Posts from May 2022

A Bittersweet Announcement

Over the last few years, we’ve studied and discussed together the different views that evangelical Christians hold regarding the nature of hell. At two separate times we studied these differing views intensely. Both of these studies were prompted by questions or requests from people in our church. The first study was a “detour” in a leadership training class, and the second was…

A Change in Terminology

When we look at the passages in the New Testament discussing the pastoral leadership of the church, we see a consistent pattern of the church being shepherded or pastored by a team of pastoral leaders. (For more on this, see Why We Don’t Have a Senior Pastor.) We also see another interesting pattern. The most common word used for these congregational pastoral…

Church Bylaws

The following constitution and bylaws establish a framework for our fellowship and ministry together as a church. ARTICLE I: NAME The name of this church shall be The Orchard. It is incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of California. ARTICLE II: PURPOSE A. Greatest Commandment Before anything else, we are worshipers of God, disciples of Jesus Christ,…