Ed Stetzer

Image: via Creative Commons

When we hear the term “stagnating,” it likely elicits a response from us of something unhealthy and functioning poorly. Although it is sometimes the case that something stagnates for bad reasons, it is also true that stagnation is not necessarily a bad thing, depending ...

Image: Pixabay

The small town church where I serve as Executive Pastor will turn 12 years old this year. In those 12 years we’ve experienced incredible growth in many different areas. We’ve seen hundreds of people experience salvation and take their next step through baptism. We’ve ...

Image: Pexels

Karl Vaters’ new book Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of Under 250 has just released and it’s a great read for pastors and leaders of smaller churches. Karl has been a small church pastor for 30 years, is the author ...

Image: Pexels

Ed: Tell us what led you to write your new book.

Tom: This book grows out of one of my life messages. For me, a life message is something I’ve been learning for decades, and is usually something learned out of pain. Thirty years ago, my wife Chaundel and I suffered a devastating ...

Image: Pexels

Leading a church into revitalization is a daunting task. It takes much prayer, grace, and strength. Churches that need revitalization have often drifted into a place of complacency. The change they need often comes about because of a cathartic moment.

Desperation is quite the ...

Image: ACT Intl

Given that the objective truth of the gospel never changes, the PROCESS of evangelism is much more about helping people encounter Christ than it is explaining Christ. And ARTISTS are some of the most powerful God-designed servants who can create environments wherein people experience ...

Dear Friends,

When I visit campuses I sometimes hear the following complaint about making evangelism an explicit value: “We’re an academic institution, not a Bible college!” The underlying worry is that the academic mission will be displaced by evangelism. My ...

In the UK, over 8,000 church buildings have been closed over the past 25 years. In Canada, where I live, just one of our mainline denominations has announced that over the next 5 years, 1000 of their buildings will follow suit.

It doesn’t take much of a news scan ...

Image: Stephen Polunsky / Flickr

A reality that we face today is how to know when a local church is a good candidate for revitalization or for closing. In determining best practices for a church to carry out its mission, leaders must answer the following question: will more people be reached for Christ by ...

In the apple growing community of Yakima, Washington, West Valley Foursquare Church was facing some transitions and attendance had recently dipped.

Planted in 2002, most things seemed to be going relatively well on the surface, but Senior Pastor Tom Lawson and Executive ...

Until recently, Round Rock, TX, a suburb of Austin, TX, has been one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. It has exploded in growth over the last 15 to 20 years, and the city is seeing many changes as it grows. These changes have been felt by First Baptist ...

I fell in love with church revitalization early in my ministry when I served a church of senior adults during a brief stint teaching at a seminary.

The median age of the people was 68. It seemed like there was an oxygen tank or a walker at the end of most pews.

They came ...

King’s Way Foursquare Church near Sequim, Washington had plateaued and senior pastor Mike Vanproyen wanted to see the church push through. They had been averaging over 350 in attendance, but could never seem to break the ceiling of consistently drawing 400 on Sunday ...

When Don Meckley first became senior pastor at Emmanuel Community Church in Bayville, New Jersey, he knew it was time for things to change.

Meckley, who’d been on the church staff for more than a decade, had watched the congregation slowly decline from about 300 worshipers ...

Churches and denominations need a revitalization movement. That much is clear to most people. But how do we create or facilitate that revitalization? Our answer is important for the future of churches.

I co-wrote a book specifically around church revitalization called Comeback ...