In Sermon Illustrations: "Healthy Churches" showing 241-260 of 7,074

The Church Is Not A Place Where The Perfect ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 30, 2008

"The church is not a place where the perfect dwell, but rather a hospital where sick sinners get well." (SOURCE: St. Augustine. From a sermon by Monty Newton, ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of

40% Of Pastors Of Conventional Churches In The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 30, 2008

40% of pastors of conventional churches in the U.S. say they would recommend a house church to ...read more

Tags: Church General

How America Does Church

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 30, 2008

HOW AMERICA DOES CHURCH "Unattached"--people who had attended neither a conventional church nor a faith community during the past year represents 25% of adult Americans. A third of these have never attended a church. "Intermittents"--participated in a conventional church or a faith community ...read more

Tags: Church General

Have You Seen The Church?

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Aug 4, 2008

HAVE YOU SEEN THE CHURCH? These early Church of God people also used another phrase, "I saw the church." They might ask, "Have you seen the church?" Now a lot of you know that I didn't grow up "going to church." And I certainly didn't grow up attending a Church of God congregation. So when I ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Church Of God

The Church Can Still Strike ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

THE CHURCH CAN STILL STRIKE FEAR In 1988, Wally Magdangal was pastoring an underground church in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was a Filipino lay pastor of Christian foreign workers wishing to gather for worship. In 1992, soon after the conclusion of the Gulf War, the house church had grown to over ...read more

Tags: Persecution

Too Good For Your Church

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 2, 2008

TOO GOOD FOR YOUR CHURCH A good set of clothes makes all the difference. A Methodist church tried to get a man to attend, but he never did. "Why don't you come?" the minister asked, and the man finally admitted it was because he didn't have proper clothes. So a member of the congregation took him ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-24

Tags: Church Growth

Selflessness Sparks A Whole Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

SELFLESSNESS SPARKS A WHOLE CHURCH When Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea was building its prayer mountain, they struggled in raising the funds for its construction. Pastor David Cho challenged the people again and again and still they could raise the funds they needed for the project. Then, ...read more

Tags: Holy Spirit In Believers

The Rich Family In Church By Eddie ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 11, 2009

THE RICH FAMILY IN CHURCH by Eddie Ogan I’ll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven ...read more

Tags: Money

How People Find A Church

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2009

HOW PEOPLE FIND A CHURCH 55% of unchurched people and 64% of church switchers find a church through recommendation from friends or family. 49% of unchurched people and 83% of church switchers do so from an in-person visit. 25% of unchurched and 21% of church switchers find or visit a churches ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

The Preacher Of An Underground Chinese Church ...

Contributed by Mitchell Skelton on Mar 22, 2009

The preacher of an underground Chinese church tells others of the precautions they must take to avoid government persecution. Each time their church reaches ten to fifteen members, they split to reduce attention. They also alternate meeting places for the same reason. Because phone lines are ...read more

Tags: Persecution

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

32% Of Evangelical Protestant Churches Are In A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 14, 2009

32% of evangelical Protestant churches are in a strong financial position vs. 13% ...read more

Tags: Church Growth

The Church Is The Ekklesia: The Group Of Elders ...

Contributed by Jim Kane on May 18, 2009

"The church is the ekklesia: the group of elders who sit at the city gates, discussing how they ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of

Denomination: Church Of God

The Church Must Serve The Truth

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 8, 2009

THE CHURCH MUST SERVE THE TRUTH The Church does not have technical solutions to offer [10] and does not claim 'to interfere in any way in the politics of States.' [11] She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to ...read more

Tags: Truth

Denomination: Catholic

The Setting Is The Front Of A Small Church. The ...

Contributed by Mark Armstrong on Aug 3, 2009

The setting is the front of a small church. The pastor says from the pulpit, ‘I’ve misplaced my sermon notes, so I’m just going to read from this devotional—if I can find it here. While I look, maybe the choir can lead us in a hymn’. He glances at the choir which has one person. The choir ...read more

Tags: Religion

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Nicolaitan Compromise With Idolatry In Church Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 2, 2009

Nicolaitan Compromise with Idolatry in Church of Pergamum Bruce Longenecker's book, "The Lost Letters of Pergamum" (pp. 165-166) illustrates their teaching in a story about a Nicolaitan (Kalandion) that attended the Pergamum church. Kalandion is visiting a Christian who has been imprisoned for ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17

Tags: Idolatry, Reputation

Church Cake Cover-Up  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 19, 2009

CHURCH CAKE COVER-UP It was time for the annual cake sale at a Presbyterian church not much different than our own. Ms. Billings always made the most beautiful cakes...she was expected to make another one this year. However, Ms. Billings was a very busy woman with the time she spent with her ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:1-15

Tags: Hypocrisy, Cake

A Church That Does Not Listen For God In The ...

Contributed by Fr Mund Cargill Thompson on Jan 13, 2010

"A church that does not listen for God in the Bible and treat the Bible as the unique touchstone of truth about God and about us is losing its identity, it’s raison ...read more

Tags: Bible Truth

Denomination: Anglican

Should Christians Attend Church?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 6, 2010

SHOULD CHRISTIANS ATTEND CHURCH? An old question: "Can I be a Christian without joining the church or attending worship?" Answer: "Yes, it is possible. But it is something like being: a. A student who will not go to school; b. A soldier who will not join the army; c. A citizen who does not pay ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 10:24-25

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

The Church Confronts The World With A Message ...

Contributed by Dean Courtier on Mar 18, 2010

"The Church confronts the world with a message the world craves for but resents, because it comes through ...read more

Tags: Church General

Denomination: Pentecostal

Old-School Church Discipline

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 23, 2010

OLD-SCHOOL CHURCH DISCIPLINE The Amish practice shunning – ignoring, turning away from, avoiding. When a person is disciplined by the community, relationships are severed between parents and children, or brother and sister, or even husbands and wives. Because the Amish are so isolated from those ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:15-17

Tags: Church Discipline