Seminary and Ordination are Keeping U.S. Christianity from Thriving

Recently I’m running into a lot of writers who are asking the question “If we all serve the same God, why is Christianity growing all over the world except Europe and the U.S.?” I find that am important question. The problem is most of the answers I’m seeing deal with fringe issues and don’t […]

Dinosaurs to Rabbits: Turning Mainline Decline to a Multiplication Movement

Mainline churches are at a crossroads – either they wake up to the major trend of our time or they will continue to be irrelevant or, worse yet, go out of existence.

What trend am I talking about? I’m talking about multiplication. Instead of struggling to stay afloat mainline church leaders should learn how to […]

Dinosaurs to Rabbits: Turning Mainline Decline into a Multiplication Movement

Mainline Christianity has been in a free fall decline since the mid 1960s.  Some want to blame it on a changing culture; others say it’s the way all organizations go sooner or later; while others just throw up their hands and give up the ghost.

The truth is, we don’t believe any of these excuses […]

Something Wonderful Is Happening

Something wonderful has happened in the last decade, something we haven’t ever seen happen in the U.S. and I’m not talking about Mr. Wonderful. I’m talking about something so wonderful that is makes me wish I were twenty again so I could have more of a part in it – something that I have […]

Addition to Multiplication

If you’re been reading my posts, you know for the past couple of years I’ve been working with an Exponential think tank to examine what they are calling a Level 5 Church. Basically a Level 5 church is one that is committed to multiplication at every level. The heart of the Level 5 Church […]

The Heart of a Level 5 Church

The one ingredient a Level 5 church cannot do without is radical discipleship. Raising up radical disciples is the underbelly of the exponential church planting movement. It’s impossible to exponentially plant churches without greatly expanding the breadth and depth of your disciples. So much of the focus of multiplication is on the raising up and […]

Missional Small Groups

One of the key elements of most discipleship pipelines I’ve seen is what I call missional small groups. The problem is, when most people hear “small groups” they think of Bible studies, which is far from what is meant by missional small groups. So let’s look at the difference.

Most ineffective small groups are primarily […]

Transformational Small Groups

One of the key elements of most discipleship pipelines I’ve seen is what I call “transformational small groups.” The problem is, when most people hear “small groups,” they think of Bible studies, which is far from what is meant by a transformational small group. Let’s look at the difference.

Most ineffective small groups are primarily […]

A New Scorecard for Churches in Any Age

Scorecards are valuable in any game because they tell you whether or not you’re winning. If it is important to know if you’re winning in a game, how much more important is it to know if you are “winning” as a church? It eternally matters!

I’m one of those people who believes that if you […]