support your church essay

Essay on Church

Students are often asked to write an essay on Church in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Church

What is a church.

A church is a place where Christians gather to worship God. It’s not just a building, but a community of people who share the same faith.

The Role of a Church

A church serves many purposes. It’s a place for prayer, worship, and learning about the Bible. Churches also help people in need and organize social events.

Church Architecture

Many churches have unique architecture. They often have a cross shape, a tall tower called a steeple, and stained glass windows that tell stories from the Bible.

Importance of Church

Going to church helps people feel closer to God. It also provides a sense of belonging and community.

Also check:

10 Lines on Church

250 Words Essay on Church

Origins and evolution.

The Church, in Christian parlance, denotes both a physical space for worship and a spiritual community of believers. Its inception can be traced back to the 1st century AD, when Jesus Christ’s teachings began to inspire gatherings of followers.

Theological Significance

The Church serves as a bridge between the divine and the human, embodying the teachings of Christ. It is perceived as the ‘Body of Christ’, with each member playing a unique role. This concept underscores the importance of unity and mutual cooperation within the Church.

Structural Dimensions

Physically, churches have evolved from humble house gatherings to grand architectural marvels. They are often designed to inspire awe and reverence, with elements such as the nave, altar, and steeple holding deep symbolic significance.

Societal Role

Beyond its religious functions, the Church plays a pivotal role in societal development. It has been a source of education, charity, and social justice movements. However, it has also faced criticism for instances of corruption and abuse of power.

Modern Challenges and Adaptations

In the 21st century, the Church grapples with issues like dwindling attendance and relevance in an increasingly secular world. However, it continues to adapt, embracing technology and redefining its methods of outreach to resonate with the contemporary world.

In conclusion, the Church is a complex entity, vastly influential yet continually evolving. Its future, shaped by both internal dynamics and external societal changes, remains a topic of intense discussion and speculation.

500 Words Essay on Church

Introduction.

The Church, a term often associated with a physical structure, encompasses a much broader concept. It is a spiritual community, a beacon of faith, a symbol of divine connection and a cradle of shared beliefs. This essay aims to delve into the various dimensions of the Church, its historical development, socio-cultural significance, and its role in modern society.

Historical Development of the Church

The origins of the Church can be traced back to the 1st century AD, with the teachings of Jesus Christ forming its bedrock. The Church, as an institution, evolved over the centuries, adapting to changing socio-political landscapes. The split of the Roman Empire led to the schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century further diversified the Church’s identity, leading to a multitude of denominations.

Socio-Cultural Significance

The Church has always been more than a place of worship; it is a cornerstone of community life. It has traditionally served as a hub for social interaction, fostering a sense of unity and brotherhood. The Church has been instrumental in the preservation and propagation of cultural values, traditions, and languages, particularly in societies where religion is tightly woven into the social fabric.

The Church and Education

Historically, the Church played a pivotal role in education. Monasteries during the Middle Ages were centers of learning, preserving ancient texts and promoting literacy. Even today, many educational institutions worldwide are Church-affiliated, emphasizing moral and ethical education alongside academics.

The Church in Modern Society

In contemporary society, the Church continues to play a vital role. It offers spiritual guidance and comfort in an increasingly complex world. Moreover, many Churches are actively involved in social work and humanitarian efforts, providing aid to those in need. Despite the rise of secularism, the Church remains a significant entity, shaping societal norms and values.

Controversies and Criticisms

The Church is not without its share of controversies and criticisms. Issues such as clerical abuse, gender inequality, and the Church’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights have sparked intense debates. These controversies have led to a call for reforms within the Church, urging it to align with modern societal values.

The Church, as an institution, has evolved over the centuries, mirroring the changes in society. It continues to be a significant presence in many people’s lives, offering spiritual solace and community support. Despite facing criticisms and controversies, the Church’s role as a social and cultural institution remains undeniable. As society progresses, the Church too will need to evolve, balancing its traditional doctrines with the changing societal norms.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Youth Need the Church, and the Church Needs Youth

More By Mark Howard

Everyone has an opinion about youth ministry. Parents, pastors, and the youth themselves have expectations and demands that don’t always overlap. But the rash of dire statistics about the ineffectiveness of youth ministry has prompted rethinking in these ranks. So we devote one day per week this month to exploring several issues in youth ministry, including its history, problems, and biblical mandate. The Gospel Coalition thanks Cameron Cole and the leadership team of Rooted: A Theology Conference for Student Ministry for their help in compiling this series.

The current generation of youth is an interesting one.

As I’ve worked with and studied about youth today, it seems safe to say that they are not members of the Enlightenment, nor do they hold the modern notion that Reason can lead us to all Truth that is just beyond the horizon of our current knowledge.

And yet what do they as a generation believe?

Though they are postmodern chronologically, I believe it would also be wrong to say that they are postmodern. Unlike postmoderns, they are desperate for a grand story to make sense of the world around them. They want meaning. They are desperate for a true hope.

But hope is an elusive target in the world. Many of their parents have put their hope in the economy, politics, and the military strength of America. Their children, however, see a failing economy, political unrest, and an ongoing terrorist threat. The future doesn’t seem that rosy. So what’s left for them to hope in if they don’t have the future? The moment. And happiness is king of the moment.

Youth pursue happiness, but the means given by the world—shopping, entertainment, sex, social media—undermine the very endeavor. Pleasure is fleeting. Relations, often only surface deep, get messy quickly. Entertainment can’t provide lasting satisfaction. In the end, happiness in the world is little more than momentary escape from the realities of the world.

Desperately Searching

Given the circumstances, it’s no surprise that many youth are restless, insecure, jaded, and desperately searching for meaning to explain all the hurt and suffering they see around them, meaning for their very existence. Sadly, many within the church offer nothing more substantive than the vaporous teachings of the world. In some churches, “youth group” has become synonymous with over-the-top games, entertainment, and shallow teaching. They are told, yes, life here on earth is a mess, but don’t worry, one day you’ll die and go to heaven. There things will be right. In the meantime, want to see how many marshmallows I can stick in my mouth?

Do we really believe the faith of our youth is so pointless that the best God has for them now is a temporary escape from the world on Wednesday night and Sunday morning? This sort of ministry just reinforces a belief in the meaninglessness of this life.

Where are meaning and hope found? In Jesus.

I am firmly convinced that what today’s youth need most is the gospel of Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the one in whom the fullness of God is found, and he’s the one in whom we are filled (Col 2:9-10). Moreover, he is the one who gives meaning to this life.

He didn’t come to escape the world but to redeem it. When you read the Gospels, you see the way in which Jesus and his kingdom brought redemption to this world by overcoming physical evil (emotional and physical sickness), metaphysical evil (Satan and the demons), and moral evil (sin).

And the amazing message of the gospel is that we are transferred into Jesus’ kingdom of redemption and the forgiveness of sin (Col 1:13-14), a kingdom we pray comes “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). It’s a kingdom of meaning for today that heals the broken and strengthens the tempted as they live in the world (but are not of the world).

This is why, then, Paul pleas for the early Christians in Colossae to “walk in [Jesus], rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:7).

But the assumption Paul makes is that all Christians—including young ones—have been taught this kingdom-bringing Jesus,the Messiah as presented in the Old and New Testaments. This is the Jesus in whom youth today can truly root their faith and be fed, grown, and established.

His People, the Church

Where is Jesus found? In the worship of his people, the church. As others have said , the way we come to know Jesus is through the means he gave us: Scripture, true Christian fellowship, the sacraments, and prayer. These are the practices that by faith renew their minds in such a way that enables youth to view and live in the world with purpose and meaning as followers of Jesus. These are the practices that by faith force youth from their technologically imposed isolation, discourage their entitlement, and lead them to a spirit of humility and repentance. These are the practices that by faith expose their dependence on Jesus and remind them of their need for grace.

And these are the practices that are to define our worship as the church. Certainly, some of these practices can take place in youth-only venues, but at its heart, these are full-body practices of the corporate church: young and old worshiping together.

I love youth ministry, I really do. But the thing is, we have to be sure that we don’t segregate the youth for our sake and theirs. They are part of the body of Christ too, and no part of the body can remain healthy if one of its members is cut off and put to the side. If we segregate the youth, not only do we lose all they have to teach us, but we also inadvertently teach them that the church is really only for adults—those who are married and have families of their own. And then we wonder why they don’t get involved in church as college students or young singles, when in reality, we’ve been telling them all along that the church isn’t yet for them.

My prayer is that as we minister to a generation starving for meaning, we won’t lose sight of the reality that what these youth need is Jesus, and that he is most fully offered within the community of the church, of which they are a vital part.

Also in the series on youth ministry:

A Brief History of Youth Ministry by Dave Wright
MTD: Not Just a Problem with Youth Ministry by Brian H. Cosby
Youth Ministry’s Tendency Toward Legalism by Cameron Cole
Why We Need Youth Ministry by Paul Martin

Is the digital age making us foolish?

It doesn’t have to be this way. With intentionality and the discipline to cultivate healthier media consumption habits, we can resist the foolishness of the age and instead become wise and spiritually mature. Brett McCracken’s The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World shows us the way.

To start cultivating a diet more conducive to wisdom, click below to access a FREE ebook of The Wisdom Pyramid .

Mark Howard is a steering committee member for Rooted: Advancing Grace-Driven Youth Ministry . He has served in youth ministry for five years and holds both a bachelors and graduate degree from Wheaton College.

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Ministry Answers

Developing Strong Relationships With Church Members And Volunteers

Church members and volunteers are essential to the success of any organization. It is important to develop strong relationships with them in order to create a cohesive and supportive community. This can be a challenging task, but with the right approach, it can be achieved.

Definition of strong relationships

Developing strong relationships with church members and volunteers can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Be genuine. When you are interacting with church members and volunteers, be genuine. This means being yourself and not trying to be someone you’re not.

2. Be respectful. When you are interacting with church members and volunteers, be respectful. This means not using offensive language, not making assumptions, and not being rude.

3. Be patient. When you are interacting with church members and volunteers, be patient. This means not getting frustrated easily and not trying to force the issue.

4. Be persistent. When you are interacting with church members and volunteers, be persistent. This means not giving up easily and not letting the other person push you away.

Benefits of strong relationships

There are many benefits to having strong relationships with church members and volunteers. These relationships can help build unity within the church community, provide support during difficult times, and promote positive change. By developing strong relationships with these individuals, you can help contribute to the church’s mission and goals.

Developing Strong Relationships with Church Members

Church members are an important part of any church’s community. It is important to develop strong relationships with them so that they feel appreciated and valued. It is also important to develop strong relationships with church volunteers so that they feel appreciated and motivated to contribute their time and energy to the church.

Establishing trust

Building trust is essential to successful church ministry. It is important to develop relationships with church members and volunteers, and to be honest and open with them. It is also important to be respectful and understanding of their beliefs and values.

Showing appreciation

Thank you for your time today. It is truly appreciated. I hope that we can continue to develop strong relationships with church members and volunteers.

Being available

Being available to church members and volunteers is important in developing strong relationships. It allows them to feel comfortable talking with you, and it shows that you are interested in being a part of their lives. It is also important to be respectful of others, no matter what their beliefs may be.

Developing Strong Relationships with Volunteers

Volunteers are a valuable asset to any organization. It is important to develop strong relationships with them in order to ensure that they are happy and productive members of your team. It is also important to develop strong relationships with church members and volunteers in order to build a cohesive community.

Understanding their motivations

Understanding the motivations of church members and volunteers can be key to developing strong relationships with them. By understanding their goals and motivations, you can better connect with them and create a mutually beneficial relationship. Additionally, by being aware of the things that motivate church members, you can better equip yourself to be a successful leader and ambassador for your church.

Providing support

Church members and volunteers are essential to the success of any organization. It is important to provide them with the support they need to be successful. Developing strong relationships with these individuals is key to ensuring that the church is able to thrive.

Recognizing their efforts

Church members and volunteers are an important part of any church. It is important to recognize their efforts and develop strong relationships with them.

As a church member or volunteer, it is important to develop strong relationships with others. This can be done by being friendly, welcoming, and engaging in conversation. It is also important to be respectful of others, and to refrain from making negative comments. By doing these things, we can build a community that is supportive and encouraging.

Summary of key points

Church members and volunteers are essential to the success of any organization. It is important to develop strong relationships with them in order to create a cohesive and supportive community. Here are some tips for developing strong relationships with church members and volunteers:

1. Be respectful and understanding of their beliefs and practices.

2. Be willing to listen and learn.

3. Be willing to give and receive feedback.

4. Be willing to offer help when needed.

5. Be willing to be a positive role model.

Encouragement to continue developing strong relationships

Encouragement to continue developing strong relationships with church members and volunteers is important. It is through these relationships that we can learn and grow together. We can also share our testimonies and be encouraged by one another. We can also help each other in our personal and professional lives.

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5 Ways to Encourage Your Pastor

In our fallen world, sin knows no boundaries, sheep bite, wolves creep into churches, and life is hard..

Very few people understand the weight of shepherding God’s people within the local church. It is a high calling of the Lord. To be sure, it is so difficult that, at times, the only thing that sustains a pastor is his calling from God.

We live in a day in which faithful and true shepherds experience a high rate of burnout, depression; far too many leave ministry altogether. In our fallen world, sin knows no boundaries, sheep bite, wolves creep into churches, and life is hard.

As a pastor, I’m thankful for encouragers in the local church. These individuals are often the wind within my sails, much like Onesiphorus for Paul (2 Tim. 1:16). Know this: whether he tells you or not, your pastor needs your encouragement! Here are five ways you can do that:

1. Pray for Him

The work of pastoring is not only mentally, emotionally, and physically taxing; it’s also grueling spiritually. The pastor is on the front lines of waging spiritual warfare. He often sees how the Lord is working within the church and how the enemy is attempting to trip up, grab a foothold, or lure away disciples.

Most pastors know they aren’t skilled enough to lead the church in their own power. He needs the help of the Lord, but also the help of other godly men and women as he leads. If he’s serving in a church where he’s the only pastor, he likely feels alone and solely responsible for shepherding the church. If he is blessed to serve alongside other pastors, the weight is certainly diminished but still felt.

Paul also experienced the weight of pastoring (2 Cor. 11:28). It’s a heavy load, and we haven’t even mentioned other important aspects of the pastor’s life and calling: his own holiness and walk with Christ, his family, and personal struggles. One of the greatest gifts you can give to your pastor is a commitment to pray for him. And go one step further: let him know as often as you pray for him.

2. Get to Know Him

The pastorate is a demanding and consuming vocation. You are always on call; it can be challenging to get away. Yet behind every pulpit, suit and tie, behind every manuscript or sermon outline, in every pastoral study sits a man who is just like you. He has hobbies and interests. He has a family. There are things he likes and things he dislikes. He has quirks that sometimes attracts the fixation of his critics.

He has a heart, he has needs, and he certainly has feelings. He hurts like you and is doing his best to live a life that honors Christ. Believe it or not, he probably wants to laugh and, for once, be able to let his guard down and not be taken so seriously all the time.

Bottom line: he’s a person. He is someone you’d probably enjoy if you took the time to get to know him without placing expectations or assumptions about who you think he may be or what you want him to be. Instead, simply let your pastor be himself and get to know him. Invite him to lunch. Have his family over for dinner. Ask if he and his family would like to join you in an evening of fun together. Find simple ways to get to know the person God has called to be your pastor.

Every Sunday, as Ms. Wynell Pierce is leaving church, she greets me with a handshake or a warm hug, only to say, “I love you, pastor, and we love your family!” She means it, and I know she does. It means the world to me.

3. Know He Loves You and is For You

God does something special in the heart of a true shepherd; the Lord gives him a genuine love for the flock entrusted into his care. In the same way, we should love our pastor. It is important to know that your pastor loves you. He prays for you, and he desires for the Lord to bring about his purposes in your life. He wants you to grow and mature into Christ. He is thrilled in your excitement, and he hurts with you in moments of pain. He has a vested interest in your spiritual growth and maturity. One day, your pastor will stand before the Lord and give an account for you (Heb. 13:17).

Your pastor in every way is a “soul doctor.” He is called to keep watch over your soul. He wants what is best for you. Yet that doesn’t mean he will always agree with you as to what you think is best for you. Sometimes the Lord may even use your pastor to speak a word of truth you do not want to hear in the moment but need to hear it.

Sometimes his sermons may even “step on your toes.” I never aim to offend a particular person in my preaching. I have no joy or desire to step on anyone’s toes or hurt anyone. Yet, I also pray the Lord will pierce hearts, and that hurts worse than a stubbed toe.

You may be tempted to become frustrated, angry, and recoil from your pastor in those moments. You may even think he is against you. The Lord uses the preached Word and your pastor as a strong voice for you to consider your ways before the Lord and to repent. Your pastor’s aim is your sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3). This was Paul’s aim and prayer as well.

4. Extend Him Grace

It may come as a surprise to you, but your pastor sins just like you. He has questions, doubts, and even fails in faithfully following the Lord. Just like you, the Lord is at work in your pastor, sanctifying and conforming him to the image of Christ. He has bad days, sometimes looks back in regret, and often wishes he would have responded differently to situations. Your pastor is not perfect—and he knows it.

Far too many pastors live within what is sometimes called a glass house. People often look on and wait for him to stumble. They hope to catch him in a moment of weakness or when his very real sin nature, which we all have, is exposed. Moreover, that same spirit is often impressed on to his family. His wife and children had better not miss a beat, always be on their A-game, and never let anyone down.

Give him time, and your pastor will let you down. In time, he will do something that fails to meet your expectations. Give it enough time, and I promise the opportunity will come for you to write off your pastor as a disappointment. He’s not above sin, and he’s also not above sinning against you. What do we do in those moments? Sure, we could write him off, talk about him, leave the church, or call for his resignation. Though, I doubt we would want that for ourselves. May I lovingly suggest that you extend to him the same grace you desire when you fail? Just like you, he’ll never be beyond the need of grace in this life.

5. Support and Follow Him

Ministry can be extremely lonely. Often, a pastor’s decisions are met with suspicion, questions, or outright resistance. Sometimes what is clearly the path ahead is charted with difficulty. Sometimes needed changes in a church are met with resistance. People will rise up against the pastor. In moments like those, pastors need some members to stand with them. We need others to lock arms with us in both the good and bad moments of ministry.

I remember the words from one of my deacons like it was yesterday. It was during a particularly difficult season of ministry, and I’m sure he could sense the hardship I was walking through. Over lunch—to the best of my recollection—he said these words to me: “Pastor, I want you to know that I am with you. I am behind you and I’m standing with you. I agree with everything you are doing. It’s biblical and the right direction for our church. I also know it’s tough; these have been some difficult days, but don’t you quit! I support you, and I am with you, brother.”

It’s difficult to adequately express all the ways the Lord used the words of this godly man to refresh my heart and spirit, but I can assure you it was timely and life-giving to my weary soul. In time, these were proven to be more than words. He lived these words out before me, time and time again. It’s made all the difference.

Sometimes, it will be difficult for your pastor to lift his arms in battle (Ex. 17:12). See to it that you come to his aid and help him in his weakness. Do you want your church to be a strong church? A healthy church? Sometimes, this requires going against the grain of what has been the norm for a long time. Let me encourage you to get behind the man who God has sent to shepherd his local church. Support your pastor; build him up. Encourage him to stay the course, let him know you are with him, standing alongside him, and are following him as he follows Christ. When that happens, get ready and watch what the Lord will do in your church.

Make This the Year of Building Up

We have opportunity for a lot of things. When things don’t go our way, we may be tempted to become frustrated and voice our disappointment about our church or its pastor. In the flesh, you can use these moments as an opportunity to tear others down and build yourself up in return. Don’t be surprised when that feeling even feels justified.

But remember this before you speak a word of criticism or when you are tempted to voice your discontentment about your pastor, or about the way you feel things are going: your support and encouragement will go a lot further in bringing honor to Christ, blessing your pastor, and edifying the church (Eph. 4:29-32).

I think we can all agree that we’ve done enough tearing one another down. May 2022 be the year we seek to build one another up.

Parker Smith

Parker Smith serves as senior pastor of Prospect Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He is currently pursuing a doctor of ministry from SBTS. Parker and his wife, Ashley, have a daughter, Brinklee.

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A few years ago I thought my wife and I were going just to visit the “new church in town.” In my mind it was just another Sunday, just another church.

The first few times we stepped foot into the church that we now call home, it wasn’t with complete certainty or comfort. In fact, I had personally set my mind firmly against a few things I experienced initially.

Passionate, expressive worship? —Not what I was used to.

Small groups in place of Sunday School? —No way.

So many things grated against my comfort zone, but at the same time, something gently pulled my heart closer.

The pull wasn’t aggressive or abusive. It was kind, patient and considerate.

Through every worship song, every smile and handshake, every sermon … something seemed to whisper, “There’s a better way.”

That “better way” was shown to me over and over again through various people.

When I finally gained the courage to admit some of my deepest, darkest sins … that “better way” looked at me straight in my eyes and gave me hope instead of judgment.

When my grandmother was unexpectedly rushed to the hospital with a massive heart attack … that “better way” called me at work and prayed peace for me over the phone.

When my wife and I experienced a miscarriage … that “better way” called, texted and prayed relentlessly for the restoration of our broken and mangled hearts.

I now recognize the “better way” as the power of the Holy Spirit. And His Spirit has worked powerfully through countless members of a church that we now call family.

I love how 2 Corinthians 3:17 puts it: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

It was through His Spirit that I experienced freedom.

Freedom to admit that I don’t have it all together.

Freedom to cry out with questions without being made to feel guilty for asking.

Freedom to struggle and wrestle through what I don’t understand.

The scary thing about freedom is that it throws you into the deep end where your feet can’t touch anymore. You can’t cling to your chains any longer; you’ve been set free. It pushes you out into the open and into vulnerability.

His Spirit creates freedom and produces an intense, burning desire to share that freedom with others. Experiencing community at an arms distance won’t satisfy you any longer.

That very same freedom that changed my life is available and waiting for you. It wasn’t a church that changed my life; it was the Holy Spirit, sought fervently and passionately by a group of believers.

I don’t know what your experience is with church, but I do know what it shouldn’t be.

It shouldn’t be about you trying to show up Sunday morning as “perfect.”

I’ve discovered that the church isn’t so much a holy hangout as it is the bonding place of the broken.

It’s not about handing sinners a Bible and pamphlet and walking away. It’s listening to heartbreak and darkness and choosing to walk even closer … even when it’s uncomfortable.

It’s about laughing, crying, questioning and struggling.

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The Church essay

July 26, 2012
Posted by: essay
Category: Sample essay papers

Churches traditionally played an important role in the religious life of people. In fact, the development of any religion was accompanied by the construction of various temples and special places where adepts could worship their deity or deities. In this regard, Christianity became one of the religions which made the church a place where people could maintain their contact with God, while priests served as mediators between the God and believers. At the same time, in the course of time the church evolved as well as the society and changes that occur in the society and its culture inevitably affect the church. It should be said that since the beginning of the development of Christian churches thy have evolved consistently, but the question concerning the purpose of the church always remained in the focus of attention of theologians as well as ordinary adepts. The present epoch is not an exception, but it is important to underline that the changes that take place in the contemporary society are so rapid and dramatic that it is quite difficult to define the purpose of church and its further development and perspectives. In fact, the contemporary epoch became the age of the emergence of atheism, when religion has lost its traditional significance as the spiritual guide of people in their life. Moreover, the formation of the consumerist society contributed consistently to the decreasing of the need of people in spiritual “nutrition”, which was traditionally supplied to adepts by the church. In such a context, Rick Warren, in his book “The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message and Mission”, attempts to understand what the contemporary church actually is and what its major purposes are.

Basically, the author pays a lot of attention to the current trends that affect the development of the contemporary church. Rick Warren lays emphasis on the fact that the purpose drive church model became a widely spread model, which defines the development of many churches in the contemporary world. At the same time, the author the author attempts to critically evaluate such a trend and analyze it in the historical context. To put it more precisely, he looks back into the past, at the roots of the first Christian churches in attempt to find the original Christian view on the church and its purpose. Such a historical retrospection is extremely important because it provides an opportunity to better understand the evolution of the church and, therefore, it helps better understand its current stage of the development.

On the other hand, the author seems to be very skeptical about the current stage of the development of the church and he believes that the way many churches select at the present moment is erroneous and misguiding since it is rather determined by the current, modern trends than a historical mission of the church. What is meant here is the fact that Rick Warren stands on the ground that churches became a kind of enterprises which attempt to “market” their own church that naturally affects the definition of purposes of churches. It should be pointed out that such a trend could be viewed as a response of churches to the changing socioeconomic and cultural environment since the growing role of materialism and commercial relations could not fail to affect the development of contemporary churches. As a result, using the purpose driven model each church gets an excellent opportunity to define its own purposes which fit the needs and expectations of the community in which churches are actually located. In such a way, contemporary churches no longer desire to discover what the Bible says about the purpose of the church in general, but they are formulating a specialized model custom-fitted for each church [1] .

In this respect, it is worth noting the fact that Rick Warren underlines that “our sanity and survival depended upon a workable process to turn seekers into saints, turn consumers into contributors, turn members into ministers, and turn an audience into an army. Believe me, it is an incredibly difficult task to lead people from self-centered consumerism to being servant-hearted Christians” [2] . In such a way, the author reminds about the original purpose of the Church to guide people to Christianity and true faith which would be close not only to their minds but also to their hearts. Obviously, the author is disappointed because of the loss of the original purpose of the church and the ongoing trend to the penetration of consumerism within the church.

Furthermore, Rick Warren analyzes the existing “myths” about churches and critically evaluates them giving his own response to each of the myths. In such a way, he eventually arrives to, probably, the major question of his book: “what drives your church?” [3] . While attempting to answer this question the author finds out various views and different motives and factors that can drive the church. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that the church may be driven by tradition, when some cultural norm makes the church an essential part of the life of the community and often church-goers perceive their worshiping and attendance of church as a kind of traditional ritual they get used to perform throughout their life. Also, Rick Warren points out that the church may be driven by finance, by personality, by programs, by events, by buildings, or by seekers. Obviously, the driving force may vary consistently and, in such a context, the original Biblical paradigm of the church is getting lost.

In fact, the author attempts to convince readers that the original Biblical paradigm of the church should be perceived as the purpose-driven church. In the current situation, this concept needs to be carefully evaluated and implemented in order to fulfill the purposes of the church. In this respect, it is necessary to underline that Rick Warren appreciates the purpose above all and, therefore, the church should be purpose driven since, according to the author, there is nothing preceding purpose [4] .

However, it is important to underline that the position of Rick Warrant is a bit controversial. At any rate, it is obvious that the denial of the current trends to define the purpose of church on the basis of needs of the local community and focus on the historical purpose and role of the church may lead to the ignorance of interests of the local community. Potentially, this may result in the ongoing decrease of the popularity of the church and the number of adepts. Even at the present moment, the problem of the conversion of new adepts is a serious problem for many churches, while the rigidity of their purpose alienates churches and religion at large from the actual needs of the community.

At the same time, the author attempts to find out what the church actually exists for. In order to find the answer to this question he analyzes the views of the public as well as priests on the purpose of the church and its function. As a result, he finds out that eighty-nine percent responded that “the church’s purpose is to take care of my family’s and my needs”, while only eleven percent said “the purpose of the church is to win the world for Jesus Christ” [5] . In such a situation, the author seems to be really puzzled how the church could develop normally in the contemporary world if the pastor and congregation cannot even agree on why the church exists. This is why he concludes that conflict and disagreement on everything else is inevitable [6] . In such a way, it is possible to estimate that the lack of the understanding or, to put it more precisely, the agreement on the purpose of the church leads to conflicts within the church as well as within the community. Obviously, such a situation is unacceptable since the lack of the definite and common purpose prevents the church from the fulfillment of its major function ”“ the spread of Christianity and Christian ideas, converting adepts to Christianity and gaining their support, making them, in response, closer to the God and Christ.

At this point, it is necessary to underline that, according to Warren, the foundation is crucial for the church and its purpose. To put it more precisely, he states that “when you’ve finished laying the foundation, the most critical work is behind you. You can never build larger than the foundation can handle.” [7] . On the basis of the foundation, it is necessary to define the purpose of the church. In this respect, the author states that a clear purpose builds morale, reduces frustration, allows concentration, attracts cooperation, and assists evaluation [8] . In such a way, it is necessary to clearly define the purpose of the church in order to provide it with an opportunity to successfully perform its functions.

However, it is important to underline that the position of Rick Warren is quite arguable because the present epoch demands the flexibility of churches since they need to adapt to the changing environment and meet the needs of the community.

At the same time, on defining the purpose of the church, Rick Warren refers to the New Testament and he attempts to find the Biblical message concerning the purpose of the church. As a result, he finds out that “it isn’t our job to create the purposes of the church but to discover them” [9] . Consequently, the church should not create the purposes but seek and discover them that actually explains consistently the concept of the purpose-driven church and, what is more, it also explains the current trend of churches to fit needs and interests of the adepts in a specific community where the church functions.

However, the process of the search for purposes of the church is not an easy process. Rick Warren develops a kind of strategy that will help discover the purposes of the church. To do this one needs to answer four basic questions: a) Why does the church exist?; b) what are we to be as a church? (who and what are we?); c) what are we to do as a church? (what does God want done in the world?); d) how are we to do it? [10] . Thus, the author gives clear recommendations concerning the elaboration of the purposes of the church. At the same time, it should be said that basically it is up to the church to define its goals. It would be quite logical to presuppose that different churches function in different environment and, therefore, at some points, their purposes may differ, though in principal they will be similar.

In this respect, it is possible to refer to Rick Warren’s ideas concerning the purposes of the church. On answering the questions, which help define the purposes of the church, the author names five major purposes of the church: a) love the Lord with all your heart; b) love your neighbor as yourself; c) go and make disciples; d) baptizing them; and e) teaching them to obey [11] . In such a way, the author defines the major purposes of the church. However, it should be pointed out that Rick Warren evaluates the purposes of the church in the historical perspective. In other words, he takes into consideration the entire history of the development of the Christian church and he heavily relies on the traditional Christian values and principles, which apparently define the purposes of the church he lists in his book.

Obviously, “The Purpose Driven Church” by Rick Warren is a very important book since it can help consistently not only to find the purposes of the church, but, what is more important, it also shows the way how these purposes may be found. In other words, the book assists to learn to search and find the purposes of the church that is extremely important in the contemporary, rapidly changing socio-cultural environment.

On applying Rick Warren’s ideas in practice, it should be said that the process of the definition of the purposes of the church can be facilitated consistently. At the same time, it is important to remember the idea suggested by Rick Warren concerning the foundation of the church. In this respect, it should be pointed out that the growth of the church starts with its foundation. It is extremely important to construct a solid foundation of the church, because on its basis the entire building will be constructed. In fact, this means that it is necessary to research carefully the community in which the church is supposed to be constructed and developed. After that it is necessary to construct the church and attract adepts. At this stage, it is very important to attract not only believers and devoted Christian, but it is not less important to attract those people who are just seeking the true religion as well as those who are unbelievers. It is extremely important to remember about the fact that the church should be open for all people. It cannot be an exclusive institutions, which is destined for a specific category or group of people, because it contributes to the formation of inequality not only within the community but also in face of God that is apparently a wrong approach to the development of the church. In stark contrast, all people are equal in face of God and, therefore, the church should accept all people that are willing to join or attend it.

At the same time, while defining purposes of the church, it is necessary to conduct a profound research of the community in which the church functions. Basically, the purpose of such a research is to define the major needs and expectations of people living in the neighborhood because this will help elaborate the purposes of the church itself.

What is meant here is the fact that it is important to take into consideration the position of the local community and the research will help assess their spiritual development, but, at the same time, it does not necessarily mean that the purposes of the church will be defined solely on the basis of the needs and expectations of the local population. In fact, this information is needed simply to shape the strategy of the development of the church in order to make it closer to the adepts. Obviously, the latter is impossible if the needs and expectations of the community are not taken into consideration.

Naturally, this will affect the definition of the purposes of the church, but still it is necessary to lay emphasis on the universal Christian principles and refer to the Biblical texts to define the basic goals of the church. In this respect, the five goals listed by Rick Warren in his book seems to be quite acceptable and universal, though, it is possible to admit the fact that some changes could be introduced depending on the environment in which the church will grow.

In such a situation, it is necessary to realize the fact that the church should perform the role of a mediator and a spiritual guide which can direct adepts in their search of God and spiritual harmony. What is meant here is the fact that the church should help people find their way to God. This is impossible without understanding of the needs of the local population. Consequently, on analyzing the needs of people the church should help them overcome their spiritual problems and encourage them attend the church and find their way to God.

In practice, this means that it is necessary to popularize the church within the local community. In fact, it is possible to organize a kind of the promotional campaign, for instance, distribute leaflets inviting people to attend church.

However, it seems to be more effective to participate in the life of the community. For instance, the church may organize some charitable event, like a dinner for marginalized people living in the community, or to assist to the local healthcare organizations to take care of patients, etc. In such a way, the church will gain the confidence of the local community and its support. Moreover, through the participation of the church in the life of the local community it will be possible to create the positive public image of the church and encourage people attend church regularly and get closer to the religion and philosophy of the church, which could help people in their spiritual searches.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the contemporary church is susceptible to considerable changes under the impact of the rapidly changing socio-cultural environment. This is why the role of church and its purposes are also susceptible to the dramatic change. In such a situation, it is extremely important to avoid the negative impact of the contemporary environment on the development of the church and minimize the penetration of mercantile relations and principles in the functioning of the church. In this respect, it is worth taking into consideration ideas developed by Rick Warren in his book “The Purpose Driven Church”, which can help better understand the current trends and the role and purposes of the church in the contemporary society. In fact, on the basis of these ideas it is possible to growth the church in accordance with both the current demands and traditional Christian principles and values.

[1] Frazee, 2001, p.122.

[2] Warren, 1995, p.46.

[3] Warren, 1995, p.73.

[4] Warren, 1995, p.81.

[5] Warren, 1995, p.82.

[6] Warren, 1995, p.82.

[7] Warren, 1995, p85-86.

[8] Warren, 1995, p.88.

[9] Warren, 1995, p.91.

[10] Warren, 1995, p.99.

[11] Warren, 1995, p103-106.

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3 Ways Christian Community Can Support Your Spiritual Growth

Friendship , Spiritual Growth

Through the years, I have experienced a lot of heartache in the context of Christian community.

I attended a church where a Christian leader left his wife because he was tired of leading a double life after having a long-standing affair with another woman. I have seen political differences turn friends into enemies. I have spent long hours on the phone with friends who felt they could no longer have anything to do with Christians because of their experience with sexual and spiritual abuse in the church.

Through the Holy Spirit’s gift of love, diverse members of a Christian community become a blessing to each other.

In a healthy community, even when there are challenges and scandals, people have loved and supported my relationship with God. I have had the opportunity to do the same for others. In a healthy community, God works among people with diverse personalities, experiences, strengths, weaknesses, sufferings and pains to draw the entire community into a deeper relationship with Himself.

Consider these three ways Christian community can support your spiritual growth .

1. Christian Community Can Provide Friends to Encourage You

I struggle with depression, and I’m melancholy by nature. I can always find the darker shade of life at any moment. I’m an introvert and prefer time alone with my books or thoughts.

I have a friend who is the complete opposite.

This guy is always happy, always joking and always encouraging people to pursue their dreams. He is the kind of person whose presence inspires a party. He has always been able to get through to me in my darker moments with the hope of the gospel. He and I live and breathe in completely different worlds of experience, but God has brought us together.

God brings people together who seem to have nothing in common.

Through the Holy Spirit’s gift of love, diverse members of a Christian community become a blessing to each other.

God has used so many people to encourage my faith when I have felt discouraged. Through friends, God has taught me how to love life and pursue a deeper relationship with Him.

2. Christian Community Can Provide People to Challenge You

I have found this to be true, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17, English Standard Version).

In a healthy Christian community, you will find introverts and extroverts, and people with different family backgrounds, cultural experiences, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, pains and sufferings. Yes, this can lead to struggles, misunderstandings and all sorts of confusion among people who feel that they have little in common, but there is a blessing to God’s design.

Being in Christian community puts me in regular contact with people who are different from me, people who are bold, outgoing and confident. Their personalities can wear me out, frustrate me and challenge me. They challenge me to talk more, to share the gospel with strangers and to be open and available. Their differences help me to develop as a person and grow in my faith, and I help them too.

I listen well, think deeply and make people feel accepted. While spending time in Christian community, I discovered a lot about myself. I am more aware of my sins and failings, but I also see my talents. My personality, experiences and strengths challenge and encourage others.

God desires you to learn how to love as He loves, to love people who have all sorts of sins and struggles. God wants you to develop empathy and compassion, to see people the way Jesus sees people. This kind of spiritual growth will only happen in a context where others challenge you.

3. Christian Community Can Provide Mentors to Lead You

A healthy Christian community includes people at different stages of their spiritual journey.

When I was 19, the leader of a Bible study group I attended invited me to a prayer meeting. I was the youngest person there by far. It was the first time in my life that I was around a large group of older men committed to prayer, some in their 90s.

In that group, we would pray and talk about life every Thursday night. I saw men embrace one another while sharing their emotions and experiences. From these men, I saw what it meant to be a man, that being masculine had nothing to do with the stoic and proud images I had received from my upbringing.

My relationship with God deepened and matured while praying, reading Scripture, sharing experiences and freely speaking about God's love and grace with these men. The memories continue to inspire me and lead me to pursue a deeper relationship with God more than 15 years later.

In Colossians 3:12–17, Paul encourages the church at Colossae to grow in their love and faith by sharing the truth of Scripture and singing together. Paul shows us a large part of spiritual growth happens in a Christian community where God gathers diverse people to share their gifts with one another.

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10 Reasons I Love My Church

January 2014

In light of New Song’s recent “I Heart My Church Weekend,” here are a few insights into why I LOVE My Church that may give you a renewed passion for yours!

Jesus Loves His Church

A quick read of the book of Acts or the letters in Revelation proves that Jesus loves his church. He died for it, prays for it, lives for it, and is going to return for it.

Let’s be honest, it’s not easy to love the church. It’s easy to love Jesus. Loving his Bride is another story. Churches are filled with frail and fault-riddled people. Every church has a unique personality. All are loved by Jesus, but not all are loved in equal measure by each of his people.

In my case, I happen to attend, pastor, and love the church I get to lead. It’s not perfect, but here are ten traits I love about New Song Church.

1. It’s Not About Us.

We place a higher priority on what Jesus wants than on what we want. In my experience that’s rare. It has to be fostered, nurtured, celebrated, and constantly reinforced. We are by nature, self-focused beings. I love my church because, as well as we can, we focus on Jesus and his agenda above our own.

2. It’s Incredibly Fruitful.

Last year we saw over 1,600 people express first-time faith in Christ. Being in a family that abounds in new believers is not only exciting, it’s stimulating.

New believers have zeal that can wane in older believers. New believers ask questions that the rest of us need to have asked. New believers are eager to learn, willing to serve, and open changing old habits.

But the best part of fruitfulness is the sense of blessing that comes from knowing that the Father of the Universe is granting you the joy of watch an eternal life be born and entrusting you with the care and feeding of his most tender infants.

3. It’s Responsive.

I love my church because when I get a leading from the Lord, they’re open to it. They say, “We’ll support you pastor. We’ll go with you. We’ll make that change/ improve that program/ start that ministry.”

There is freedom in the Spirit when the church not only trusts, but truly wants to follow its pastor. By God’s unspeakable grace, I get to lead a church like that.

4. It’s Caring.

Yesterday morning, a pregnant lady from one of our campuses went to the hospital with complications. One prayer request was sent out, and a dozen members of that campus responded with prayer and concern within a few hours. At the end of the day, she went home feeling loved by her church family and healed by her Lord.

Church members ought to treat one another like family members, but New Song goes beyond that. Last week, I received a request that we hold a benefit concert for a family with a sick child. The family doesn’t attend our church, or any church. One of our members just wanted to do something to help with their medical bills. I love that my church is filled with caring people.

5. It’s Diverse.

Years ago someone told me that Sunday morning is the most segregated day of the week. I thought it ought not be so.

The Body of Christ in heaven is made up of every ethnic group. The church on earth ought to be like that too. Thanks be to God, my church is filled with people from different countries, different backgrounds, different continents, and different life-stages. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, we are precious in his sight! This is one of the things I love most about my church.

6. It’s Entrepreneurial.

Members of my church have founded mission societies, church-marketing companies and database management enterprises. A lady started a recycling ministry to help the poor in Africa while helping our community “go green.”

We’re not a church with a lot of dollars, but we are a church with a lot of dreamers. Through those dreamers, we do a lot of vicarious good in the name of Christ and His kingdom.

7. Its Unified Staff.

I’ve heard of churches where staff members complain or bicker. Thankfully, we have a staff that genuinely likes each other, loves our vision, and enjoys working here. I love supporting them, training them, and working with them.

8. Its Help with My Family.

My kids grew up in this church. Part of why they love God so much is because of the love of God they received from the New Song family.

My children were given the freedom to be themselves, make mistakes, and be children. They were discipled by older believers who supplemented what we were modeling at home. Not once in their childhood or teenage years did anyone say, “You should act better, you’re the pastor’s child.” Since so many of our people didn’t grow up in a church, they didn’t have expectations of the pastor’s kids. I am so grateful for that.

9. Its Commitment to Church Planting.

The most effective apple trees don’t just produces apples. They produce more trees that produce more apples. I’m grateful to be part of a church that is planting a church per year locally and training church planters to plant 20,000 churches globally.

10. It’s Full of Marines.

My church is located just south of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

A significant percentage of our church is Marines. I love their willingness to take on hard jobs, face danger and serve our country. While I hate the fact that Uncle Sam moves my men every three years, I love that I get to be part of a church that sends out a sizeable number of members every year to serve in other cities and countries – and at government expense.

I’ll admit again, my church isn’t perfect. We have lots of worts to work on. But Jesus is working on them daily – which may be the most important reason I love my church!

What’s Next?

Why do you love your church? Make a list and be thankful!

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How serving in the church grows your faith

After several years of neglecting my relationship with Jesus, I knew it was time to go back to church. I searched online for a church nearby and found NewSpring. I started listening to services online and eventually attended in person.

Week in and week out, my family and I had an incredible experience. Parking attendants directed me to a spot, and warm, smiling faces greeted us as we approached the building. Volunteers helped check in the kids and guided us in the right direction. We grabbed free coffee then went into the auditorium where creative videos, and practical teaching kept us engaged and informed.

A talented team of musicians led us in worship. One of the teaching pastors then took the stage and delivered an inspiring message. After service, we were always invited to connect with volunteers in the VIP Room or pray with someone in the Care Room.

At first glance, it’s easy to believe you are not needed in a church like this. When every environment is welcoming and every volunteer seems eager to serve, it’s easy to think, they’ve got it covered without my help.

A year later, my family relocated, and it was no coincidence, NewSpring had a growing portable campus about 12 miles from our house. My initial experience was the same. But this time, I felt God leading me to start serving .

It took a few months to find the right spot, but God was faithful to lead me where I needed to be. Through serving on the Care Team , I discovered that serving was about so much more than filling a need. God uses our serving to change us.

Four Ways Serving in the Church Changed Me and Can Change You

1. serving directly increases our faith..

Through serving, God gave me a front row seat to seeing Him change people’s lives.

Serving allows us to experience His power firsthand ...

Watching God work in someone else’s life increases our faith. In John 2:1-11 , Jesus performs His first miracle at a wedding in Cana by turning the water into wine. Other than Mary, Jesus’ mother, only the servers at the wedding witnessed this miracle. The wedding attendees received the benefit of the new wine, and the wedding party saved face because of the miracle, but it was the servers who had the first opportunity to witness Jesus’ power. Serving allows us to experience His power firsthand and that naturally produces faith in us.

2. Serving helps us see and experience what we’re made for.

Through serving, I have learned that my fullest joy comes from serving others. Ephesians 2:10 tells us why: “... we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.”

You have been gifted by God, and you are incredibly valuable to Him and the church. Ephesians 4 goes on to explain how important each individual is to the church. Instead of trying to look, speak, and act the same, we are called to train each other up using the gifts, skills, and abilities God has given us. When we do, we’ll find “we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ” ( Ephesians 4:7-13, MSG ).

You have been gifted by God, and you are incredibly valuable to Him and the church.

God also uses our serving, and those we serve with, to reveal our gifts to us. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” When we are operating in our gifting to serve God and others, we experience the kind of joy we were made for!

3. Serving draws us into authentic community.

If I had to choose one word to describe how serving has affected my life, it would be “community.” Not long after volunteering, I was invited to a group with a couple on my serving team. Four years later, I consider them family. God has used the people I serve with to encourage me, pray for me, and teach me. My relationship with Jesus and others has flourished as a result.

In John 17 , Jesus prayed for God to protect us so we would be one as He and the Father are one. This oneness is best experienced in and through participation in the church — by serving and loving one another well.

4. Serving requires obedience and redirects our focus to Jesus.

The simplest way to follow Jesus is by doing what He did. In Matthew 20:28 , Jesus tells us He came to serve, not be served. By being obedient to follow Jesus in this way, we get to know Him on a new level because we experience firsthand His love for others.

When we begin to care for and serve others, God redirects our focus.

When we begin to care for and serve others, God redirects our focus. As my friend, Chip, says “I can’t think of a better way to diminish the significance of my problems than to get the focus off of myself and to place it on others.”

Believing the lie that the church doesn’t need you will rob you of the joys God designed for you to experience through serving. Take a risk and get involved. God will honor that step of faith and grow it into so much more!

Is serving your next step? Join us at Connect or stop by the Next Steps Area any Sunday.

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“Gospel Topics Essays,” Gospel Topics Essays (2016)

“Gospel Topics Essays,” Gospel Topics Essays

Gospel Topics Essays

In the early 1830s, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was less than three years old, the Lord invited members of the Church to seek wisdom by study and by the exercise of faith:

“And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” ( D&C 88:118 ).

This is more than a simple exhortation to learn about the gospel. It is an invitation from the Lord to recognize that not all sources of knowledge are equally reliable. Seeking “out of the best books” does not mean seeking only one set of opinions, but it does require us to distinguish between reliable sources and unreliable sources.

Recognizing that today so much information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be obtained from questionable and often inaccurate sources, officials of the Church began in 2013 to publish straightforward, in-depth essays on a number of topics. The purpose of these essays, which have been approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has been to gather accurate information from many different sources and publications and place it in the Gospel Topics section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org, where the material can more easily be accessed and studied by Church members and other interested parties.

The Church places great emphasis on knowledge and on the importance of being well informed about Church history, doctrine, and practices. Ongoing historical research, revisions of the Church’s curriculum, and the use of new technologies allowing a more systematic and thorough study of scriptures have all been pursued by the Church to that end. We again encourage members to study the Gospel Topics essays cited in the links below as they “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

Seven ways you can help your local church by volunteering

If you’re looking for ways you can volunteer locally to support your community, why not sign up to volunteer at your local church. Here’s how you can get involved and make a difference

Published: 5th May 2023

Many churches remain at the heart of the local community. Their buildings are often used not just for worship, but a place for social groups to gather, food banks and warm spaces and for welcoming visitors to the area. To run all these effectively, it takes time and teamwork.

If you’re looking for a place to meet new people, get plugged into your local community and boost your mental health, as well as support a vital cause, then look no further. Here are different ways you can get involved by volunteering with your local church today.

How can you help your local church?

Every church is different, so we recommend looking up your local church to see exactly what they do. You can use our church finder to locate a church near you .

How to volunteer – a guide

Find your local church. The easiest way to do this is to search for them online and look at their website for what they do and ways to get involved.

Make contact . Most churches will have an email address listed on their website. Tell them a little about yourself and what you want to help with. If you can only find a phone number, you can always call and leave them a message!

The church will follow up with you. They might also point you in the direction of who to talk to or arrange a meeting. Some volunteering roles may require you to do some training or safeguarding checks, as you may be working closely with vulnerable people or children.

Get stuck in.

Churches are often set in beautiful grounds, and these are often maintained by volunteers. There is something hands-on to do in every season, from planting and weeding to cutting grass and raking. Churches sometimes have allotments as well, where produce is grown for the church and community, often given away in foodbanks

Sadly, with the cost of living crisis, food banks have never been more in demand. The support offered is often a lifeline to the most vulnerable members of the community. From processing donations and making up bags of food to looking after people in need, there are often many ways to volunteer – all which will make a huge difference to people in need.

All old buildings require regular attention and churches are no exception. Volunteers work on all kinds of odd jobs and repair work to ensure they can remain open and safe for the community to use. From painting and decorating to restoration work, there are opportunities to use your skills – or learn new ones – to help preserve these amazing buildings.

Whether it’s someone who’s visited the church for generations to someone coming along for the first time, a friendly face can make all the difference. Having someone on hand to welcome them and to sign post them to what they need means that people can get the help they need from their visit – and they will be more likely to recommend the church to others.

From toddler groups, to exercise classes to support groups for vulnerable members of the community, there’s always lots happening at churches. Most of these groups rely on volunteers to welcome visitors, help with set up and set down, be a listening ear and to get involved in the activities!

Churches often run cafes – open to visitors throughout the week, not just on Sundays! Many of the grants we give out have helped churches install kitchens to enable them to turn their church into a community hub and café – helping to raise funds for the church and creating a space for people to connect. From cooking and baking, to serving or talking to guests, there’s lots you can be involved in.

For churches to stay open and run the range of activities they do, admin and tech support is often needed. This could be managing databases, helping around the office, updating church websites and their social media pages, or even filming or photographing an event the church is hosting.

Ways volunteers are making a difference in UK churches

As part of our annual church awards, we give out a special award each year to volunteers in each nation who are making a difference in their church and community. Here are our recent winners to help give you some inspiration on how, by volunteering at your local church, you’ll be making a vital difference.

England – The Hub at St Peter’s, Herefordshire

The Hub is an inviting space for the local community to meet and socialise. It offers volunteering and training opportunities for local people, as well as wellbeing support and signposting to local services. Its café serves wholesome and affordable food, and a volunteer-run branch of Herefordshire Libraries operates from its Bell Tower. The Hub relies on volunteers to bake cakes, make soup, serve in their café, help in their library, make friendly phone calls or run errands for people via their Community Helpline.

Wales – The Outpost at St Paul’s Church, Rhosesmor

With the nearest shop three miles away, the Outpost has become a lifeline to locals. The shop and cafe are mainly run by its 37 volunteers, who have enabled it to grow into a thriving community hub. It hosts book swaps and an annual scarecrow competition, as well as sourcing from local suppliers, in turn benefiting the local economy.

Northern Ireland – Immaculate Conception, Strabane

No longer are artefacts hidden or left to gather dust. This amazing church created a museum space that exhibits the church’s rich and varied heritage collection, as well as others from the local areas. The space is run by volunteers, who welcome visitors and tell them about the displays.

Scotland – St Gregory's Foodbank, Glasgow

St Gregory’s foodbank is located in one of the most deprived areas in Scotland. Yet its community have pulled together to look after one another. The food bank is entirely run by volunteers and helps more than 300 people each week – making sure the most vulnerable in their community have food, cleaning products and personal hygiene items. From serving people to helping with paperwork and admin behind the scenes, there’s lots to get involved in.

Despite networks of volunteers existing all over the UK, more are desperately needed to help protect the value that churches offer their communities. However and wherever you choose to volunteer, you’ll be making a vital difference to the lives of others as well as helping to keep churches open and in use.

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Essays on Church

A church essay may define the Church as a temple where people come to pray and worship God. Word church is borrowed from the Greek word “kyriake”, which means “of the Lord”. In ancient times it was also called “kyriakon doma” – “the Lord's house”. Some church essays define church In Christianity as a gathering of people who believe in Jesus Christ. So it is not a material building but rather the assembly of faithful – many essays on church specify that. In the Bible, the church was never associated with a building. In this case, all who have believed in Jesus Christ become part of the Church. Our church essay samples are a must if you want to keep your essays relevant and easy to read. Don’t hesitate, just take a look at the essay samples below!

The Catholic Church: A Historical Institution The Catholic Church has been part of the Christian religion for as long as the church has been established. "The Catholic Church that is also referred to as the Roman Catholic Church to be exact has about a billion followers around the globe" (Stanford, 2017)....

Words: 2079

The primary mode of evangelism in the world’s religions is mainly fulfilled through the establishment of worship places all over so that the words of God are transmitted to the other people in a most convincing way. In Christianity, it is believed that every word that told by Jesus is...

Words: 1040

The Relationship Between the Ancient Church and the State The most important issue that faced the ancient church was its relationship with the state. According to John Roberson (2015), the ancient church tried not to draw close to the state; however, some tendencies led to it having close involvements with the...

Basilica Catholic Church Community focuses on multiple Christianity activities that help in disseminating the canonical gospel among both converts and non-converts. We integrate modern cultures, trends as well as the values of Christians’ lives by ensuring that the challenges preventing individuals within the community to understand the bible and follow...

Words: 1067

Introduction There are few groups in the country - and truly in the world – that inspire more confusion and outrage than the Church of Scientology. Here in Saint Paul where I live, the church has a chapter built on the site of the old Science Museum that gives me those...

Words: 2208

The Catholic social thought (CST) comprises of principles that portray a society that embraces justice and at the same time offers an approach that will lead to achieving a just society in the long run. These principles outline the measures needed in making prudent judgments and giving appropriate directions for...

Words: 1194

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Because of the development of western culture starting in the first century, the history of Christianity includes the church, churchgoers, Christian religion, and Christian denominations. The term "Western civilization" refers to the civilization that originated in Europe and spread to other parts of the globe, including Australia, America, and New...

What could be better than giving your time to a neighborhood nonprofit? Young people are eager to attend networking events held in bars and restaurants, I've lately discovered. A young person's goal might not always be to set aside time to take part in a volunteer project at their local...

Words: 1014

Europe's Middle Ages Europe's Middle Ages included the Medieval Period, which was characterized by the dominance of Catholicism and Christian traditions. Religious and cultural expectations placed severe restrictions on the actions of women in medieval society. However, women were able to navigate and occasionally use these discouraging circumstances to achieve their...

First off, the church in Christianity has a history that is parallel to that of the religion, which goes back to the early church. The issue of church discipline is made clear in 1 Corinthians 11 when the apostle Paul sends a letter to the Corinthians instructing them on how...

Augustine Hippo was an early philosopher and theologian who made significant contributions to the development of Western philosophy and Christianity. After the church introduced Trinity doctrine, Augustine wrote about it. In the early church, individuals were trying to understand the notion of Trinity and its application in gospel preaching. As...

Words: 1653

Wilken's Analysis of Early Church Leaders Wilken talks about how some church leaders in the past dictated how quickly the church was built and how quickly the gospel was spread. Many other intellectuals, like as Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine, were inspired by the ancient thinkers' initiative to construct a...

Martin Luther: the Man who Changed Christianity Forever

This essay about Martin Luther outlines his significant impact on Christianity and the launch of the Protestant Reformation. Born in 1483, Luther was originally studying to become a lawyer before a life-altering storm led him to become a monk. His posting of the 95 Theses in 1517, which criticized the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences, ignited widespread theological debates facilitated by the advent of the printing press. Luther advocated for salvation through faith alone and promoted access to the scriptures in the vernacular, challenging the Church’s authority and democratizing religious practices. His translation of the New Testament into German not only made the Bible accessible to ordinary people but also influenced the German language and culture profoundly. Despite his pivotal role in religious reform, Luther’s later anti-Jewish writings cast a shadow over his legacy. The essay portrays Luther as a complex figure whose actions reshaped the spiritual landscape of Europe, highlighting both his transformative contributions and the controversies surrounding his later life.

How it works

Martin Luther wasn’t just a monk with a hammer and some serious gripes about the Catholic Church; he was a revolutionary whose bold actions kicked off the Protestant Reformation. Born in 1483 in a small German town, Luther started out on a path that was worlds away from religion—he was going to be a lawyer. However, after a near-death experience during a storm, he vowed to become a monk, a decision that rerouted the course of religious history.

In 1517, Luther famously nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, sparking a theological firestorm.

These theses weren’t just an academic exercise; they were a scathing critique of the Church’s sale of indulgences—essentially get-out-of-purgatory-free tickets—that he saw as a corrupt practice that exploited the faithful. What really shook the foundations was his claim that salvation couldn’t be bought with coin but was a gift from God, received only through faith.

Thanks to the newly invented printing press, Luther’s ideas spread like wildfire, challenging the very fabric of Church authority and empowering common people with a new, more personal connection to their faith. He argued that everyone should have direct access to the scriptures, which was a radical idea at a time when the Bible was locked away in Latin, a language spoken only by the educated elite.

Luther’s translation of the New Testament into the German vernacular in 1522 wasn’t just a theological act; it was revolutionary. For the first time, ordinary folks could read the Bible themselves. This not only weakened the Church’s control but also had a lasting impact on the German language and culture.

Despite his groundbreaking contributions to Christianity, Luther’s life was not without controversy. Later in life, he penned some decidedly hostile writings against the Jews, which have rightly earned criticism for their harsh antisemitism. These aspects of his legacy complicate our understanding of him—not just as a spiritual leader but also as a man of his times, with all the flaws and complexities that entails.

Protected by his patrons, Luther spent his last years preaching, writing, and refining his theological ideas, which laid down the principles for what would become known as Lutheranism. He passed away in 1546 but left behind a legacy that fundamentally altered the Christian landscape. His insistence on faith as the key to salvation democratized Christianity and set off religious reforms that would ripple out across Europe, changing the spiritual and cultural history of the continent.

So, Martin Luther: not just a monk, but a mover and shaker who redefined what it meant to believe and belong in the Christian world. His story is a powerful reminder of how deep conviction and a few bold strokes can shake up the world.

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Martin Luther: The Man Who Changed Christianity Forever. (2024, May 12). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/martin-luther-the-man-who-changed-christianity-forever/

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How to Write a Letter Asking for Church Volunteers

Need more church volunteers? Here's how to write a letter asking more of your church to participate.

Church volunteers help drive the growth of the church.

Without these vital volunteers, churches often struggle to execute their ministries and services. After all, the work of volunteers comes from the heart of people who would love to honor God through serving the church.

One observation often seen among volunteers at church is that it’s natural for them to offer their time, talents, and resources. In fact, you won’t need to nudge them to volunteer.

However, there are certain circumstances when, in Jesus’ words, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Often, there are a lot of activities that the church needs to accomplish but finds it difficult to do so because of a shortage of help.

So as church leaders, you make announcements at your Sunday service or through your website that the church needs more volunteers for the different ministries.

You even go as far as discussing the importance of church volunteerism in your sermons.

Despite all these efforts, you may find that the volunteer turnout did not meet expectations.

So, what’s the next step you can take to actually get more volunteers involved in the church?

It may be time for you to connect with your church members at a formal but personal level.

We have designed this article to illustrate a sample letter asking for church volunteers, which you can use as a resource to inspire others to volunteer.

To make this task easier, we’ve outlined this straightforward letter-writing framework you can easily apply.

1. Identify the details of the recipient

It’s best to know who you are addressing with this letter. That includes pertinent information like the recipient’s complete name, address, and contact number.

In formal letter writing, these details are what you often see on top of a letter, and they are typically structured in this manner:

January 1, 2022

JOHN B. DOE

Number 4, Privet Drive

Seaport Village, San Diego

Dear Mr. Doe:

Doing this gives the impression that you, the writer, offer personal affection to the reader and that you genuinely know the person you are asking for help. Lastly, ensure that all details are accurate and updated.

Simply put, do your research before you send your letter.

This is where good church management software (ChMS) can really help you in collecting and organizing church members’ personal info.

Check out how Tithe.ly’s ChMS makes managing church data more efficient for church leaders like you.

2. State your purpose for writing this letter

The first few lines of your letter must directly articulate why you are communicating to this person.

It must function as a headline that captures the recipient’s attention to continue reading for more details in the next lines. Instead of beginning the letter’s body with irrelevant information, as many people are guilty of, you can establish this letter’s urgency by stating your purpose right at the start.

“I am writing on behalf of our church to humbly ask your help to be one of our church volunteers needed for the preaching ministry.”

This is particularly critical to remember in writing your letter. Most people lose track of the essential message of the letter because of all the details.

To make the request even more compelling, add a personalized note that states the qualification of the recipient based on recorded observations.

You can include appealing statements like:

The church has seen you grow.
I have noticed your exceptional skills and talents.
Your previous efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Add some details, and you’re sure to make the recipient feel good and continue reading. But make sure that you are genuine with your statements, too.

If you’re still having trouble looking for church volunteers, this article, How to Get People to Volunteer at Church , can inspire you to get started.

3. Include details about the volunteer work

Having stated the letter’s purpose, you can now proceed to write the supporting details about the volunteer work.

Here’s a framework to make your supporting details more concise:

Present a quick overview of the program of interest.
State the work in which the recipient can specifically help.
Show tangible information like date, time, and venue.

Check out our article, How to Build (and Manage) a Community of Volunteers , to discover the exact details you need to help your church volunteers grow.

4. How can they contact you?

Letters requesting church volunteers need confirmation. It’s not just the same announcement you declared at church or on your website.

You have to find a way to make them reply to you.

The easiest way to do this is to let the recipient know the best way they can reach you. Most importantly, offer a personal touch by inviting the reader to a face-to-face meeting at church. This will undoubtedly make the convincing process more compelling.

5. Link back to your letter’s purpose

It’s a good practice to thank the recipient for taking the time to read the letter and consider your request.

But an even better letter-writing practice is to create a call-to-action that links back to why you have written to the member.

This technique could be as simple as writing a linking statement like this:

“I hope you accept this God-given opportunity to share your talent, time, and treasure as a mentor to serve the Lord through the church.”

This serves as a subtle reminder highlighting the main idea of the letter, which is to show that church volunteers are needed for the church’s welfare and that volunteering for the church can be a blessing.

Sample Letter Requesting for Church Volunteers

Now, let’s piece the elements of this framework together and look at a sample letter requesting church volunteers:

I am writing on behalf of our church to humbly ask for your help as one of our church volunteers needed for the preaching ministry. The church would be delighted to have you join as a Brother-Facilitator in training more preachers.

Your active participation in the church, especially when I have listened to your discussions and speaking opportunities at church, is highly admirable and positively influential. Undoubtedly, the church sees great potential in you to train more preachers.

In line with that, our church has scheduled the “Young Leaders’ Preaching Workshop” to be conducted every Saturday from January to May 2022. The training is designed to mentor more potential preachers in our church so that our preaching ministry can extend our mission to even more people and places. Each training day consists of several activities like seminars on public speaking, intensive Bible reading, and speech critiquing. The session is scheduled from 6:00PM to 7:30PM. Finally, the culminating activity is a Preacher’s Conference which aims to showcase their transformation and exhort them for the mission.

Please confirm if you are willing to volunteer now or need clarification about this activity. You can reach me through my e-mail, [email protected] , or my mobile phone # at 123-456-7890. You may even drop by my office at church so that we can talk, too.

I hope you accept this God-given opportunity to share your talent, time, and treasure to serve the Lord through the church.

Thank you very much!

Executive Pastor

Rising Grace Church, San Diego

Time to Write

Writing a letter requesting church volunteers is one way to inspire more church members to help in the church’s ministries and services. The key to writing this letter is to be formal yet personal and concise.

The framework and the example above can guide your train of thought in articulating your request. You can always add more details as needed.

For more updated and relevant resources to help your church grow, feel free to check out Tithe.ly .

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Travis Albritton has been serving Christians online for more than 5 years, and has been starting and leading ministries in the southeast United States for more than a decade. His popular podcast, The Practical Christian , has been downloaded more than 300,000 times in 160 countries around the world. He's an Amazon best-selling author, passionate husband and father, and driven disciple on a mission to launch Christians into online ministry.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

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What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

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Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Want to write the perfect college application essay? We can help. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
Tell you what to say and how to say it
Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

I finally understand my mother's tough love

"you and your mother are just alike," my father would tell me, by randall horton.

I remember, as if it were yesterday, sitting in an Alabama church as the Baptist preacher eulogized my grandmother. I waited patiently for tears to stream down my cheeks. They did not.

Only days before, I’d received notification my grandmother had died from one of the four roommates I shared a house with on Harvard Street in Washington, D.C. It was 1982 and I was a student at Howard University . I’d gone to the fall Homecoming concert featuring musical groups Time and Vanity 6 at Crampton Auditorium on campus. This was before cellphones, texting and other instant communication, so my mother had to call the police station in D.C., give them my address, and ask them to send a patrol car to our house where the message was relayed to me before I was about to go inside the auditorium.

I remembered being in that church — numb, unsure of how to act or respond to death. I’d been close to Grandmother. I loved her dearly; yet, I did not cry.

I wanted to display a sense of love and affection, that tenderness death exposes. I wanted Grandmother to know the crater she left inside my heart was gargantuan, unfillable. However, it is difficult to escape the lessons of supposed manhood from neighborhood cats that specialized in the art of misogynistic behavior, believed in preying on the weak, and being a real N___ was the only thing in life to aspire to. What I mean is from an early age both inside and outside the home, I was taught real men don’t cry. They bet not.

The majority of this I had learned by the tender age of eight, from pouring shots of white and red liquor in my grandmother’s shot house.

During this transformation from college student to drug seller, my mother and I had a difficult time being in the same room without arguing about my life choices.

My grandmother’s shot house was frequented by men hardened by the weatherworn elements of time, those tiny particles of memory that refuse erasure. They held it all in. There was no crying. The emotive was damn near mythological and prohibited by the innate laws that governed these men. I watched them. I learned from them. I wanted to be them.

It was an environment my mother was accustomed to as well, having come of age in that old veridian clapboard house, an experience she never wanted to talk about, especially what it was like for a young woman to be present in a place that sexualized women on the daily. Even before my grandmother died, my mother and I always had this sort of brokenness, a fractured claim to connection. It seemed like we would never find a way to bond as mother and son, or wade in an emotional state of comfort.

By the time I was in that southern church processing Grandmother's death, I’d become a participant in the national narrative of cocaine through a Cuban cartel operating out of Miami.

In the future version of Randall, there would be twin-engine planes, cigarette boats moving through Caribbean waters with fiberglass kilos headed to Miami. There would also be homelessness and prison. There would be near-death misses, near-deaths attempted. I was a lost human drifting through the corridors of consciousness. What I am trying to say is I had become immersed in a culture of drugs. At the time of my grandmother’s death I was a college student in name and appearance only.

I was straddling a wafer-thin allegorical fence: The young man my parents wanted me to be versus who I was becoming.

During this transformation from college student to drug seller, my mother and I had a difficult time being in the same room without arguing about my life choices. To be honest, I did not make it easy. I rebelled at authority. Our disagreements were intense, mainly because, in the end, I wanted her to love me in a way I could not express. So I acted out, even as an adult. Perhaps my father saw this dynamic play out more than anyone, and when I was alone and angry, he would only offer, “You and your mother are just alike.”

My mother was never easy on me. Even as a boy she demanded I be tough, that I not cry. One time when I was homeless in D.C., I called the house late one night, and while my dad wanted to talk to me, my mother told my dad to hang up the damn phone . If I am honest with myself, I know why. I needed a tough love because a conventional love wasn’t working. It would take many years to understand my mother, that the silence she lived with growing up around her mother, the things she witnessed, it all played a part in how she raised me as her son. She saw how society withered those men up and took the joy out of living before they returned to the dirt. The booze, the women of the night, the gambling, the cons, all of these factors of the living she grew up around, as did I.

The day before my mother passed, I was at home in Birmingham, Alabama.

My mother had recently suffered a mild stroke, so mild she wasn’t aware until she went to the hospital and the doctor confirmed bleeding on the brain. The prognosis seemed to be good, so I did not fly home. I came two months later on my way to a literary conference in Dallas.

Perhaps my father saw this dynamic play out more than anyone, and when I was alone and angry, he would only offer, “You and your mother are just alike.”

The night before my flight departed for Texas, I was working on my panel presentation in my father’s office downstairs when I looked up and saw my mother lingering in the doorway with the most angelic smile. At that moment, wading in my own silence, I felt the sincerest connection I’d ever shared with my mother. Her glowing face was full of innocent youth. It was as if she were a teenager, and I was meeting her for the first time. My mother proceeded to explain she’d backed the car out of the garage and back in. A simple task, but for her it was validation that she was on the road to full recovery.

When I finished my panel the next day in Dallas, I checked my cell phone only to see way too many missed calls from my brother-in-law. The sheer volume told something was wrong. My mother had suffered a severe stroke. I needed to return to Birmingham immediately.

At the hospital my dad, sister and I received the prognosis there was nothing else to do, that she would never regain consciousness. My mother would hang between the balance of life and death for the next five days. I could only think back to our exchange in the doorway of my father's office, that moment when whatever we were battling against with each other was over. In many ways that moment told me that whatever connection we had or did not have, I was her child, and she was my mother. The only way I knew to deal with the impending loss was to visit mother every day in the hospital and read her passages from my soon-to-be published book, "Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays."

The first essay I read was from “November 2nd and A Mother’s Love,” in which I recall my mother and I attending the Inaugural Ball in honor of President-elect Barak Obama.

I wanted my mother to know how special that moment was when we shared the first dance, dressed to the nines in formal attire in the nation’s capital. This dance came after a five-year bid inside the carceral state, after two years in a drug program, a bachelor's degree, an MFA, and a PhD. After the PhD came my first tenure track job. I was now following in the shadow of my mother, also a lifelong educator.

The second passage came from my essay, “Eleven Days.” It took my mother 57 years to reveal to me — or rather, to my wife, on a visit after our marriage — that after my premature birth in 1961, I’d been separated from my mother for 11 days, for the sole reason of race. I recount what it must have felt like for her to have a child and then not have a child. For all the reasons in the world, this revelation made sense in terms of our broken claim to connection, and why we’d been on this journey since my birth.

Though my mother could not formulate words, I could stare into her fading eyes, and as I did, I became in sync with her every breath. I’d like to think she saw the passion, the writer in me, and never imagined this to be my destiny. I uttered the most difficult words I've had to speak when I told her, "It is OK to let go."

I cried at the foot of her bed like I’d never lived by the code that weeping is for the weak. I didn’t give a damn. Whatever it was that I could not articulate had to come out. And in the crying came the baptism, and after the baptism came a sense that our love had always been that of mother and son, and maybe in the progression of death we truly understood each other. This was my mother’s final gift to me.

At the funeral, it was assumed, that I — the writer — would say something.

I sat in that same basement study where I last saw my mother alive, and after another good cry, the first words I wrote were: “Come celebrate with us this life of longevity, a life realized through a commitment to service and achievement, taking every inch of what this social order gives, with all its constructs and ideologies within a nation that never could have imagined the existence of the strong Black woman — who is often cloaked in a sort of invisibility.” I wanted my mother to know she was never invisible.

I returned home a motherless child.

The next morning, while working on a creative nonfiction essay on my backyard deck in North Jersey, two doves appeared on the wooden railing. It is a backyard visited by darting sparrows and dignified blue jays lingering in the skeletal tree branches of spring. Sometimes against the background of a shed and garden, cardinals flash their emblematic red wings. But never doves.

As a poet, I viewed these two birds as Grandma and Momma, the two most important women in my life, checking in on me, letting me know they are always here, there, everywhere.

personal stories about mothers

The parasites inside my mother were both real and spiritual
A mother's vanishing: A secret that haunted my family for generations, hiding in plain sight
My parents are dead—can I afford avocado toast now?

Randall Horton is the author of " {#289-128}: Poems ," which received the 2021 American Book Award; " Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays ;" " Hook: A Memoir ," which received the Great Lakes College Association 2017 Award for Creative Nonfiction; and three additional poetry collections. The recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature, Horton is a Cave Canem Fellow and a member of the Affrilachian Poets , as well as the experimental performance group Heroes Are Gang Leaders, which received the 2018 American Book Award in Oral Literature. He is the co-creator of Radical Reversal , a poetry/music band dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the American legal system through the installation of recording studios and creative/performance spaces as well as programming in Department of Correction facilities in the United States. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he now resides in New Jersey and is a Professor of English at the University of New Haven.

When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

Supported by

By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

A woman wearing a jeans jacket sitting at a table showing photos of a young boy on her cellphone.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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