By Deborah Bruce
I first learned the term “tab sweep” from my brother. He occasionally does a tab sweep post on his blog, briefly pointing to a number of interesting things he’s seen on the web (left open in various tabs on his browser). Here’s my tab sweep. None of these items warrants a whole blog post, but I found each intriguing. Maybe you will, too.
What’s a congregation worth? Christianity Today created a fascinating infographic addressing this issue. Based on Ron Cnaan’s work, it shows that urban congregations provide, on average, $476,663.24 in services and benefits to the community. And new research shows that figure might be closer to $6 million dollars for historic Philadelphia churches.
Online giving. Lifeway Research recently released survey results showing that 14% of Protestant churches overall now offer online giving. Among large churches (those with at least 500 in worship), a majority offer online giving. The U.S. Congregational Life Survey found that in 2008, just 9% of mainline Protestant churches and 4% of conservative Protestant churches included online giving in their websites.
Mission as the emerging entry point for new people. Lovett Weems (Lewis Center for Church Leadership) recently speculated that service may be what motivates young people to visit a church. “The sense of commitment to help others among young adults is as strong as their excitement about most churches is weak.”
Fewer sermons; more discipleship. An Atlanta pastor is moving to monthly worship services with the goal of helping worshipers be Christians in discipleship and service to others. He hopes to return to “the original vision of Courageous Church to take bold leaps of faith to bring about real change in peoples’ lives, in our city and in the world.” (The pastor’s blog is here, though it’s currently down.)
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