Steps to Revitalization
For the life of me I don’t understand why anyone would try to turn a church around. I did and I’m glad I did. Still, when I consider that the vast majority of pastors who try either fail or lose their job, I have to wonder why they would try… or why I tried. I […]
Developing a Transformational Small Group Bible Study
Let me start out by being totally clear. A Bible study in and of itself is not a life transforming activity. The church is filled with spiritually immature members who are the products of many years of “Bible studies,” Sunday school classes, and discussion groups. Most Bible studies are data dumps of information that fills the […]
Creating an Equipping Culture
Accountability needs to be built into the performance evaluation process for all staff. This one is for those churches wanting to create a culture of equipping or disciple making. Try using this scoring system to evaluate your ministry and your staff’s ministry. Rate each statement on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 10 (strongly agree). […]
Radical Disciple Making: Creating Processes
“What I really need is more nuts and bolts on how to do disciple making. Obviously, what we’re doing isn’t working.” The pastor was exasperated because he had a church full of members instead of a church full of disciples. At the Radical Disciple Making Conference, we speak about the need to create “processes” in […]
Are Most Pastors Averse to Being Held Accountable?
“So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12 I’ve long been a proponent of measuring results. I believe if you don’t measure the results of something, odds are you’re not going to be as successful as you would be if you kept stats on your ministry. For […]
Discipleship in a Data Dump Culture
The average Christian’s understanding of discipleship is incredibly inaccurate. Most Christians tend to think of it as something you learn from a course. But nothing could be further from the truth. Let me explain. I’m a United Methodist. We have a program called Disciple Bible. The program was designed by a member of my staff, […]