Welcome to 2013.
How are you going to measure the success of your church this year, and every other year, for that matter? Worship attendance, finances, Sunday school and/or small group attendance, the number of baptisms, the number of new leaders raised up?
What if I told you that even though these are all important, none of […]
When I restarted a church in 1969, I shared the following mission statement: “Every member a minister.” In 1982 the statement changed to “Every person a minister.” In 1990 the statement changed again to “Every person a missionary.”
When I left that church in 1993, 80 percent of the people were involved in some form […]
I just returned from a church growth training event at a local church where we reviewed and evaluated their vision. Their vision statement was a bit wordy, but overall it got high marks.
However, this question arose from some of the members: “What about those in the congregation who don’t support the vision… those who don’t […]
How Churches Become Alive Spiritually: Part 2
By: Bill Easum
Last week we saw how churches become spiritually dead. But spiritual death does not have to happen. In order for the picture to be reversed, the following usually happens.
Action – Some one (usually the pastor) begins to cast a vision of a different future and […]
Ever since my book, Dancing With Dinosaurs (1993), where I wrote about the “Crack in history” I’ve been warning people that we are living in a time of radical change. But I was wrong. We’re really living in a time of unthinkable change. Who would have ever imagined 9/11 could happen; or who in […]
Here is a post from Church Leaders that is worth reading.
Make time with God a daily priority. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35 NIV
Follow the best example and […]
Established: ~1904
Tribe: Protestant Mainline
Worship Style: Rural traditional, family informal
Congregational Demographics:
AWA: 32
Trend: 20 years steep decline; 8 years slow decline; followed by 10 years slight decline
Median Age: 61
Adult Generations: 21 Builders+; 8 Boomers; 2 Gen-X; 1 Millennial
Children/Youth: 2–3
Ethnic Mix: Anglo
SES: Mixed, mostly blue collar; income similar to ministry area
Debt: $0
Available Resources: ~$100,000 in endowments
Ministry Area […]
We went out to connect with retail shops by offering to clean their toilets. We simply walked into these places with our cleaning kits in hand and said, “Hi, we’re here to clean your toilets – for free – to show you a bit of God’s kindness.” Pretty much everyone gave us a funny […]
Every year, I make plans for growing the church. Valentine’s Day banquet. Big Easter launch. Spring Marriage Enrichment event. Summer Day Camp. Four Business as Ministry seminars and cohort groups. Back to School kickoff. City-wide Trunk-or-Treat in our parking lot. And so on.
And every year, at least three-fourths of all those planned events fail […]
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