Children's Education In Time Of Crisis

richmondoseipoku

28 Mar, 2020

Quisque eros leo, pellentesque id leo non, scelerisque hendrerit mauris. Integer dapibus purus in aliquet vehicula. In laoreet justo ac sapien malesuada laoreet. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Aenean sit amet arcu leo. Donec erat nulla, condimentum eget velit id, condimentum feugiat sem. In pharetra, neque id cursus aliquam, metus justo scelerisque ligula, non rutrum justo massa id velit. Cras vitae magna ipsum.

Blog Post - Nonprofit WordPress Theme — Blog Post – Nonprofit WordPress Theme

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed ac augue in libero malesuada aliquam tempus quis justo. Cras mi dolor, consequat quis pellentesque et, laoreet eget libero. Proin luctus sollicitudin venenatis.

Sed convallis eleifend volutpat. Sed justo ex, efficitur sit amet nulla at, semper congue nibh. Praesent at convallis nisi. In vehicula eleifend diam, ut tincidunt risus blandit sit amet. Suspendisse potenti. Vestibulum mollis facilisis ligula at convallis.

Nam lacinia, augue ut placerat fermentum, quam sapien congue nisl, vel feugiat mauris diam sit amet nisi. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Ut vitae sem pharetra, lacinia diam et, mattis metus.

Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Ut vitae sem pharetra, lacinia diam et, mattis metus.

The Benefits of Church

richmondoseipoku

28 Mar, 2020

One of the most striking scientific discoveries about religion in recent years is that going to church weekly is good for you. Religious attendance — at least, religiosity — boosts the immune system and decreases blood pressure. It may add as much as two to three years to your life. The reason for this is not entirely clear.

Social support is no doubt part of the story. At the evangelical churches, I’ve studied as an anthropologist, people really did seem to look out for one another. They showed up with dinner when friends were sick and sat to talk with them when they were unhappy. The help was sometimes surprisingly concrete. Perhaps a third of the church members belonged to small groups that met weekly to talk about the Bible and their lives.

The Benefits of Church - Church WordPress Theme

One evening, a young woman in a group I joined began to cry. Her dentist had told her that she needed a $1,500 procedure, and she didn’t have the money. To my amazement, our small group — most of the students — simply covered the cost, by anonymous donation. A study conducted in North Carolina found that frequent churchgoers had larger social networks, with more contact with, more affection for, and more kinds of social support from those people than their unchurched counterparts. And we know that social support is directly tied to better health.

Healthy behavior is no doubt another part. Certainly, many churchgoers struggle with behaviors they would like to change, but on average, regular church attendees drink less, smokeless, use fewer recreational drugs and are less sexually promiscuous than others.

The Benefits

That tallies with my own observations. At a church I studied in Southern California, the standard conversion story seemed to tell of finding God and never taking methamphetamine again. (One woman told me that while cooking her dose, she set off an explosion in her father’s apartment and blew out his sliding glass doors. She said to me, “I knew that God was trying to tell me I was going the wrong way.”) In my next church, I remember sitting in a house group listening to a woman talks about an addiction she could not break. I assumed that she was talking about her own struggle with methamphetamine. It turned out that she thought she read too many novels.

charity church Education faith Template volunteer

How to Connect People to Your Church

richmondoseipoku

28 Mar, 2020

There are lots of different people that walk through church doors on a Sunday morning. Someone may walk through your doors that have never heard the gospel before. Or someone who has always hated and had negative perceptions of the local church. Then, you also have familiar faces that, almost literally, light up the building when they walk into the room. They’re your rockstar volunteers. They add to the health and growth of your church.

And your regular attenders, who are in all different places in their life and faith. A disconnected church leads to disconnected people, who will eventually fizzle out or become attendees that show up for the important holidays or once a month and aren’t seen from again. But a church with integral members who add to the lifeblood of the church—those connections will produce church growth and health and help build the Kingdom of God. We all want these thriving people to add to the ministry of our local church. So—how do you connect such diverse people to your local church?

How to Connect People to Your Church

1. Define what connection is.

To start, if you want people to get connected to your church—you have to decide what that looks like. Is it getting people in a small group? Giving? Regular Sunday attendance? For anyone wrestling with what it means to be the church—not just go to church.

Buy from church leaders There are endless possibilities and every church might have a different answer. But it’s important to figure this out, so you can tangibly measure how many people are connecting to your church.

2. Give the Sunday service you’re all.

Your high-capacity volunteers may show up to Bible studies, youth or other church events in the middle of the week, but it is likely that your newer crowd will not.

Take advantage of the fact that the Sunday service experience is a place where most of your church members will be at all at one time. Seasoned and new believers alike. This isn’t the time to give this 50 percent. When looking at your Sundays, ask yourself:

Is this the best our service can be?
What can we do to improve our music time? What kind of songs should we play? Are they theologically sound?
Do they fit our culture?
How do we want to approach announcements? How much time do we allow for that?
What should the structure of the hour-long service look like?
How will we use the media?
What system do we have for new guests? And for regular attenders?
We have several evaluation forms with Church Fuel’s resource library if you’re interested in a more detailed evaluation of your Sunday service.

3. Create a clear connection process.

We talked a little bit about what connection means. It is so much more than having someone commit to regularly attending. That’s just dead weight. Most of us want people to engage with our churches in some sort of way. This could look like joining a small group, committing to tithe regularly or serving on a team.

But how do people know where to start? One of our favorite connection pipelines we’ve seen is City Church in Tallahassee, Fla. There is a clear process in which new members go to a “first look” to meet some of the staff. Then, there’s a more in-depth “101” class that presents the mission and vision of City Church. This gives new people, looking to get connected, the opportunity to hear about what groups there are, what teams to serve on and other ministry opportunities there are for them, and to figure out where their fit is. And at the following “201” class, they have opted with the option to become a member.

Every church structure does not have to look like this one. It’s just a clear, thought-out system, and that makes it 10x easier for new people or people that have been around for a year to finally take the next step and become a part of their local church, rather than just a “consumer.”

holy project Site Builder Theme WordPress

The Surprising Benefits of Going to Church

richmondoseipoku

28 Mar, 2020

I’ll be the first to admit that while I love being at church once I actually get there, I don’t always love the process of getting my whole family out the door every Sunday morning. There are too many weekends where I’d rather stay cuddled up in bed with a favorite book or binge-watching my latest Netflix obsession.

Good or bad, habits require repetition. Once they become habitual, they become automatic: they no longer require extra thought—we simply do them. Embrace these 10 habits to really change your life!

Going to Church

The Surprising Benefits of Going to Church - Church WordPress Theme

I don’t know what it is exactly that makes getting out the door on Sunday feel so much harder. Maybe it’s because while our weekday routine is pretty set, our weekend schedule is far more relaxed. It’s our time to kick back and recuperate, without always having to DO something. Or maybe it’s that I want to look nice and make sure the girls are looking their best, which sometimes requires a little extra prep time–and effort that I don’t always feel like putting in. I’m guessing we’re not the only family that struggles to get to church sometimes.

For many families, scheduling and making time for the church in the middle of a jam-packed week can feel like a test in itself. Whether you go on Saturday evenings, Sunday mornings or even weekday afternoons, it can be hard to part with what we see as “free” time, especially when it conflicts with other things we really want to do.

But over the years, one thing I’ve realized is that when I get to a point where I feel like I just don’t have time for church, it is a pretty clear sign that I’m pushing myself too hard. And that usually means that I need to reevaluate my schedule and regain some sanity because, at the end of the day, I’ve never once regretted taking the time to attend church. There’s just something about being there that calms me down, makes me feel connected and whole, and simply allows me to breathe again.

Conclusion

And it’s not just me, apparently. Research shows that people who regularly attend church report stronger social support networks and less depression. They smoke less and lead healthier and even longer lives. In a very real and physical way, Church is literally good for your health.

Which means that if you haven’t been in a while, this might be a great time to start going back, or to find a new church home that fits your personality and your family—one where you click with those around you, make great friends, and feel a strong and welcoming sense of community.

charity church faith help holy project Site Builder Template Theme volunteer WordPress