Revitalizing Your Church Through Growing Young by Ben Lundquist
In this video from the Church Revitalization Bootcamp, Ben Lundquist presents a research project that came out in 2016 pioneered by the Fuller Youth Institute of Pasadena, California, called Growing Young, and how the Seventh-Day Adventist church got involved and is leading the way with a Growing Young research ahead of all other denominations around the world. Watch the video here.
Ben Lundquist is the Young Adult Ministries Director for the Oregon Conference.
My church is declining, is there hope? by Ben Orian
In this video, Ben Orian tells the story of the Springdale Adventist Fellowship revitalization. Springdale Adventist Fellowship is the oldest Adventist church in the state of Arkansas, and at that time, it was a dynamic and relevant church. Ellen G. White visited the Springdale church and preached behind their solemn pulpit, and the entire city came out to hear that beloved woman preach. Fast forward 130-plus years, and that once engaged church had declined, with attendance between 20 and 100 and many ups and downs. What happened? How did the Springdale Adventist Fellowship get its act in gear and was revitalized? Watch the video to learn more.
Ben Orian is the Senior Pastor of the Springdale Adventist Fellowship .
How Can Natural Church Development Help My Local Church Assess its Health? – Part 1 by Buster Swoopes & Jakov Bibulovic
In this video from the Church Revitalization Bootcamp, Buster Swoops starts off by presenting the need for churches' evaluation. Swoops says that evaluation and debriefing create a culture of excellence because ministry quality gets the attention it deserves. There are spiritual tools that pastors can use to see if their churches are healthy and ready to grow. The Natural Church Development evaluation is one of them. Watch the video to learn how Buster Swoops has used real and accurate data from the NCD to revitalize his church.
Buster Swoops is Regional Director of Clinical Mission Integration at Huguley Hospital.
How Can Natural Church Development Help My Local Church Assess its Health? – Part 2 by Jakov Bibulovic
When was the last time you did your health checkup? Jakob Bibulovic shares his struggle with personal health and says that sometimes it is hard to check your health because it brings changes. Assessing and evaluating the local church's health is as crucial as assessing your health. When was the last time you did your church's assessments? Bibulovic presents the Natural Church Development and how it brings positive changes and revitalization to churches that have implemented this assessment type. Watch the full video here.
Jakov Bibulovic is the Director for Church Growth / Church Planting / Evangelism at the Ontario Conference in Canada
Charitable Contributions
Most Adventist Pastors are generous with their charitable contributions.
Adventist Pastors whose net worth is anticipated to be over one million give a higher percentage of their income to charity.
Your net worth may increase when you give money away to charity.
Power Distance: Neither Distance nor Powerlessness
I could sense the immediate disconnect between them because they did not share a common understanding of status.
The culture in which Jesus lived embraced a patron-client cultural construct which supports an unequal power distribution amongst members of society.
Do not avoid conversations about power; power distance exists and it helps to bring out biblical examples of how Jesus dealt with and re-interpreted it.
Next NAD Ministerial Book Club Explores Mark Dever’s Classic, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
One must recognize what a healthy church is in order to become one.
New material includes an emphasis on both individual and corporate prayer, and the importance of the church as involved in local and global missions.
Register today to be part of this ever important discussion.
How Are We Doing? By Brian Ford
In this presentation, Brian Ford speaks about the results of a survey on church vitality. He talked to people with experience with church vitality, and they said the three things commonly used to assess vitality are attendance, baptisms, and contributions. He compares them with what you get taken at the doctor: height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse. They don't tell you everything, but their rates signal that there might be a problem or that things are going well. Watch the full video here.
Brian Ford is the Director of eAdventist
Why Are We Here? by Jose Cortes Jr.
In this video, Jose Cortes Jr talks about Acts 12:24 and how the early church kept increasing and multiplying amidst extreme hardship, political divide, persecution, economic hardship, and racial tensions. He answers the questions: Why are we here? Why do churches die? What does a church need to be revitalized? What is a multiplying church? To watch this video from the Church Revitalization Bootcamp, click here.
Jose Cortes Jr. is the Associate Director of the North American Division Ministerial Association. He leads in the association's areas of Evangelism, Church Planting, Global Mission, Church Growth, and Mission to the Cities.
April 9 – Easter
Easter is a big celebration for churches, here are some ideas you can use in your church:
Leading up to Easter, create a devotional or week of prayer beginning on Monday that discusses the meaning of Easter for adults, teens, and children.
Post pictures and videos to the church Facebook and Instagram page about Easter.
Produce a video or social post explaining the significance of Easter in the context of our Christian faith, and how to recognize and celebrate Easter at home.
Post a recipe for unleavened bread that families can make together at home.
Have a virtual communion service. Create an online, live foot washing service. Have the pastor talk about the significance of foot washing, while people watch and wash each other’s feet at home.
Email a devotional, craft idea, activity pages to your congregation and invite them to share these with friends and neighbors.
Create a reflective service by hosting a service with songs and reading devotionals on the bible verses of Jesus on the cross.
Ask people to film themselves explaining how Jesus changed their life in 1 minute, then create a testimony video using the clips.
Avoiding Consumer Debt
Adventist Pastors whose net worth is anticipated to be over one million are more likely to avoid consumer debt.
Some kinds of debt can play a role in a pastor’s finances.
Credit cards, if not paid off completely at the end of the month, prevent the buildup of net worth.
Justice and Mercy—The Culturally Intelligent Way
It’s amazing to see the change in behavior when Jesus challenged their perception of “the other”.
Extreme prejudice leads to violence.
An anger rooted in love results in acts of compassion.
The Revitalization of Springdale Adventist Fellowship
How do you re-energize a plateaued church? This story follows Benjamin Orian, Pastor of the Springdale Adventist Fellowship in Arkansas, where they revitalized and refocused their church community. He explains how the congregation rewrote its narrative, refocused its ministry, and got involved to spark church growth and energy. Watch the full video here.
Confessions of a Burned Out Pastor
But suddenly I hit a wall. I was no longer motivated, I was listless. I was missing some appointments and inadvertently double-booking others.
I was a pastor and things were coming at me all the time. I didn’t have the luxury of stopping to consider how I was feeling.
But there is something wrong with the way that we add virtue to never taking breaks.
Former Seventh-day Adventist Pastors: Qualitative Study Report (2021)
The most often cited challenges that led to a decision to seek other career options included: (1) having ongoing challenges with church members, (2) encountering difficulties with Conference leadership…
Perhaps one of the most painful challenges that former pastors recalled was the pervasive sense that their administrators and/or church members did not care about their welfare.
When these participants judged the cost of continuing in ministry on the family as too high, this served as impetus to leave pastoral work.
Deferred Gratification
Adventist Pastors whose net worth is anticipated to be over one million are more likely to practice deferred gratification.
Use an aging app to have a conversation with your future self.
If you invest $1,000 a month for 40 years your future self will be a millionaire.
After the Earthquake: Ministering to People in Crisis Cross-Culturally
Many Muslims are struggling with this earthquake not only at the human level (senseless loss of life), but at a theological level, too.
Sixth principle: a prayer that is “ours” is better than one that is “yours”.
Prayer is sweet, healing, and in his presence we were one, one community of grieving people yearning for God’s healing.
NAD Best Practices Book Club: A House on Fire with Maury Jackson and Nathan Brown
These authors draw on the Bible…as well as Adventist history, and sound the call to respond to these contemporary issues faithfully, thoughtfully, practically, pastorally, and politically.
Register here.
March 7 at 1pm on Zoom
March 8 – International Women’s Day
1. Strong Women Series - Plan a series of sermons or bible studies about strong women in the Bible. You can invite different women from your church community to lead, or you can have them give their personal testimonies on how God has helped them through a difficult situation.
2. Get Involved with good causes – Have the ladies of your church be actively involved with organizations that advocate for a social cause. Walk together or participate in 5K runs for good causes, such as 'End It Now,' or Mental Health Awareness.
3. Healthy Women Emphasis Meeting. - Invite a nurse, a nutritionist, or a doctor to an in-person or Zoom meeting for a talk on women's health. Promote the event to the community and encourage the women of your church to invite their friends to participate.
4. Self-Defense Class – Promote a Self-Defense Class for the ladies. This is an excellent opportunity to invite friends to get to know you and your church friends.
5. Adopt a Women's Shelter – Find out about shelters or organizations for women rescued from human trafficking. They always need things like toiletries, personal hygiene products, and clothing. With March being Women's Month, have your church involved in collecting items to give to them. Women in your church could also reach out to their friends and coworkers to donate and get involved.