Faith News Network

Asking people to volunteer can be stressful. If you don’t go into it with the right perspective, you can feel like you are bothering them or even feel like you are using them.

How can church worship services be opened to congregational participation? That is the question Larry Peabody, author of ‘Curing Sunday Spectatoritis,’ posed to church leaders. In the book, 25 leaders describe a variety of ways they are turning spectators into participants during congregational meetings.

With Christmas and New Year’s Day both falling on a Sunday this year, churches are anticipating big challenges: will fewer volunteers be available? how to maximize attendance possibilities? how best to do outreach? how to manage year-end giving in light of two holiday weekends?

A seasoned minister offers guidance on dealing with a common fact among church leaders.

What can be done to increase the velocity and quality of Bible translation? This question was discussed in Dallas last week by a group of over 100 technologists from all major Bible Translation organizations (SIL International, United Bible Societies, Wycliffe Associates, Biblica, Wycliffe USA, Unfolding Word, Faith Comes by Hearing, Seed Company, Pioneer Bible Translators, New Tribes, Global Bible Initiative, and others). Attendees set aside organizational boundaries and collaboratively mapped out the current process, identifying the software, data, inputs/outputs, and participants, so they can create a more integrated solution that expedites the Bible translation process.

I don’t know the location of your church, but I suspect you have a college or university within driving distance. You might have college students in your church every week.