Healthy Structures – Membership This week I share the eighth of nine targets for healthy churches – Membership. The three targets under the category Healthy Structures are Leadership, Membership, and Discipleship. One of the New Testament images of the church is that of a Body made up of many members (1 Cor. 12:12-14, 27). Paul goes on…
Healthy Structure – Leadership This week I share the seventh of nine targets for healthy churches – Leadership. The next three targets fall under the third category Healthy Structures and they are Leadership, Membership, and Discipleship. For churches to be healthy it is important to have a biblical polity in place. It starts with the basic truth…
Healthy Foundations – Prayer This week I share the sixth of nine targets for healthy churches – Prayer. The three targets under the category of Healthy Foundations are Gospel, Scripture, and Prayer. From the church’s beginning they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to prayer (Acts 2:42). As the disciples followed Jesus, they took…
Healthy Foundations – Scripture This week I share the fifth of nine targets for healthy churches – Scripture. The three targets under the category of Healthy Foundations are Gospel, Scripture, and Prayer. From the church’s beginning they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching (Acts 2:42). The apostle Paul commanded Timothy, pastoring in Ephesus, to be devoted to…
Healthy Foundations – Gospel Today I share the fourth of nine targets for healthy churches. The next category is that of Healthy Foundations and the three targets in this category are Gospel, Scripture, and Prayer. Every structure that is built to last must have a solid and secure foundation. The gospel is an essential foundation…
Healthy Identity – Missionaries Today I share the third of nine targets for healthy churches. The final aim under Healthy Identities is that of being missionaries. Local churches are created as missionaries to the world. Every church is called to make disciples faithfully and boldly in her local context and to partner in mission efforts to make…
Healthy Identity – Family This week I continue to share the nine targets that we in the MBC Resound network encourage churches that we consult with to pursue. There are three categories with three targets in each category. The first category is Healthy Identity, and the three targets are understanding that as God’s people we are…
Healthy Identity – Worshippers For the next number of weeks, I am going to do a series of articles on the nine targets for a healthy church. I serve as one of the Zone Leaders for the MBC Resound Network, and in our work of revitalization, we have identified markers that reflect when a church…
This week as I continue articles on the association, I will address two questions. First, how do associations operate today? Today, both associations and churches remain autonomous and self-governing. The association has no authority over the practices of any member church. Even though churches are independent bodies, they are interdependent by choice through membership in…
The roots of Clay Platte Baptist Association go back to 1823, (196 years ago), when the Fishing River Association began. It was one of three associations that was formed when the former Mt. Pleasant Association, headquartered in Montgomery County, was divided into three areas. As so much a part of our history, Baptist began to…