Articles

Our collection of blog articles and papers from sermons and guest writers.

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Church Planting Basic Training

Why Plant a New Church?

By Steve Swartz
10 months ago
“Oh, there are already plenty of churches in town.” That is a common answer when a Christian is asked about the possibility of plunging into the adventure of being part of planting a new church. I would edit that answer with an addition, “Oh, there are already plenty of churches in town, but few are proclaiming a biblical gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.”

Five Church Situations Which Benefit from Outside Resources

Planting a New Church

By Steve Swartz
10 months ago
A local church may find itself by God’s grace in a position of growth, spiritual health, and stability in which it may be able to focus some efforts on multiplying the spread of the Gospel through a church plant. This may be an intentionally planned effort, or it may simply be the result of a providential opportunity which has crossed their path. Before engaging in a church-plant project, a local church ought to educate itself on the best ways forward for their particular situation. Let me suggest some important components to moving forward on a church-planting project.

Five Church Situations Which Benefit from Outside Resources

Organizing a Capital Campaign

By Steve Swartz
10 months ago
A church-wide capital campaign (to be blunt, a money-raising effort) can be utilized for many different purposes. A campaign may include everything from small projects like buying a new van for the youth group to massive endeavors like purchasing a new facility or paying down debt on an existing facility. But a capital campaign can be fraught with numerous pitfalls and ways to fail.

Five Church Situations Which Benefit from Outside Resources

A Serious Conflict-Resolution Situation Among the Leadership

By Steve Swartz
10 months ago
No one who has ever been part of a conflict in a church ever wants to repeat the experience. While the Lord is sovereign and uses those situations for the good of His people (Romans 8:28), the pain and trauma of that conflict is intensely distressing and extremely long-lasting in many cases. I am no...

Five Church Situations Which Benefit from Outside Resources

Accounting and Human Resources

By Steve Swartz
11 months ago
For me as a preaching/teaching pastor, just the words “accounting and human resources” are less interesting to me than words like “Christology” or “expository preaching” or “discipleship.” And in fact, the church in which I serve is blessed to have numerous men and women who happen to have expertise in these areas; I do not take that for granted.

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