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Author Archives: Jay F Guin
Entertainment, Applause, and Worship
Recently, we received a complaint that something we were experimenting with at church is wrong because it’s “entertainment. This is not surprising. Many Church periodicals have taken to condemning various practices on the grounds that the practice is entertainment, as … Continue reading
Posted in Instrumental Music, Uncategorized
Tagged All, Youth ministry
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Advice for Two New Elders
Well, we ordained two new elders today—poor guys. I was supposed to join them for lunch today and offer some words of advice, but my old nemesis, kidney stones, intervened to keep that from happening. During those few hours when … Continue reading
Lord of the Sabbath
I’m teaching a class on Luke and this is the next passage. It’s not an immediately transparent passage, at least not to me. (Luke 6:1-10) One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some … Continue reading
James, Faith, and Works
For reasons I can’t really explain, I’m just fascinated by Church of Christ listservs. I’m endlessly fascinated by the discussions that take place. Some are really quite insightful, even brilliant. Others are just a little odd, even worrisome. One of … Continue reading
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Faith Only, and Baptism
We in the Churches of Christ often resist the idea of being saved by “faith only,” as stated in the classic Reformation formulation, for fear of denying the necessity of baptism. Indeed, many who take a Calvinistic view of baptism, … Continue reading
Posted in Baptism, Uncategorized
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Organizing Your Church for Ministry, part 4: the ministries team concept
Our church’s ministries were overseen by “ministries team” for over a decade, and the team’s list of accomplishments is quite long. The concept doesn’t work in a very large church, for reasons to be discussed. And the concept won’t work … Continue reading
Posted in Organizing Your Church, Uncategorized
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Organizing Your Church for Ministry, part 3: one model for deacons in a large church
As you may have surmised, my own church, with attendance of around 700, has struggled with how to fit our traditional teachings on deacons into our ministry structure. We went through a period where the church was run through monthly … Continue reading
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Organizing Your Church for Ministry, part 2: what do deacons do?
We have taught for a century that a scripturally organized church has a plurality of both elders and deacons. However, we seem not to have noticed that the Bible nowhere says what it is that deacons are to do. As … Continue reading
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Organizing Your Church for Ministry, part 1: how growth changes how churches are organized
This series of posts is to suggest some ideas for how a church might be organized to do ministry. The fact is that as churches grow, they have to reorganize. Structures that work in a church of 200 likely won’t … Continue reading
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A Covenant to Serve (for new elders)
Some years ago, when I was first ordained as an elder, the elders asked me to read, sign, and keep a copy of this document. The years have proven the wisdom of asking new elders to do this. The Bible … Continue reading
