Observations on Churches of Christ – The Graying of our Churches

by Tim Woodroof –   Interim Ministry Partners (IMP) has the privilege of working intensively with churches across the country—more than seventy-five congregations in the last few years. As a result of our work, IMP is strategically (perhaps uniquely) positioned to observe churches in a wide variety of circumstances and draw out some common themes. […]

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Ancient Wisdom, Modern Grace: Passing It On

by Phil Ware  When we saw the little body of Alan Kurdi washed ashore on a beach in Turkey, we were shaken by the real human anguish of the refugee crisis. One overturned life raft, a lost wife, and two lost sons made the agony of a father and husband inescapably personal. Two years later, […]

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Ancient Wisdom, Today’s Grace: Surprise!

by Phil Ware “Daddeee,” Megan said in her sweetest voice and using her pet name for me, “are we nearly to MiMi’s yet?” Megan loves her MiMi. It didn’t hurt that as she grew up, Megan’s MiMi lived in the country in an old farmhouse with lots of outside space to explore with her cousins. […]

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Ancient Wisdom, Today’s Grace: Singing the Jesus Song

by Phil Ware     Critical Moments Fragile. Vulnerable. And, threatened! The precious young church in Philippi was fragile, vulnerable and threatened. Two women, Euodia and Syntyche, had been essential in evangelizing and leading many of their new believers to Jesus. Now, however, they were at odds. The stain and strain of their disagreement was permeating […]

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Ancient Wisdom, Today’s Grace: Finding God’s Will

by Phil Ware Our Challenging Reality: A young woman shared her heart in Bible class: We all prayed and asked for God’s wisdom to know whether my dad should move to this new church, but we obviously misread the will of God. From the moment we arrived at that church, there were problems. People began […]

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Recovering a Vital Function Part Four: Counting the Cost; Paying the Price

by Mark Frost –  In these posts, I’ve been pleading for us to regain our passion for evangelism. I’ve found through experience that such a call will garner hearty “amens” from some quarters. I’ve also learned that some of those enthusiastic affirmations come from people who are not prepared to deal with what God may […]

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Recovering a Vital Function Part Three: The Approach

by Mark Frost –  How do we reach non-religious people with the good news of Jesus? The task is so intimidating that most believers never make much of an effort, preferring instead the safety of the insulated fellowship of like-minded people. But for many of us, the very survival of our congregations (not to mention the […]

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Recovering a Vital Function – Part 2: God’s Initiative

by Mark Frost –  At one time, what passed for evangelism among us was the task of winning religious arguments with people who shared our worldview and many of our core beliefs, including the authority of Scripture. But now, we find ourselves surrounded by a culture that no longer accepts our worldview and does not understand our […]

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Recovering a Vital Function – Part 1: The Cultural Shift

by Mark Frost – Evangelism. There, I said it. How does that make you feel? Frightened? Guilty? Confused? Maybe even a bit embarrassed? Most of us who claim to be Christians feel some level of responsibility to share our faith with others; after all, Jesus’ final instruction to “go into all the world and preach the […]

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A Tale of Two Leaders

 by Tim Woodroof and Jon Mullican –  Who you will be ten years from this moment will be determined by what you choose to do in this moment. Today is the seedbed of tomorrow. And tomorrow is closer than you think. Imagine two leaders from different churches reading this chapter at the same time. Both love […]

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