Jennifer GrishamWhen it comes to church volunteer training, you might say, as Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ” Having helped lead volunteer teams for hospitality, care groups, women’s ministry, events, finance, and...
Some years ago, Carl Trueman asked a question churches today are reckoning with: What can miserable Christians sing? In the midst of a pandemic, people in your services are likely struggling with fear, anxiety, grief, and uncertainty. We can’t know...
We were in the middle of a care group gathering at church. People would share some of their deepest struggles, and then, inevitably, a leader in training would derail the conversation with unhelpful questions. It’s not uncommon. We often tap people...
What’s the first part of your church’s worship services? Chances are, it’s a call to worship—even if your church doesn’t actually refer to it as a call to worship. What is a call to worship? Simply put, a call to worship is the beginning of a...
When God established the feasts in the Old Testament, he set milestones to remind his people about who he was and how he had rescued them (over and over). While many Christians no longer celebrate the feasts, there are still plenty of places on our...
These days, lots of folks are having trouble connecting with people at church. I’m not only thinking of people who worship with you via live stream but also people who have lost family members or jobs, people who feel lonely, or those with health...
With so many churches holding services online, there’s a good chance that more people than ever are hearing the good news of Jesus Christ right now. Which leads to an updated version of the question church leaders ask after visitors come in person:...
Are you intrigued by the term “digital literacy”? I was—and I didn’t know it was a thing until I started researching for this article. If you’re curious like I was, digital literacy refers to learning how to use technology responsibly in various...
During this Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating the ways women have contributed to the theology and ministry of the Church. Women’s contributions have been essential to the Church’s growth for the past 2,000 years, and that’s not changing...
When we look back on Church history, we see lots of familiar names and stories, like the revolutionary time Martin Luther read Romans or Jonathan Edwards preached his most famous sermon. So many stories like these have been passed down for...
My third December as a church administrator floored me. In January of that year, our church had planted a new church 20 minutes down the road, and 80–100 faithful leaders and givers went with the new plant to help the new church get going. We were...
How are you discipling families in your church? You may not have a formal family ministry, but having some sort of discipleship plan for parents and children isn’t optional. In days like these, where churches, schools, and kids’ extracurricular...
Put on your festal robes—the newest version of Logos Bible Software has arrived! Logos 9 is here with all-new features and resources to take the busywork out of your ministry. Watch the trailer to see what’s new! There’s a lot we think you’ll love...
If you and I sat down for coffee, we would probably have two different definitions of discipleship. We could point to a variety of verses that lay out complementary visions of what discipleship looks like practically and philosophically. But we...
Building a healthy online church community is a creative way to help people obey the “one another’s” of Scripture—particularly when face-to-face ministry isn’t an option (whether it’s because of illness, distance, or anything else). At its...
A few years ago, I wrote a few segments for a popular Bible study. I loved every little bit of the research and thinking and writing, but I was relying on a stack of books about half my height (which isn’t saying much—I’m not a tall...
The world can be a scary place. From wars to epidemics to natural disasters, we often have good reasons to be afraid. But Scripture reminds us that we have even better reasons to trust God. These 14 Bible verses about fear help us remember that God...
We’ve all taken photos of our Bible and a coffee mug—I know I have. But most of the time, I’m left wondering why my photo is missing the wow factor of other images. My image: A Faithlife Media image: In this short video brought to you by Faithlife...
Who wants to spend more time in prayer next year? (My guess is that’s everyone.) Prayer is one of those few things you can do with excellence the first time you do it—and you can still get better at it. But becoming better at prayer is an exercise...
These days are hectic and divisive—and while it can feel as if the chasms between each of us are deepening, recent films about Mister Rogers’ life are helping us remember our shared humanity. I recently went to a screening of A Beautiful Day in the...
If you’ve been following the Proclaim blog for a while, you may have noticed that we haven’t posted as much lately. That’s because we’ve been busy over on the Faithlife blog, creating lots of great content for churches like yours. And now, we’re...
Church advertising? Isn’t that a bit . . . commercial? I felt that way when I first started using Facebook ads for my church. But then I saw who was liking my church’s ad. Far from the usual suspects, dozens of people I’d never seen at our church...
There’s a reason New Year’s resolutions like “pray more” tend to fail. “More” is vague—when will you feel like you’ve reached your resolution? And if you’re talking about church giving campaign goals, “more” means practically nothing to your donors...
‘Tis the season for giving statements! When I was on church staff, I spent a week every January working on giving statements, from updating our mailing list to printing, folding, and stuffing as many envelopes as you can imagine (okay, it was...
What three mobile apps do your members use most? A recent survey shows nearly one-third of smartphone users rank their mobile banking app as their most-used app, just after social media and weather. And it’s not just the under-30 crowd that’s...
The songs we sing at Christmas are some of the richest, most special in the church’s history. But even the best songs can get overplayed. Here are a few modern Christmas songs you can add to the mix for some variety this year. “He Shall Reign...