Seminary and Ordination are Keeping U.S. Christianity from Thriving

Recently I’m running into a lot of writers who are asking the question “If we all serve the same God, why is Christianity growing all over the world except Europe and the U.S.?” I find that am important question. The problem is most of the answers I’m seeing deal with fringe issues and don’t […]

Faith in a World Gone Mad

I think we would all agree that the world has gone mad. We may not agree on what’s causing this madness or what to do about it, but if you follow the news it’s impossible to get around this fact – the world has gone mad. From politics to the national debt, to the […]

Is it Time to Drop the Requirement: Part Two

My post, titled “Is It Time To Drop The Requirement,” resulted in several responses, which prompted me to do a little more digging into the subject of ordination. And after extensive reading on the subject I conclude there is absolutely no mention of ordination in the New Testament. By the second part of the […]

Two Huge Changes and Two Critical Texts of Our Time

Two of the most important texts for our time are Matt. 9:36-38 and John 20:21. In this post we will examine why.

I began sharing the faith in the late 1950s. Back then I could share the four spiritual laws and in forty-five minutes lead someone to Christ. It was also the custom that most […]

Unlearning Our Way Forward

I’m sure we would all agree that our world is changing faster than at any other time in our lifetime and most likely in all of history. And with such fast paced change we are watching many of the tried and true principles by which pastors have led and grown churches are no longer […]

A New Scorecard for Churches in Any Age

Scorecards are valuable in any game because they tell you whether or not you’re winning. If it is important to know if you’re winning in a game, how much more important is it to know if you are “winning” as a church? It eternally matters!

I’m one of those people who believes that if you […]

Radical Discipleship: Key to Authentic Growth

A Blog by Bill Easum and The Effective Church Group

By radical we mean becoming more and more like Jesus in every way. That’s a big, hairy, audacious goal for sure. But it is at the heart of what Jesus did every day with the disciples. He mentored them to become like him. He wasn’t […]

The World Doesn’t Need More Pastors

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 […]

Obsessions That Have to Go for Multiplication to Happen

The more I study the multiplication movement, the more I realize that for it to be successful, several sacred cows will have to be slaughtered. These sacred cows will be much harder for mainline churches to barbeque than for independents. Let me share the biggest ones.
Seminary training.
Most of the training of church planters is […]