Category Archives: Church Trends

Lies About Christians: Why So Much Bad News?

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Jay F Guin

One of the most enjoyable books I’ve read lately is Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media, by Bradley R. E. Wright. Wright is a sociologist — and … Continue reading →

Posted in Lies About Christians, Uncategorized | 32 Comments

The Church and Postmodern Irony

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Jay F Guin

You have to watch the video, even if you’ve seen it before. It’s funny. It’s so funny I posted here a while back … just because it’s funny. I appreciate and enjoy the humor. I do. This is an example … Continue reading →

Posted in Church Trends, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

The Many Problems with the Emerging Church

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Thanks to Reverend Fun

Posted in Emerging Church, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: The Cure — Networking

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Jay F Guin

In the latest issue of Outreach Magazine, Ed Stetzer makes a point that caught me a little off guard — but I think it’s exactly right: Networking will go a long way toward fixing our churches. It’s not the cure, … Continue reading →

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Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: The Cure, Part 2

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Jay F Guin

So what do we do?We cannot simply mandate how churches, pastors, and believers live. Our theological convictions of the priesthood of all believers and local autonomy of the church lead us to allow each church to heed God’s will on … Continue reading →

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Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: The Cure, Part 1

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Jay F Guin

Any correct answer will blame us all — our institutions, our elders, our ministers, and our members. And while the members are hardly free from fault, I think those with the greatest influence get most of the blame — our … Continue reading →

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Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: Denial

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Jay F Guin

At this point, we pick up with Stetzer’s 2009 post, building on the 2008 post we’ve just covered. The SBC declined again this year in both membership and baptisms. You can read the news story here. There is some encouraging … Continue reading →

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Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: Gospel Focus

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Jay F Guin

The third, and most important, issue is our loss of focus on the Gospel. I find it difficult to even say such a thing, but, I believe it to be true. We must recover a gospel centrality and cooperate in … Continue reading →

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Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: Infighting

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Jay F Guin

A second issue is the infighting which defines so much of the SBC—its meetings, its churches, and its blogs. It is public knowledge that we do not always settle our differences amicably. The national caricature once again colors many local … Continue reading →

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Ed Stetzer on Reversing Our Decline: Leaders

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Jay F Guin

Back in April 2008, Ed Stetzer wrote a post on how to reverse the decline in the Southern Baptist Churches (SBC). He’s just followed that up with some additional thoughts following a year of experience and reflection. Stetzer is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Church Trends, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments