Tag Archives: church growth

Case Study: Meeting the Leadership

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Don Merritt

Today we’ve moved into the next step in our case study of Franklin Christian Church (FCC) in Franklin, Illinois, and as promised yesterday, we will meet the leadership in this episode. If you haven’t seen the first few posts in … Continue reading →

Posted in christian | Tagged Applied Theology, Bible, Christian, church, church growth, discipleship, hope, Jesus, life, perspective | 10 Comments

What… me change?

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Don Merritt

At the end of yesterday’s post “Something Special” I mentioned that the challenge for FCC and other churches like it is whether or not enough people there would be willing to make changes to grow, both spiritually as a congregation and numerically … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged attitude, Christian, Christmas, church, church growth, discipleship, perspective | 15 Comments

Something Special

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Don Merritt

The other day, I told you about the town I visited last week, Franklin, Illinois. In that post, I promised much more about Franklin, and so today I’ll begin telling you some interesting things about the church I visited with, … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged Christian, church, church growth, discipleship, encouragement, inspiration, Jesus, life, perspective, photos | 10 Comments

Are we becoming obsolete?

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Don Merritt

Our friend Bargo sent me this photo that he took of an old covered bridge recently, and it struck as both hilarious and chilling; take a closer look at it, if you would… Those old rules are really funny in … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged attitude, Christian, church, church growth, hope, Jesus, life, perspective, photos | 13 Comments

What’s in a Leader?

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Don Merritt

We live in a time when there just don’t seem to be any leaders out there, but then people have been saying that for centuries. Yet throughout history, leaders will emerge periodically, sometimes almost from nowhere. These great leaders are … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged attitude, Christian, church, church growth, encouragement, history, hope, inspiration, Jesus, leadership, life, perspective, photos | Leave a comment

“Hey! Aren’t you a history geek?”

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Don Merritt

“Yes I am, thank you for asking.” “Then how is it that you’re always slamming traditions in the church?” “That is a great question. Let’s see if I can explain that…” It’s true, I am into history. You may have … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged attitude, Christian, Christianity, church, church growth, history, hope, Jesus, life, perspective, photos | 4 Comments

The Other Question

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Don Merritt

This Could Turn into a Rant! In the interests of full disclosure, this question was asked before the question I posted about this morning. You can read the earlier post here. The question was: Do you see the Holy Spirit working … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged Applied Theology, Bible, Christian, church, church growth, encouragement, hope, inspiration, Jesus, life, love, perspective, photos, rant | 11 Comments

Worship Team as a laboratory for making disciples

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Don Merritt

“Bargo” asked me to post something on this topic which really goes back to a remark I made in a conversation some months ago. Worship Team is a laboratory for making disciples… For this remark to make any sense, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged Applied Theology, Christian, church, church growth, discipleship, encouragement, hope, Jesus, life, love, perspective | 4 Comments

Memorial of warning and hope

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Don Merritt

The old Memorial Christian Church building stands in Rock Island, Illinois where it has been since 1896. It has been the home of thriving congregations of Christians who shared the light of Jesus Christ in Rock Island for many generations. … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged attitude, Christian, Christianity, church, church growth, encouragement, hope, inspiration, Jesus, life, perspective | 3 Comments

Friends

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Don Merritt

There are times when you have the chance to step back and take stock, times when it’s perfectly natural to experience wonder at all of the things God is doing in your midst. In these times, we have a sort … Continue reading →