The church website: The prospective visitor
A growing number of people are as excited about visiting a church as a cat is to plunge into cold water. Educating people about your church can relieve a great deal of anxiety about visiting. Location Let people know immediately if the church is in San Diego or Sydney. It makes a difference. <!--break--> Getting there Include a map,

My top ten mistakes on the mission field
I honestly thought this list would be hard to write for lack of material. Silly me! Failure to understand cross cultural missions theory Explanation: There are some important theological and cross-cultural considerations in missions I have blindly stumbled across over the years. I would have been a bit more clued in if I had read and studied extensively on the subject. Naivety about the trustworthiness of fellow missionaries Explanation: All missionaries just want to serve the Lord… Right? Spending too much money on our first home Explanation: A lot of missiona

How much should we support our missionaries for?
As I see it, we are throwing away 30% of our missions money. If you don't believe me, do the math. Call a mission board or sending church and ask how much money they recommend a missionary raise. Make sure it includes medical insurance, furlough, vehicle costs, ministry funds, and so forth. Using that figure, calculate how long a missionary will stay on deputation if he retains support from 25% of the churches he visits. Now, ask yourself if taking on fewer missionaries for more money isn't a good use of your money. A lot of churches are not currently able to change the amount they support missionaries for. However, some churches could make significant changes

Narrative preaching
Topical preaching picks a topic and runs with it supporting its premise with verses from all over the pages of scripture. Textual preaching picks a scripture and develops its premise with verses drawn from other passages. Expository preaching picks a passage and sticks with it rarely turning to other passages for support. <!--break--> The oldest method A few years ago, I discovered Narrative Preaching which is probably the oldest preaching method and yet the least used in developed countries. Many of our training institutions don't even mention it, and I really haven't found a good book on it. Some would say it is expository preaching in its highest form. Others

Seven suggestions for choosing a missionary
So you want to support a new missionary! Choose someone you know or someone who is known by someone you trust. Alternatively, get to know the person you are considering. Make sure you are maintaining the support of your existing missionaries. Keeping up with rising costs and inflation should be as regular as church staff salary and insurance increases. Try to determine if the person you are considering is a person of integrity. Read more