2016
I’m a huge supporter and promoter of growing churches.
How can I not be? Jesus said he’d build his church, and I always want to be on Jesus’ side.
But I’ve stopped using the term Church Growth when I talk about it.
I never tell our church staff, volunteers ...
Staff, deacons, department heads, volunteers and others.
Even in a small church, there are several types of leaders. And we need to have healthy, open communication with them.
Recently I was asked, “in a small church, how often should church leadership meetings be held?” ...
Everyone in church leadership seems to be talking about how to reach millennials.
But what do you do when your church is filled with seniors? Is there a way to build a strong church with them? Or does it always have to be about younger people?
I hear those questions a lot. And ...
The idea that small churches can be great churches is a hard concept for a lot of people to swallow.
I get it. It was hard for me to swallow for a lot of years, too.
So when people raise questions about it, I appreciate their concerns and I try to engage with them in some constructive ...
There are three primary participants in a local church. God, the pastor and the congregation.
Trying to turn a church from unhealthy to healthy without all three in full cooperation, will lead to frustration, failure and heartache.
Knowing and expanding the zone where the hearts ...
Leading an existing church through a turnaround from unhealthy to healthy is one of the hardest tasks a pastor will ever be called to do.
And it’s even harder when we’re trying to do so without understanding some basic principles needed for a successful turnaround ...
Do you want your church to experience a turnaround? If so, why?
There are a lot of good reasons. Among them, you might want to see your church move from:
- Unhealthy to healthy
- Inward-obsessed to outward-focused
- Stuck in the past to excited about the future
- Unloving to loving
- Uninviting to inviting
Small churches can be healthy churches.
But how can we know if they’re healthy without the numerical growth to prove it?
If you want to find answers, we need to ask the right questions.
A couple weeks ago I spoke to about 60 church leaders in six sessions at a 48 hour conference. ...
Many pastors wouldn’t attend their own church if they weren’t the pastor.
How do I know? I’ve talked with a lot of them.
Sometimes it’s because the church is unhealthy, dysfunctional, even toxic. But many times it’s because of something far less problematic. ...
The primary calling of the pastor is to equip God’s people to do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12).
But it’s hard to do that when you can’t find any volunteers.
It’s one of the questions I get asked a lot – especially when I’m teaching ...
God’s Word is not a collection of sermon notes.
It’s not a text book, a rule book, or a collection of inspirational quotes.
That’s why I never go to the Bible to find a passage to preach on for Sunday’s sermon.
Ninety percent of the churches on earth are under 200 people. Eighty percent are under 100. There may be no segment of the church that is more normative. But they may also be the most misunderstood.
Here are six truths about small churches that I wish every church leader knew ...
Small churches aren’t just for small towns.
There are thousands of small churches in big cities and sprawling suburbs, too.
But there aren’t enough of them.
Yes, you read that right. The problem with the church in big cities isn’t that we have too many small churches, ...
I’m going to say something stupid soon.
So will you.
When it happens, I hope people will give both of us the benefit of the doubt and assume the best of us, instead of the worst.
Since I hope to be the beneficiary of such grace, I try to live my life by giving the same grace ...
Millennials won't build the kinds of churches their parent and grandparents built.
Because Millennials are not a homogeneous demographic group, as we established in my last post, there is no secret key to unlock their heart and grab their attention.
In a world of unlimited ...
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