Monte Sahlin

Note: In this our 90th Anniversary year, we continue to feature some classic articles. This is a shortened version of the original article in the September 1993 issue of Ministry, 6–10. To read the original in its entirety, visit www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1993/09/friendship-evangelism.

Clay…

INDIVIDUALLY, and especially as a I church, we do not like to admit it; but a real problem is developing in a field that can be loosely termed "cultural standards." Open discussion on this topic is virtually nonexistent. The generation gap…

FACED with the complex, sophisticated problems of reaching the American teenager in today's chaotic society through a mass medium that changes almost weekly with radically new, different, and exciting advances both in machinery and programming…

You have presented a document describing the needs, the target audience, the program design and curriculum, the specific objectives of the project, and its working team, budget, and schedule to the church board. After the board has voted…

Pastors generally agree that if the church is to accomplish its mission the laity must become involved in ministry. Indeed, the Scriptures under score the fact that each member of the body of Christ has been given a special gift for Christian…

Let's face it—there are some tensions between the pastoral and educational workers in the Adventist denomination. If you listen carefully at any workers' meeting or teacher in-service event, you will hear concerns about equal pay, conflicts…

Most Seventh-day Adventists observe, the practice of daily prayer and Bible study. They choose not to use alcohol and tobacco, eat unclean meat, or wear jewelry. A little more than half of them tithe their incomes, attend church regularly,…

Fewer than half the Seventh-day Adventists living in North America can be found in church on an average Sabbath. Most Adventist congregations in the United States and Canada have a serious church drop out problem.…

Have you heard the story? Hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist pastors have been trained to use hypnosis in their visitation and counseling. They are transferring their knowledge to unsuspecting lay volunteers. Since…

Recent surveys of Seventh-day Adventist church members in North America report that one member in eight has a relative or close friend with AIDS—acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Anecdotal evidence from some Southern Hemisphere nations…

Members of the Sunnyvale Seventh-day Adventist Church in suburban San Jose, California, report that one of their most effective outreach activities is the Sunday ball game. It may not seem evangelistic—there is no preaching, no call for decisions,…

Are some Seventh-day Adventist churches successfully winning and holding younger adults from the Baby-Boom and the Baby-Bust generations? If so, what are these churches doing differently?

The Pacific Union…

Trying to preach the gospel in this mega-city is like punching at fog," a pastor told me two years ago. His metaphor is apt! He was then assigned to a congregation of about two hundred fifty in one of the 20 largest…

Pastors who have served congregations of different sizes know that "little" churches are different from "big" churches. If they took a course in "group dynamics" years ago, it is likely that the textbook focused only on the relational processes…

What factors need to be present for a local congregation to grow, and for the global body of Christ to develop and produce? Recent studies in North America suggest some interesting answers, and this article reports…

A church board recommends disfellowshiping a young business executive for (l adultery. " In the strained silence, an elder turns in anguish to the pastor and says, "We have to do something to prevent this sort of thing from happening. This…