2017
![Do We Need A Broader Definition Of Church Growth? Do We Need A Broader Definition Of Church Growth?](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76727.jpg?h=168&w=300)
There's more than one way for churches to grow.
But over the last forty years or so we've been given one model of church growth almost exclusively. Get more people in the building.
That model is so prevalent that when I dare to suggest that many small churches are healthy ...
![Getting Unstuck: Innovative Small Churches Find Alternatives, Not Excuses Getting Unstuck: Innovative Small Churches Find Alternatives, Not Excuses](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76702.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Pastoring a small church is not for the faint of heart.
It involves ministering to and with people at every level of their lives. Spiritual, social, financial, emotional and more. All with extremely limited resources at every level, including time, staffing, facility, finances ...
![Pastoral Transition: Setting Your Church Up For Ministry Success After You're Gone Pastoral Transition: Setting Your Church Up For Ministry Success After You're Gone](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76679.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Following a long-term, successful pastorate is one of the hardest callings in ministry.
It should be one of the easiest. After all, if we’re doing pastoral ministry right, we should set up the next pastor for an even greater level of ministry success than we had.
Instead, ...
![Are You Missing What God Is Doing While Holding Out For Something Bigger? Are You Missing What God Is Doing While Holding Out For Something Bigger?](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76608.jpg?h=168&w=300)
God doesn’t always show up in our lives and ministries the way we want him to.
Because, even though we want to do great things for God, our definition of great isn’t always the same as God’s definition of great.
We all have great opportunities for ministry. Don't ...
![5 Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By Big Churches Than Small Churches 5 Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By Big Churches Than Small Churches](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76600.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Big churches serve many great roles in the body of Christ. And the church growth movement that spawned many of them has been a great blessing to me and so many others in ministry.
But numerical growth, while great, does not come without challenges.
In my last post, 5 Mistakes ...
![5 Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By Small Churches Than Big Churches 5 Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By Small Churches Than Big Churches](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76513.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Small churches are not just smaller versions of big churches.
Every size has value, but different sizes serve different functions in the body of Christ. They also have different challenges and they tend to make different kinds of mistakes.
Here are 5 mistakes that are more likely ...
![If Your Church Is Healthy, Why Is It Still Small? If Your Church Is Healthy, Why Is It Still Small?](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76490.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Oh my. That question.
“How can you say your church is healthy if it’s not growing?”
If I’ve been asked it once…
But I still don’t know how to answer it.
I wish I did. Because it’s a perfectly valid question.
But life doesn’t tie itself ...
![When You Feel Like A Failure (A Good Friday Reflection) When You Feel Like A Failure (A Good Friday Reflection)](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76486.jpg?h=168&w=300)
The gospel was built on failure.
What we now know as good news started as very bad news.
It was never supposed to work.
For a long time, it looked like it never would.
It started with a young, pregnant, single girl in a backwater town too small to be mentioned in most ancient records. ...
![The Best Way To Avoid Pastor Burnout? Equip The Saints The Best Way To Avoid Pastor Burnout? Equip The Saints](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76461.jpg?h=168&w=300)
The New Testament doesn’t emphasize the role of pastor nearly as much as our current church structure does.
In fact, there’s just one passage – one! – in which the role of the pastor (along with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers) is mentioned. ...
Small churches aren’t just smaller versions of big churches. They have unique gifts, challenges and methods of operation.
But not everyone realizes that fact. Including some small church pastors.
This often leads to frustration when we go to ministerial conferences or read ...
![The Value of a Small Church: Personalized Major League Coaching The Value of a Small Church: Personalized Major League Coaching](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76392.jpg?h=168&w=300)
I’m taking my family to a bigger church.
I doubt if there’s a small church pastor that hasn’t felt the pain of those words.
I was reminded of that pain while getting re-acquainted with a friend over coffee recently.
My friend is a semi-volunteer staff member at ...
![The Most Important Lesson Older and Younger Ministers Can Learn from Each Other The Most Important Lesson Older and Younger Ministers Can Learn from Each Other](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76320.jpg?h=168&w=300)
I'm not as old as I used to be.
I just turned 57. A mere 25 years ago, when the average pastor's age was 44, my current age would have made me an older minister.
Today, with the average pastor being 54, I'm in middle age.
In recent years as I’ve traveled and spoken ...
We worship an eternally unchanging God, as seen in a book whose newest parts are almost 2,000 years old. That’s a lot of stability.
So why does it seem like every church leader talks more about the things my church needs to change than the things that need to stay the same? ...
![The 3 Best Times to Bring Needed Change to a Church The 3 Best Times to Bring Needed Change to a Church](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76243.jpg?h=168&w=300)
It’s not always easy to fix long-term problems and implement needed changes in a church – especially when old, dysfunctional ways have taken root.
Sometimes we make our job harder than it needs to be, not by doing the wrong things, but by doing the right things at ...
![A Pastor's Dilemma: What to Do When You Can't See the Vision for Your Church A Pastor's Dilemma: What to Do When You Can't See the Vision for Your Church](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/76190.jpg?h=168&w=300)
Is it okay if a pastor’s calling is to help others fulfill their calling? Or, without a big, hairy, audacious pastoral vision, will the people perish?
I’ll come back to those questions soon. But first, this.
You can’t have a great church without a great vision. ...
Read More from Karl
![Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of under 250 Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of under 250](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41AU9uOZQAL._SL500_.jpg)