Bread Church participants gather ingredients for an evening of baking and spiritual discussion. Photos by Brian Diggs.
Despite years of decline and worries about the future, Austin's Memorial UMC is moving forward in ministry, with bread baking, ESL classes and a decidedly Wesleyan model of church focused not on themselves but on their neighbors.
After visiting multiple churches, a potential congregant found the secret of how to choose her new church home: a congregation made her feel welcome.
After the police shootings in Dallas and incidents of police violence against African-Americans, the church can no longer afford to conduct business as usual, a prominent African-American pastor says in this interview. The church must radically return to what it means to be people of faith.
Photo by Mark Mulligan
Westbury UMC’s apartment ministry invites you to consider, “Who is my neighbor?” This discussion guide offers tips for studying this and other questions individually or with your colleagues in Christian institutions, congregations and elsewhere.
The addition of a contemplative Saturday evening service was part of a radical change in the worship life of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church. Photos by Tom Wallace
Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church has placed Sabbath keeping at the heart of its life together. Two Sundays a month, they take a rest from work and obligations -- and even the Sunday service.
Bigstock/iconvector
In order for churches to be provocative and compelling spaces for young people to encounter God, it is not enough to repackage traditional programs, writes a PCUSA pastor. But how do churches come up with ideas?
Bigstock/ jr4jesus
The Internet gives even small congregations the ability to offer vibrant adult education and formation programs, an Episcopal priest and founder of the online learning website ChurchNext.tv says in this interview.
The Rev. Mike Mather walks with the youth at Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. The church has closed many of its traditional helping ministries and created new ways to connect and support the community surrounding it.
Photos by Kelly Wilkinson
Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis has redefined what it means to serve its urban community. The approach is simple: See your neighbors as children of God.
The Rev. Mike Mather talks with the youth during a service at Broadway United Methodist Church. Photos by Kelly Wilkinson
A church learns that when it stops asking about a community’s needs and begins asking about its gifts, people learn that what we need is already here.
Denominational leaders must confront the brutal facts and share them with the congregations and clergy in their charge but they also must proclaim something that sounds like real Christian hope.