2017
I’m taking my family to a bigger church.
I doubt if there’s a small church pastor that hasn’t felt the pain of those words.
I was reminded of that pain while getting re-acquainted with a friend over coffee recently.
My friend is a semi-volunteer staff member at ...
I'm not as old as I used to be.
I just turned 57. A mere 25 years ago, when the average pastor's age was 44, my current age would have made me an older minister.
Today, with the average pastor being 54, I'm in middle age.
In recent years as I’ve traveled and spoken ...
We worship an eternally unchanging God, as seen in a book whose newest parts are almost 2,000 years old. That’s a lot of stability.
So why does it seem like every church leader talks more about the things my church needs to change than the things that need to stay the same? ...
It’s not always easy to fix long-term problems and implement needed changes in a church – especially when old, dysfunctional ways have taken root.
Sometimes we make our job harder than it needs to be, not by doing the wrong things, but by doing the right things at ...
Is it okay if a pastor’s calling is to help others fulfill their calling? Or, without a big, hairy, audacious pastoral vision, will the people perish?
I’ll come back to those questions soon. But first, this.
You can’t have a great church without a great vision. ...
Many churches have experienced great success and growth doing big ‘come and watch’ events.
Even if choir cantatas on Christmas and Easter have been replaced by an illustrated message with stage design, lighting and video, the idea is the same – to draw people ...
Do you have some creative, practical, encouraging ideas about small church ministry? If you can write about them in a clear, concise manner, CTPastors might want to publish an article from you.
For the first time ever, ChristianityToday.com has a section entirely devoted to small ...
Easter is coming! All over the world, pastors are preparing to speak to what is usually the biggest church crowd of the year.
If you’re wondering how to make the wonderful, but familiar resurrection story feel fresh again, here’s an idea I’m working on.
This should be the shortest blog post I’ve ever written.
Because the answer to the question posed in the title takes just three words.
I
Don’t
Know
A Response to the Hurting
In my previous post ‘Why Doesn’t God Answer All My Prayers? Because Some of Them are ...
God doesn’t do stupid things.
No matter how many times we say “please”. No matter how much faith we have. No matter how hard we pray.
He does strange things. Hard-to-understand things. Even things that can seem totally messed up and cruel from our limited vantage ...
I love my church. I want it to be strong, healthy and growing.
That’s why I read church ministry blogs and books, go to conferences and seminars, listen to podcasts… whatever I can get my hands on. I’m always looking for the best advice I can find.
But I’m ...
Historically, whenever the church of Jesus is dynamic and healthy, it grows.
But healthy, missional Christians don’t just clump together in larger and larger groups.
The healthier the church is, the more Christians mobilize into outward-looking teams to start new groups. ...
Life is filled with problems.
Some big, some small. Some emergencies, some petty.
When a big problem presents itself, we want somebody to do something about it. Problem-solving is one of the prime roles of a leader, after all.
So, whether it’s in our families, our churches ...
I’m a pastor.
It’s becoming harder to say that lately.
Sure, there are the usual pressures.
- Dealing with congregation members and their expectations
- Trying to stay ahead of the change curve
- Combatting theological and moral compromise
- Managing a mostly volunteer staff
- Figuring out how to pay for it all on a small, sometimes shrinking budget
Our church used to partner exclusively with other Christian ministries. For everything from missions to community service.
Before that, we would only partner with ministries in our denomination.
Today, while we still only partner with Christian groups for missions (can’t ...
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