We are excited to welcome you to another edition of the Stewardship Journal. Is debt unbiblical for a church? Is debt practical for a church? When does it make sense to pay off a debt, and when should you not pay off a debt? Those are a few of the questions...
Chuck Lawless is the Dean of Doctoral Studies and Vice-President of Spiritual Formation and Ministry Centers at Southeastern Seminary. The following was originally posted on his blog at https://chucklawless.com/2023/10/10-reasons-long-term-pastorates-matter/ Just this week, I had a conversation with an aspiring pastor asking about the importance of pastors staying at a church...
The following is a great example of how to position paying down a debt. The following was produced with my help for a church that was attempting to pay off a debt they had been paying down for some time.
“Should we burn the mortgage note before we start raising money for future projects?” That was a question one of my pastors asked me last week in a Zoom call about planning for their future. Let me state right up front: one of my goals is to get churches out of...
An Interview with Greg Fine, Pastor of FBC Higginsville A few months ago, I was wasting some time on Facebook and came across a retirement announcement of long-time pastor Gregg Fine of FBC, Higginsville MO, fifty-plus miles east of Kansas City. Greg has been on the list of MBC pastors that...
The following post can be found at: https://www.onlinegiving.org/blog. The Hybrid Church is here to stay, and we now know that the future of giving is hybrid. In the future, we can “expect that post-pandemic giving and fundraising will likely remain hybrid, as the adaptation of digital and hybrid giving models...
Did Bruce Willis predict the future of the Church in the 2009 movie Surrogates? IMB says this about the film, “Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in...
Is it essential that Christians attend church physically? We will deal with that question in this edition of The Stewardship Journal. Recent studies are showing the impact of the Lockdowns and the move by many to embrace the virtual church. Is that effective or not? This Journal raises some good...
In Moses' last recorded speech to the Israelites, he re-emphasizes that they should love God with all of their heart, soul, and strength. He then tells God's chosen people to pass this on to the next generation - to "impress" this lesson on their children. Moses understood the importance of...
The following is an email interview with Ron Sellers of Grey Matter Research & Consulting about their newly released study, The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving. I asked Ron a few questions about the study. Mark: My initial reaction reading this report was that this doesn't paint a pretty picture of...
