Classrooms at Gateway are more than conduits for information-dissemination. They are a leader-shaping laboratory. During a recent presentation on ecclesiology, students poured out their discouragement and frustration over the state of their churches. The professor set aside his notes and...
We are kicking off another semester at Gateway this week. Since most of our students live in California (even in an online or video-classroom world), maintaining academic programs and organizational operations is challenging. Our COVID infection and death rates in Southern California are still...
A pastor recently summed up his experience in 2020 with the lament, “Man, I just need a win.” He lives in a place the pandemic has ravaged and where governmental restrictions have been severe. Online church has taxed the limits of his, and his church’s, relational reserves. They have not met in...
A worn out adage says, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” That saying must have been coined by a frustrated leader trying to get a fossilized organization to adopt new methods. But today, many previously set-in-their-ways churches are learning all kinds of new methods—motivated by their...
Churches and ministry organizations have been significantly impacted by the global pandemic. For some, their primary response is longing for things to “get back to normal.” News flash! That’s not happening. You are never going back to former operational practices, to the old normal. You are...
Our church, like yours, has been impacted by the pandemic. We suspended in-person worship for several months and recently resumed with outdoors services. While that’s not a plan that will work in some climates, in Southern California we will be able to meet this way through the winter—or until...
When chaos erupts—personally, in a community, or across a nation—the best response may be counter-intuitive to what seems needed. Right now, we are facing social unrest, political turmoil, natural disasters (fires, hurricanes, etc.), and a global pandemic. It might seem the best response is...
A prominent Christian researcher announced last week he predicts one in five churches will close in the next 18 months as a result of declines caused by the pandemic. He may be right, if he means one in five churches among all denominations and groups. Some mainline churches have reported...
Gateway Seminary resumed in-person classroom instruction today!
Churches are struggling with decisions about how and when to reopen, what form reopening should take, and their role in protecting people during the pandemic. Some churches are resisting governmental directives on these matters, claiming it’s a matter of conscience. Others are operating within...