Our people, our ministries and our families have specific needs, but sometimes we don’t do a great job at identifying and ministering to those needs. So what can we do about it?
All in Church
Prayer in the Apostolic Church: Acts 12
The life of the apostle Peter was preserved against all odds, and once again the church witnessed the power found in prayer.
Habakkuk: Is a Prophet’s Message Bad News or Good News?
When I’m struggling with what seem to be God’s ideas, like Habakkuk did, God’s faithful response is always good news, even if it may not look like it at the time.
The Gospel According to Moses in Seven Verbs
We have found talking about these seven verbs from Exodus to be a very quick way to introduce who God is and how He matters in someone’s life.
Cultivating Intergenerational Friendship
Are our communities of faith creating spaces where intergenerational friendship might begin to blossom and bloom?
Fostering Collaborative Partnerships between Large and Small Churches
Churches need one another. Our shared goal should be to help each other become as effective as possible for the Kingdom.
Saul of Tarsus and His Preaching of the Risen Christ, Acts 9:1–19
To preach the resurrection of Jesus is to reaffirm our own resurrection and our own hope of life eternal.
The Unsung Heroes, Acts 11:19-20
These unsung heroes followed in the steps of Christ and in so doing, kept the flame of the Gospel burning. May God send us more leaders like them.
Praying for the Lost
If you pray for the lost, God will answer. He will send you people, and you will share Jesus. God will give the increase, more than you can ask or imagine.
The Unhurried Work of Love
This book surfaces pastoral practices and echoes of the Fruit of the Spirit that can shape both our personal relationships and our ministerial lives.
Lazy Conclusions about Decline Aren’t Helpful
Lazy conclusions about the causes of church decline aren’t helpful. A more thoughtful approach would be to go back to the basic idea of building a healthy church and then constantly renewing it.
Wait, What?? Modern Lessons from a Biblical Communication Breakdown
Both groups are being faithful to the Lord; they just can’t get along with each other. We must learn how to handle the conflicts that happen with each other so we can fight the real enemy together.
Becoming an Intergenerational Learner
Developing an intergenerational spirit of learning is a skill we develop throughout our lives. This means beginning to see the gifts that every age group—older and younger—has to offer to my life and the life of my church.
The Important Role of Small Churches in Ministry Preparation
We frequently view these smaller churches as merely being recipients of help. Instead, they are partners that often serve as incubators for future ministers and lay ministers of all-sized churches.
A Call for Greater Consideration of Small and Rural Churches
When a small church closes, a community loses both its anchor and the energy generated when it responds to local needs.
Mending Generational Divides: The Practice of Listening for Unity
We all have the capacity to make relational choices that can help mend age segregation in our churches. Specifically, I want to offer one practice for followers of Jesus that can help all of us swim upstream towards greater unity in the generational body of Christ: the practice of listening for unity.
Minister and Elder Relationships
I want to share some encouragement and guidance for how I am trying to maintain and develop healthy relationships with my current shepherds. I am by no means the expert on this dynamic, but I will share what little I have learned in over a decade of congregational ministry, serving in various roles for those churches.
When Power Replaces Pastors: Matthew 4:8-10
Somewhere along the way, some churches have confused being close to power with being close to God.
Launching the 2026 Ministers' Salary Survey
For over twenty years, the Siburt Institute Ministers’ Salary Survey has sought to help ministers and churches as they navigate the tricky waters of minister compensation. Before launching the 2026 version of the survey, our associate director, Dr. David Kneip, sat down (virtually) with our research director, Dr. Suzie Macaluso, to talk about the survey specifically and congregational research in general.
Spirit of the Living God
The real reason we typically don’t acknowledge the Spirit’s presence in our congregations and in our lives is that if we really took that “potter and clay” stuff seriously, we would have to let go of our control. Our fear of letting go is often stronger than our desire for the presence of God’s Spirit in our lives.