At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge by Jack R. Reese. Eerdmans, 2021. “What will be the future Churches of Christ?” This is the question Jack R. Reese considers in his book At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge (Eerdmans, 2021), More starkly, the question Reese asks…
Heritage21 has worked with many churches to help them address different needs and situations. In the following article, Blair Bryan, one of the Heritage21 trustees, describes our approach to helping churches address their unique situations and gives some examples. I’ve discovered the importance of stretching every day for my own personal flexibility. If I do my…
Church leader, we are all still coming to grips with our new Covid induced reality. There are so many questions we need to ask so we can begin to investigate new answers. One of those questions is about growing again. Asking how a church can grow seems almost seems premature. In many locales the question…
The “Parable of the Talents” found in Matthew 25: 14-30, while multifaceted and deep in its meaning, seems to point out how we are to be good stewards of the earthly gifts God has given to us. In the story, a property owner has three servants whom he entrusted with different sums of money ranging from…
I have talked with enough church leaders to know the pattern well: attendance is declining and the perceived reasons why are numerous and varied. It is tempting to chalk the trend up to many different personal reasons like crowded schedules, strong preferences, or life just getting in the way. But studies show that people commonly…
Are you nearing leader fatigue? You would not be alone. You have the right to be tired, weary and fatigued. Leading a congregation through transition — whatever season it is in — takes a toll that rarely gets talked about openly. In conversations with church leaders across the U.S., I keep hearing the same themes…
I bet you’ve heard more than one person in your church complain, “You church leaders don’t communicate with us well.” Isn’t it surprising that in an age when there is the website, social media, email, texting—so many communication channels available to us—communicating well seems harder than ever! There are two communication rules that you need…
In 2018 the Baldwin Church of Christ (now the Cornerstone Church of Christ) was a typical church. But they didn’t want to be typical. They wanted to be more. Here’s what their preacher, Keith Caselman, has to say: “Leadership at Cornerstone, a century plus old church with less than 100 members, understood the overwhelming evidence…
When a California church faced a season of transition, its members had a choice. Hold tightly to what had been, or trust God with their future. Months of prayer, honest conversation, and a partnership with Heritage21 followed, turning a difficult decision into a beautiful display of the unity of the Spirit. A Legacy of Faithful…
Background and First Steps The San Leandro Church of Christ is a church of amazing diversity located in one of the thriving, dynamic communities of San Leandro, CA. (Right next door to Oakland.) Through much of its almost eighty-year history, the San Leandro church has been a trend setter. From their ethnic diversity to their…
The Hermitage Church of Christ was planted in the 1940’s on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee, moving to Hermitage in 1967. Over the next several decades this congregation grew into a large, dynamic church. But eventually, the congregation experienced a general, continuing decline in membership because of community demographic changes, fewer converts, less new people…
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