whether churches call it a message, teaching, homily, or sermon, there’s often a big gap between what preachers think they are saying and what listeners hear. Preaching can become more effective when ministers, priests, deacons, and laypeople learn how to talk together. This two-way preaching conversation requires a cultural shift.

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and truth will make you free [John 8:32]. Yes, truth will set us free—but only if it is the whole truth, the whole story. Honor-and-shame culture teaches us that there’s no story of honor if there’s no story of shame. You don’t bring honor to someone by erasing shame, but by bringing shame into the light.

You’ve probably heard that we should take all of ourselves to God in prayer. But does God really care about doing laundry, aging rapidly, fighting traffic, or spending time with friends? God does care, according to W. David O. Taylor. His Prayers for the Pilgrimage: A Book of Collects for All of Life offers prayers about mundane sorrows and joys.

Really? In the face of so much global need, the arts are a necessity?

All Belong will keep helping congregations become welcoming communities for people of all abilities, especially through its innovative Circle of Congregations for Teaching and Learning program.

A service plan for the week after Christmas planned around the Song of Simeon. Simeon's story speaks of fidelity, expectation, and hope, but it also warns about the danger of ignoring the Messiah. Part of an Advent series focused on the tension between the message that "Christ has come" and "not all is yet accomplished."

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.

New churches attract more newcomers than established congregations do--which means they must go out of their way to help people understand what they're doing during worship. These lessons in how to talk with and about God during worship can benefit any church. A feature story exploring worship in new churches and how to develop a faith vocabulary.

“If we don’t see each other in the Bible, we get stuck in social perplexities that cause us to not be a good witness,” says Emmett G. Price III.