Church Health

At the SCBI, our vision is to Connect for Kingdom Advancement. When you take that vision and pair it with the fact that, as believers, we are better together, you get a glimpse of what took place between the SCBI and the Alabama State Board of Missions (ALSBOM) from May 15-17. For three days, your […]

Read More

It’s evident from these statistics that a growing number of churches today are struggling, and in need of revitalization… 300,000-360,000 of the 400,000 churches in the U.S. are plateaued or declining. 40,000 of 47,000+ Southern Baptist churches are plateaued or declining. After the COVID crisis, church attendance is down 20-40%. In the past 10 years, […]

Read More

In 2001, Jimi and Carla Staton started New Life Fellowship Church with two other couples in Huntington, Indiana.  This young church had to move locations five times in the first ten years.  During their fifth year as a congregation, they opened a soup kitchen in the church basement. Now in 2023, the church has experienced […]

Read More

Studying your community demographics is a good way to understand what’s happening in your community, what the needs are, and how you can minister to them to share the Gospel.  SCBI has new free Missioninsite demographics available now for our churches! To request your community demographics, determine the address site that you want to study […]

Read More

This is the question raised by Pastor Bruce Miller in his book entitled, Your Church in Rhythm. Based on a study of the biblical words for time, “chronos” and “kairos,” as well as the principle of timeliness in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, the author argues that church leaders shouldn’t search for an approach to ministry that is […]

Read More

According to an August 2022 article from the Burmese American Community Institute, there are approximately 317,000 Burmese currently living in the United States: 40,000 in Indiana; 27,000 in Indianapolis (one of the largest Burmese populations in our nation); 10,000 in Fort Wayne; and others living in South Bend, Logansport, and Bloomington.  Southern Baptists have recognized […]

Read More

In his June 27 article about “Making Campus Connections” in Outreach Magazine, Pastor David Worcester outlined seven key reasons for reaching college students in your State, and he spells it with the acrostic C.O.L.L.E.G.E… Crossroads—During their years in college, students are making major decisions in all areas of their lives. If someone is there to […]

Read More

The 1988 song by Bobby McFerrin won three Grammys. It was entitled, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” and it swept our country because we’re all struggling to overcome anxiety and experience true joy in life. Over the last two years, anxiety has become an even greater problem in our nation.  We all know the effects of […]

Read More

It’s March Madness season in Indiana. In the current NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament, we’ve seen some highly ranked teams suffer defeat, while we’ve also seen some low-ranked teams like the St. Peter’s University Peacocks achieve great success. Why do some teams excel, and others underachieve? I agree with those leadership experts who say team […]

Read More

On his second missionary journey in Acts 15:36ff, Paul revisited the churches he had planted on his first missionary trip to “see how they are” (v.36)—probably to assess their current reality–and for “strengthening the churches” (v.41) to guide them to God’s best next steps.  He was not only a great church planter but also a […]

Read More