This is an excerpt from our upcoming book, 21st Century Strategies for Church Growth.
One of the serious shortcomings of most centers of higher learning is that they educate the head but fail to train the student. The difference between teaching and training is this: effective teaching focuses on passing information from teacher to student (some call […]
Today’s spiritual seekers rarely turn to Christianity or to the church to find the answers they seek because of their past experiences or because of the church’s – or the faith’s – reputation. Too often, spiritual seekers have turned in desperation to the church only to discover that it is embroiled in “business as […]
In my latest book, Doing Ministry in Hard Times, I included a chapter on Living in a Wildcard world. I grew up in a wild card world where the probabilities far outweighed the wildcards. You could, with a certain degree of accuracy, predict what would happen next. Today, it’s impossible because the wildcards outweigh […]
Is your church the way you want it? Be honest. Is your congregation the way you believe God wants it? Be honest.
I believe the answer to those questions is often “no.” And I’m sorry for you. Most church leaders work very hard and are committed to Jesus. Most church members really want the congregation […]
How you measure up as a leader is largely determined by what it is you measure. It turns out, one of the differences between an average leader and a great leader can be found by looking at what they put on their spreadsheets.
Actually, that’s a bit misleading. Most of the important measurements don’t actually fit […]
Back at home and trying to get back in the groove of things. As I reflect on my time at the World Convention of the Christian Church, one of the things that niggles me is that ostensibly the purpose of our meeting was to help instill unity amongst the three strands of the Campbelite […]
Remembering back to when I was pastoring a growing church, I had to face a particularly issue in both 2005 and 2016. Those were years when December 25th fell on a Sunday. This year, 2022, Christmas day is also on a Sunday.
So how should your church plan services as Christmas day is Sunday, knowing […]
Sometimes we can get so caught up with perpetuating the success of growth and larger congregations that we lose sight of the small things that give the support to be able to sustain that growth. This can be the case with regard to small groups and the growth of the church. As we move […]
The early doctrine of the church (ecclesiology) included the following elements:
• They met in homes — “house to house” openly (Acts 2:46)
• Worship was participatory rather than a spectator sport (Acts 11:27-30)
• Every member was involved in ministry; members shared responsibility (Acts 11:27-30)
• Teachings reflected a small group context (Acts 10:22-48; 16:30-34; 18:7-8; 28:30-31)
• […]
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