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About Bill Tenny-Brittian

Bill is the Managing Partner at The Effective Church Group. He began ministry as a church planter in the early 1980s and over the past 40 years he's grown churches from one side of the nation to the other. In 2002 he joined Bill Easum's consultation group and began partnering with churches and church leaders to help them reach their fullest potential. He is the author of twelve books and the editor of Net Results magazine. Reach Bill here.

Church Leaders – a Contradiction in Terms?

I received a thoughtful note from a Church-Talk listener. He contended that the church has fallen under the spell of the culture’s understanding and practice of leadership. He went on the say that the church must follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit rather than fallen mortal man. I thought he was pretty perceptive […]

The DIY Consultation

From the beginning of 21st Century Strategies, a long, long time ago, we’ve had one driving value: help transform churches. We suspect that pretty much all our readers understand that one of the ways we do that is by offering professional consultation services, church leadership coaching, and congregational training. What many folks may not […]

Ancient Role Models – Learning from Those Who Didn’t Get It Right… At First

Acts 1:8. You probably know the passage by heart: “You will be my witnesses from Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Those words were spoken to the apostles just before Jesus left them in charge.

And of course, we know the rest of the story, don’t we? […]

The ABC Holiday Checklist

Christmas has begun. Oh, Advent is still a month away, but every big box store has rolled out the holiday decorations and even mom and pop stores are getting into the act little by little. We don’t have to like it, but as the church we’d better stop digging our heels in against it. […]

Consultant Training

The Ministry Audit: Consultant Training I and II with Bill Easum.
Resource: The Church Growth Handbook and The Complete Ministry Audit, available from EBA or Abingdon Press. These seminars equip church leaders to apply The Complete Ministry Audit to any congregation. Consultant Training I and II are two of our most productive equipping models. Both […]

Why Your Church Can’t Afford Mass Media Advertising

Over the past couple of years, we’ve been telling church leaders that getting into the mass media advertising game is, by and large, a colossal waste of money – unless your church can afford to spend upwards of $25,000 per campaign (per event you are advertising).  Some of the reasons for this are pretty obvious, […]

The Smaller the Church, The Fewer the Christians

When I came across an old Barna Report that suggested that the smaller the church is, the fewer Christians there are, I suppose I wasn’t surprised, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being dismayed. Although I’ve had a lot of experience with small membership churches as a consultant/coach, I’d always secretly hoped there […]

Defining and Measuring Transformation

Over the years I’ve found that it can be both tempting and easy to get caught up in the nearly endless discussions around definitions and measurements. When it comes to church transformation in North America, this discussion too often opens as the trap of distraction. The distraction of definitions and measurements has provided far […]

Of Coaches, Consultants, and Pooled Ignorance

It happened again recently. I was in a large group of mainline church leaders who professed their interest in church transformation. We were all milling around the room waiting for the convener to launch the meeting, and the conversation was pensive. Then the “transformational church leader” stood up, thanked us for coming, and said, […]