Collecting Personal Stories

One of the major ways to convey the gospel is through the use of personal stories in worship to support the theme for that day. Nothing is as powerful as personal story.

1. Hand out a fill-in-the-blank testimony sheet each Sunday and ask those whose life has been changed to fill in their story. Then […]

How to Grow a Small Church Part II

by Bill Easum

In part one of this series on How to Grow A Small Church I said the following: “You want to know the most important ingredient for growing a small church?   It’s a pastor who has one-on-one conversations with non-Christians that leads to their conversion to Christ.”  In part two I want to elaborate on […]

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 […]

Why Many Mainline Church Plants Struggle

On top of being a transformational church consultant and involved in spiritual leadership development and training, I also wear a hat called the New Church Department Chair. In that role, I lead a small group of Christian leaders in the NE Area of Missouri who are committed to developing church planting. We’re currently seeking […]

Flip Your Church Step 5: Rethink Church

For a moment, suspend everything you think you know about doing and being church. Pretend, for argument’s sake, that you’ve been transported back to the first century… even before the birth of the church. As of this moment, there is nothing that “looks like” church. There are no traditions, no creeds, no history, no […]

The Four Secrets to Team-Based Ministry

By Dave Ferguson of Community Christian Church

There are some things you would never say out loud; even though you know they are true. The reason you don’t say them out loud is (despite the fact they are true) they just don’t sound right. If you uttered these secrets people will probably misunderstand you. In […]

Team Based Ministry

FOUR SECRETS OF GREAT TEAM BASED LEADERSHIP

By Dave Ferguson of Community Christian Church

There are some things you would never say out loud; even though you know they are true. The reason you don’t say them out loud is (despite the fact they are true) they just don’t sound right. If you uttered these secrets […]

Why Most Church Consultations Don’t Make a Long-Term Difference

We at 21st Century Strategies have been doing church consultations for over twenty-three years and we’ve had the opportunity to study why some churches thrive after a consultant has done their job and why other churches fail. Conversations with other church consultants reveal a lot of the same data. Here’s the bottom line: for […]

Why Leadership, Not Calling, Determines Ministry Success

Once upon a time, I was a young, optimistic student pastor appointed to a small Methodist church in Hinson’s Crossroads, Florida. The church, nestled at the end of a paved road that gave way to a winding red clay path, had just 38 members. Despite being told that growth was unlikely, I rolled up […]