PODCASTS

Tag: #churches
Youth Ministry – Inspiration for Congregations – 9/30/24

Youth Ministry – Inspiration for Congregations – 9/30/24

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Youth Ministry -What is most effective in the 21st Century?

Inspiration for Congregations

Patterns of congregational youth ministry which were emphasized 20 and 30 years ago are not as effective these days to engage with teens, children and young adults now. Research has shown what church leaders and volunteers ought to emphasize now. The measurement they used:  what was distinctive in churches where students were still active in a congregation five to ten years later, long after they “graduated” from youth ministry.

The Rev. Mark Kiessling is director for the national Youth Ministry Office of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. He tells Family Life News that ministry with young people which are geared mostly toward events and programs are not having the same impact with the current young generation. What is especially strong to influence

He says many smaller and midsized churches fret over not having much of a traditional “youth program”, if they even have one at all. However, smaller congregations actually have an advantage they can leverage: they are already good at relationships and personal connections.

Listen to this conversation from the podcast player here, and consider sharing it with decision-makers in your congregation or regional network.

–     –     –     –

Their research and recommendations are contained in “Seven Practices of Healthy Youth Ministry” which includes these priorities:

+ Every congregation offers Warmth, Challenge, and Grace

overview & video:  youthesource.com/2019/07/healthy-congregations-have-warmth-challenge-grace/

+ Every young person should be intentionally connected with 5 Supportive Adults

overview & video:  youthesource.com/2019/07/healthy-congregations-have-supportive-adults/

+ Every parent is supported, so they can engage effectively with these daughters and sons

overview & video:  youthesource.com/2019/06/healthy-congregations-have-engaged-parents/

+ Every young person is helped to discover their identity in Jesus Christ, as well as their unique calling and vocation

overview & videos:  youthesource.com/seven-practices/

 

 

For further information:

* Website     * Handout     * Video     * Book

The LCMS is partnered with 194 congregations in New York, 81 in Pennsylvania, and about 6,000 across the nation.

This is a podcast in our new series “Inspiration for Congregations” with insights from local, regional and national experts, to provide information and motivations for leaders and members of local churches.  Today’s host is Family Life news producer Greg Gillispie.
Back to Church Weekend – Casey Jones – 9/12/24

Back to Church Weekend – Casey Jones – 9/12/24

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“Back to School” season is now followed by Back to Church Sunday.

 

Today’s podcast offers you a preview of what several congregations in our listening area are doing this weekend.

Casey Jones is the executive director of Allegany Hope, a Belmont-based network of Christian congregations in Allegany County. They are not only participating in localizing this weekend’s Back to Church Sunday annual emphasis; they also cooperate with a number of prayer, social and mission-oriented projects together.

One of those areas of emphasis is the community of Friendship, New York. Churches there have planned free community lunches there, both Saturday and Sunday. (Sept. 14-15, 2024)

 

Back to Church Sunday happens on the third Sunday of September, after people are back to school and back from Labor Day Weekend. This is the 15th year of the national emphasis. There are paid and free resources available to churches each year, to help with their efforts to re-motivate their members and to invite neighbors in. They also have options available to promote a Back to Church Weekend for congregation which offer worship and events on Saturdays.

 

 

 

 

 
Inside Out – Making Friends, Being a Friend, at Church – 9/11/24

Inside Out – Making Friends, Being a Friend, at Church – 9/11/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:27 — 19.9MB)

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The “Inside Out” podcast, from Family Life

Making friends at church can be hard, but it’s both important and possible, and we can grow in the process.

 We want to find community at church, but it can be hard.

One of the challenges, according to writer and blogger Paige Pippin, is that many of us show up on Sundays already exhausted. “Getting to church can feel weirdly taxing at times,” she says. “And maybe it’s our personality–maybe we’re more introverted. Maybe we’re in a very hectic season. Maybe we’re getting our gaggle of young children to church. Or, maybe it’s genuinely heavy or life-altering circumstances, like a sickness or disability. So we show up to church and we already feel tired.”

Pippin’s the author of The Gospel Coalition article Help! I Want to Make Friends at Church. Pippin says that in addition to feeling spent when we arrive, we often feel uncertain.

“How do I engage?” Pippin asks. “This feels risky and out of control. Perhaps I’m believing others don’t want to be approached, or maybe it’s too much work, or maybe I believe the lie that it just doesn’t really matter.”

Our reasons for hesitating may be heart-felt, but the opportunity in front of us is a great one.

“We, as believers, are ambassadors of the Gospel, and we have this rich opportunity in front of us,” she says. “Accepting that means I have an opportunity to pray for my attitude–my openness–to others before I even enter the sanctuary. And maybe even to start leaving more margin in my coming and going on Sunday morning.”

Pippin encourages us not only to seek out friendships, but to seek them out with Christians who are different from us. We’ll likely grow deeper as disciples–and more amazed with God.  “Our awe for Him should be expanding as we see Him work in people who think differently than us, or who have walked different roads than us. God is that big, and He’s that able.”

None of this is easy. But God supplies everything we need for His Church to be unified.

“We, as Christians, have a leg up on friendship, because of the Spirit in us,” she says. “This should give us great confidence in pursuing other Christians. Because we know that this is what the Lord has and so we know that it’s not up to us to muster this strength, or to manufacture chemistry. The Lord wants it. He will show us how.”

 

Join us for our 14-minute conversation by listening to the podcast.

You can also read Paige Pippin’s article “Help! I Want to Make Friends at Church”.

Paige Pippin is a Christian author, blogger. and stay-at-home mom.

Inside Out with Martha Manikas-Foster is one of the Wednesday news features on the air and online. Hear it during our Noon Report, 5 O’Clock Report, and our “Family Life News” podcast feeds.

#InsideOut

 
Churches and Political Actions – Kim Roberts – 8/29/24

Churches and Political Actions – Kim Roberts – 8/29/24

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Churches and Political Actions

A Family Life Interview with Kim Roberts

Many churches and denominations can be labeled as supportive of one side of the political spectrum or the other. Others avoid politics at all costs.

Part of the reason congregations avoid actions and speech related to electoral politics is fear of risking their non-profit status. However, federal law and IRS regulations do not silence Christian entities which want to promote voting and motivate their people into political action.

Family Life News asked reporter Kim Roberts to detail her research into what is and isn’t allowed when churches and campaigns overlap. Christian individuals can always be active with promoting or opposing a candidate, but when it comes to 501(c)3 organizations, they have to stay non-partisan about candidates. Yet churches and other religious ministries are free to speak out on public issues that weigh on the ballot box. There are no IRS consequences for churches to hold candidate forums, carry out voter registration or get-out-the-vote efforts, or offer rides to the polls. In fact, as you will hear in this conversation, the Church throughout history has been vibrant and vocal in the political and social issues around them.

Kim Roberts, a reporter for the Christian journalism organization Ministry Watch, also discusses how local, state and national candidates reach out to churches, in order to influence their members to vote a certain way. Also, political and culture-fight organizations are finding ways to motivate people of faith to elect certain candidates or stand for particular political issues.

Kim Roberts, MinistryWatch.com

Kim Robert’s detailed article “Church and Politics: What’s Allowed?” is available from www.MinistryWatch.com.  She also has other reporting on many faith-based events and issues.

Among the resources for congregations and church leaders — and other groups — she mentions in this podcast:

  • An IRS document, detailing the distinctions for 501(c)3 organizations on partisan politicking (not allowed) and lobbying (allowed)
  • Election guides for congregational planning from the NAACP and the Alliance Defending Freedom
  • Turning Point USA’s TPFaith efforts to motivate political and cultural action by conservative and mid-spectrum Christians
  • Black Church PAC’s plans to carry out a massive voter mobilization effort this fall
  • A political science professor’s observation that it is extremely rare that the IRS revokes a church’s charitable status, even if they carry out activities that lean solidly toward one candidate or one political party

Newspodcasts
Keeping Christian Colleges open, vibrant, and valued – Faith Under Fire – 8/08/24

Keeping Christian Colleges open, vibrant, and valued – Faith Under Fire – 8/08/24

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Many Christian colleges — like their secular counterparts — are facing financial and enrollment pressures which threaten their futures.

Christian journalist Warren Smith, today’s guest on Family Life’s “Faith Under Fire”, analyzes the issues which have led to numerous faith-based schools retrenching, with some forced to merge or close their doors. He says decisions need to be made — by college administrators, by families with college-bound students, and by churches and denominations. If there is value to higher education with a Christian centering, there are ways to make that more feasible.

In addition to identifying problems with tuition costs and college debts, Smith has some success stories too:  Christian universities which have “doubled down” on their unique identities, and some who have focused on degrees which reward graduates with high salaries and numerous career opportunities.

Warren Smith is president of MinistryWatch.com, a Christian news organization which covers national and global ministry organizations, transparency for Christian donors, and religious news across the spectrum. Ministry Watch has done extended coverage on Christian higher education, inspiring trends, and college closures (such as the recent one at Clarks Summit University in the Family Life listening area).

“Faith Under Fire” with Greg Gillispie is a Thursday news feature on the Family Life radio network, on the air and through our live streams. Expanded versions of those interviews are also available from our website and many podcast feed apps. Search for “Family Life News”.
God Never Gives Up on You – Max Lucado – 6/03/24

God Never Gives Up on You – Max Lucado – 6/03/24

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A Special Family Life Interview

“America’s Pastor” Max Lucado have encouraging advice for two groups:

  • Someone whose self-doubt or mistakes has them wondering whether the Lord has given up on them
  • Congregations and their leaders who are wrestling with their proper role when people are concerned about the future of their nation.

Lucado, a Texas pastor and prolific writer of books and Bible Studies, told Family Life’s Greg Gillispie about the discoveries available when a seeker looks into the Old Testament accounts of eventual hero of the faith Jacob. Jacob’s life was full of setbacks, mistakes and turmoil. Yet, even if he was ready to give up — on himself or on God — the Lord never gave up on Jacob.

 

For further information:

 
Can we even have conversations, in a contentious election year? – 5/14/24

Can we even have conversations, in a contentious election year? – 5/14/24

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 “Don’t talk about Religion or Politics” …. so they say. 

But our guest on this Family Life News Feature says our faith can help us talk about tough topics — at work, with friends, and even in our families and congregations.

 

Focus on the Family counselor Joanie DeBrito offers advice for people who have strong opinions, but might feel afraid to raise an argument on political or social Hot Topics. She says it takes wisdom, humility and self-control. Also, Christians (and others) need to be discerning. With some people who don’t listen well and have no motivation to remain civil, it often is wise to decline to discuss elections and candidates. However, Dr. DeBrito says politics does not have to stay “off the table” if you and the other person are open to listening respectfully, being fair, and being both firm in your convictions and willing to learn something new.

How to have good conversations, even in a contentious election year and a divisive culture … today on this Family Life News podcast.

 

Dr. Joanie DeBrito is a coach at Hope Restored Aftercare and a columnist and consultant with Focus on the Family.  She has 30+ years experience as a therapist and counselor.

Here are links to her work at Hope Restored and Focus.

Some of her columns and blogs about marriage, parenting and family matters can be found here and here.

 

 
What churches get wrong, and how churches can help – 5/08/24

What churches get wrong, and how churches can help – 5/08/24

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Churches Can Help in the Pornography Crisis

Sam Black joins Martha Manikas-Foster for this “Inside Out” podcast on successful ways churches are helping those ensnared by pornography. Black is the author of The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong about Pornography and How to Fix It.

 A lot of Christians use pornography. 

 “Two-thirds of the men in the Church — and a third of women in the church — say they have an ongoing struggle with pornography,” reports Sam Black, who has walked his own journey to healing. He is the author of The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong about Pornography and How to Fix It.

 He says that churches that default to a purity talk to fight pornography need a better plan.

 “They already know they need to be pure,” he says. “They just can’t seem to get the gorilla off their back.”

 The way that people who struggle with pornography find hope is in community, Black says. They need brothers and sisters, in a safe environment within distinct parameters, to come alongside them on the walk to freedom. “What I want to encourage you with is, through a safe place and a safe process, living in freedom is absolutely possible,” he says. “You need to press into it to get it.”

 But because pornography is tenacious, you won’t solve it alone.

 “With this encouragement, I also have to offer some caution: you don’t find freedom on your own,” he says. “Trying harder and leaning on your willpower and your resolve never lasts. You must involve others. And that’s why we have the Body of Christ.”

 

 

 

A free chapter of Sam Black’s book is available for download.

Faith Under Fire – Hostility Toward Churches: Implications – 4/18/24

Faith Under Fire – Hostility Toward Churches: Implications – 4/18/24

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Hostility Toward Churches: Causes & Implications

Faith Under Fire – 4/18/24

A six-year national study of threats, violence and vandalism aimed at churches and religious organization shows the danger spiked in 2023. This edition of Family Life’s “Faith Under Fire” feature invites back Arielle Del Turco for a second conversation. Today, we recap the results of that survey, but then go beyond the statistics to the causes and implications.

  • How do the current cultural perceptions of Christians affect how faith institutions see more threats and violence?
  • What trends are seen in what types of churches and entities are more likely to become targets, and should all religious groups band together to denounce anti-Christian hostility?
  • What advice does she have for Christians to make a positive influence on the surrounding culture?
  • Going to worship is safe, considering the 900+ incidents in six years compared to the millions of religious gatherings in that time. Still, what should leaders of congregations and faith-based networks learn from this study?

We also encourage you to listen to, share or download our earlier conversation with Del Turco (Faith Under Fire 4/04/24) when she talked about the numbers and trends which she compiled with this annual report. Other resources are also linked from that podcast at FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

 

Arielle Del Turco is the director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council.

Hostility against churches – Faith Under Fire – 4/04/24

Hostility against churches – Faith Under Fire – 4/04/24

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Rising Hostility Against Churches – This week on “Faith Under Fire”

The number of incidents of assaults, violence, vandalism and other hostile actions against Churches across the USA doubled in 2023, compared to the relatively high number of incidents reported the previous year. Threats and actual attacks became eight times more frequent than just six years ago.

The Family Research Council has studied law enforcement statistics, news reports and other information to compile a study of Hostility Against Churches from 2018 to 2023. Arielle Del Turco is the director of their Center for Religious Liberty. She joins Family Life News to talk about this new reality, causes for this disturbing trend, and what Christians need to know about their safety and about threats that are a direct result of the increasing secularization of the culture.

For more information:

  • An overview of this FRC study  [ www.frc.org ]
  • The full report, which includes 11 pages of analysis, maps and charts, and a full listing of all incidents of crimes and threats aimed at Christian entities
  • A 45-minute Family Research Council podcast, which delves further into the causes, recommendations for action, and how reactions by courts and the media and the general public have taken away cultural respect for the church.
  • Del Turco’s testimony at a 2023 Congressional hearing about violence against churches and other faith-based organizations

 

 

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