The United Methodist Church is on the verge of schism. No one wants to call it that, but that’s the direction we’re going. At the moment, three “ways forward” are being presented. Option One is essentially to stay the course and hold those accountable who do not follow the constitution. Option Two, rewrites the […]
By Bill Easum
When I first started preaching some 51 years ago, going to church was never considered to be anywhere near fun. The hard pews attested to that. Yes, back then, in the dark ages, it was a rare site to see padded pews; after all that would make them more comfortable and everyone […]
It’s Easter Monday as I sit to write this article. I had the luxury of having two viewpoints at two different churches yesterday. One of the churches was a 400 member church with three services and the other was a 200 member church with two services. Both churches’ staff knew that this would probably […]
It’s always bothered me to spend months busting my backside to get an effective ministry launched in September/October only to have it roll to a virtual stop by mid-June. Sure, there are lots of excuses for the “summer slump,” but it turns out that most of these slumps happen because churches don’t just get […]
By: Jeff Patton
I just spent a weekend with a Church discovering this congregation’s purpose. To accomplish this we spent the weekend studying Scripture and coming to term with the underlying principles that ought to govern all we do.
We spent Friday night discovering our values. We came to the conclusion that Love, Forgiveness, Hope, Grace and […]
Casting a vision that produces an effective culture is one of the most important things a pastor can do because culture trumps everything. An unhealthy culture results in an unhealthy church. So I want to think a moment about the threats that keep vision from creating a healthy culture.
Lets start with the current reality. […]
The stats aren’t pretty. In fact, they’re pretty deplorable. But they’re nonetheless accurate. Eighty percent of all Pastoral Size to Program Size church transformations fail – 80 percent. A Pastoral Sized church is one in which the pastor is essentially the end-all, be-all of the congregational expectations. They attend virtually every function and event. […]
(Abingdon Press, 1996)160 pages, plus bonus Spreadsheet Disk, $29.95, Paperback. Obtain thru Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN 800-251-3320 or thru 21st Century Strategies, 361/749-5364.
This is one of the most complete tools a church leader can use to see where the church has been the past ten years, see where the church is this year, and […]
Frazee, RandyThe Comeback Congregation
The Comeback Congregation by Randy Frazee (Abingdon) is an excellent example of how to organize around your church’s mission. Using this model, Frazee took a declining church from around 1,000 to 3,000 in worship in five years, using his method of organization. I give it three stars.
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