How to Grow Your Church

The secret to church growth is that there really isn’t any mystery to growing a church. The principles and practices for how to grow a church are the same ones that have been used since the beginning of the church. The problem isn’t so much about knowing how to grow churches as it is rolling […]

Stop Developing Leaders, Get More Ministry Done, and Grow Your Church

The lack of leadership is one of the top reasons pastors and other church leaders point to for why their church isn’t growing. “We need more leaders to get the job done. Our current leadership is tired and overworked.”

When quizzed about what they’re doing to raise up more leaders, the answers tend to include […]

Five Marks of an Effective Congregation

I got an email from a faithful blog reader last week who mentioned I did a good job pointing out the shortcomings of the church, but that there wasn’t much there in terms of what a healthy, functional, faithful, effective congregation looks like. The fact is, it’s a lot easier to find fault with […]

Youth Are Not the Future of Your Church

I heard it again today. “Youth are the future of the church.” Whenever I hear that I realize the person saying that means that if we don’t win the youth over to the faith that the future of the church is bleak. It’s a noble thought, but it’s not particularly accurate. Youth programming seldom […]

Friday Nights for Jesus

Fasten your seat belt, friend, because this is the most high powered approach we have. I do not know anything that works better than giving Friday nights to Jesus. Giving Friday nights to Jesus will reach more people in less time than any method I know. In fact, if you give Friday nights to […]

Getting Beyond the Mirror

The other night, I met with a new church plant’s core leadership for a planning session. Each member of the leadership core has served the church literally for years and are all excited about making a difference in their community. The new church is using a cell group model for their church plant and […]

Peer Coaching 101

There’s recently been a wave of interest by judicatories in starting Peer Coaching events among their church leaders. With the inevitable failure of the “Let’s assign the new kid an experienced pastor to mentor them” program, peer coaching seems like the next best thing since frozen Snicker bars. The problem is, although Peer Coaching […]

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 […]

Your Investment Portfolio

Take the next couple of minutes and peruse your investment portfolio. How are things going? Is your stock going up or down, or is it stagnant? In your whole portfolio, which is the most important investment you’re making?

Oh, wait. I’ll bet you’re thinking I’m talking about Dow Jones and the S&P 500. Nope. I’m […]