Best Practices Night Owl Forum

Ministry without fear

2009-07-02T14:04:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Forum, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Click on "comments" to answer.

Do you think many Christians are fearful? Are Adventists generally more fearful than other Christians? How does your own fear affect your ministry to others? How can we counter fear in our congregations?

Are You Seeing Visions?

2009-05-06T18:12:00.014-04:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Click on "comments" to answer.

In this Best Practices, Mark O. Wilson suggested to us that we pastors don't make up a vision, we see it. Do you agree with him that the vision will just come to us? What have you done to seek a vision for your church? And when you've seen it, how do you help your church members to see it, too?

The Harvest is Great

2009-04-22T11:41:00.004-04:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Click on "comments" to answer.

In this issue of Best Practices, Rick and Cindy Mercer tell about how things fell into place for evangelism when they stepped out in faith. Nowadays a lot of pastors are unenthusiastic about public evangelism. Stories like this prove it still can work. Tell us about your experiences in successful public evangelism.

Also, how are you responding to the 2009 Year of Evangelism?

Broken Pastors

2009-04-07T14:30:00.010-04:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Use the comments button to answer.

In this week's Best Practices, Loren Seibold talks about pastors whose ministry has been dealt a heavy blow by hurtful, angry people in their congregations.

Has your ministry been wounded by criticism or rejection? How to handle it? What’s going wrong in so many churches - and is there a solution?

Measuring and tracking what works—and what doesn't

2009-03-25T16:41:00.008-04:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Use the comments button to answer.

In this week's Best Practices, Mike Temple tells about his "what works" blog, where he offers immediate updates of how various outreach activities involving his church's mall-based outreach center are succeeding. He sees it as a chance to go beyond the usual metrics (baptisms, attendance, tithe) to a bigger picture of outreach success. So our question this week:

How do you evaluate and track the success of outreach activities in your church? Can the number of baptisms or church attendance be the only metric we use? Is it legitimate to do a cost-benefit analysis for evangelism?

Seventh-day Adventists celebrating Easter Sunday?

2009-03-11T16:05:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Use the comments button to answer.

In this week's Best Practices, Michelle Riley Jones reminds us that even unchurched people recognize the religious significance of Easter, and suggests that Easter Sunday can be a marvelous way for Seventh-day Adventists to reach out to people in the community.

What do you think about celebrating Easter Sunday in a Seventh-day Adventist context? A good idea, or not?

Are we ready for house churches?

2009-02-25T14:02:00.009-05:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight we'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Use the comments button to answer.

In this week's Best Practices, Milton Adams makes the case for house churches. Most of us are accustomed to ministry in typical churches, with a building, programs, a staff, and a liturgy, all working in sync with the conference leadership.

Do you think house churches are a viable option for Adventism? Why? Why not?

A Moment in Worship

2009-02-12T16:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight I'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Use the comments button to answer.

You've all been in many worship services throughout your life. Can you remember one that stands out? Some moment when everything came together, and you felt that something was happening that you and the congregation would never forget? So, this week's question:

Recount a moment within corporate worship that had an enduring impact upon you and/or your congregation.

Best ministry book of 2008?

2009-01-28T19:51:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Best Practices Night Owl Café, online edition! Each fortnight I'll pose a question in the Best Practices newsletter. Use the comments button to answer.

This week's question:

What's the best book related to ministry that you read in the past year? Give us the one key point. What made it so helpful to you?