Growing Your Church? You’ll Need Alliances
The following post is a rough draft of a section in the book 21st Century Strategies for Church Growth that I’m in the midst of writing. Your feedback is appreciated. If you’re with me so far, then I’m guessing you’re pretty serious about growing your church. One might think that everyone in the church would […]
Career or Call (from 21st Century Strategies for Church Growth)
In the introduction of 21st Century Strategies for Church Growth, my primary purpose is helping a pastor decide whether or not they can handle the heat in the kitchen of church growth. The following excerpt challenges each reader to question themselves about why they’re in ministry in the first place. It comes across as a […]
Tough Questions
I received a post from person on our advanced leadership forum inquiring what questions he should ask while at a search committee interview for a new church position as lead pastor. Here is what I said. What is their vision for their church? How many pastors have they had in the last 20 years? Why did the […]
21st Century Strategies for Church Growth
Over the next several months I’ll be working on what we consider the foundations for church growth. It’s based on the nine strategies we’ve identified as the core for faithful, effective, and sustainable church growth in the 21st century. As I write, I’ll be posting segments here … and I’ll endeavor to post something from […]
An Eye-Opening Thought
Why is it that churches will borrow money to build buildings, but they shudder at the thought of borrowing money to hire staff? After all, staff are more important to discipling people than buildings are. Yet when I recommend to churches that, if they can’t afford to hire the staff they need, they should borrow […]
New Year, New You
And by “new you” I mean “new congregation.” With over 85 percent of all churches in North America either in decline or on a plateau (and those on a plateau are generally those on the precipice and about to go over the cliff of a decline), a makeover of your congregation is probably in order. […]