April 2016
“If it’s okay for a church to be small, how do you suggest we measure a church’s success?”
Since I’ve begin ministering to small churches, I’ve been asked that question more than any other. Maybe more than all other questions combined
At first ...
Sometimes the most dangerous threat to the truth is not a lie, it’s a lesser truth.
Lies are usually easy to spot.
Lesser truths are harder because … well … they’re still true.
At virtually every moment of our lives, greater truths and lesser truths are ...
I love small churches. But I refuse to idealize them.
There’s not an ounce of nostalgia in me for some long-lost, non-existent, good-old-days when everyone attended a little white chapel and all was right with the world.
I also refuse to blame small churches for what’s ...
Does your church have a mission statement? Could most of the people in your church repeat it?
If the answer is ‘no’, I have one word for you.
Relax.
You don’t need to call an emergency vision-casting meeting to remind everyone that they need to ‘Know, Grow ...
If you asked a few hundred church members from multiple churches what characteristics they were searching for in a pastor, what do you think they’d say?
You don’t have to wonder. Thom Rainer asked that question a while ago and published the top ten responses on his ...
Have you ever been to a vibrant church and wondered ‘what do they have that we don’t have?’
It may seem like 90 percent of what they’re doing is what your church is doing. But they’re vibrant, healthy and alive, while the church you’re from ...
Have you ever wondered why virtually every church leader is constantly writing and speaking about change? Including me?
Because we live in the fastest-changing culture ever. Change is not just an ocassional reality. It’s the water we’re swimming in.
For instance, every ...
It sounds so inviting and innocent.
“Sit back, relax and enjoy the service.”
But that may be one of the most dangerous sentences regularly uttered in church.
I expect promises of great customer service in a restaurant, an airplane or a store. But the idea that church ...
Why won’t my church grow!
Have you ever wondered that? Me too.
After all, it’s not like we haven’t tried. And there are plenty of people offering us seemingly surefire help to bring growth. Every day there’s another blog post with a list of Seven Reasons ...
Sometimes you write something and you know people don't care much about it, because nobody responds. Other times you write something and you know people don’t care because they tell you they don't care. Vigorously.
Last week’s post on the difference between ...
"I don’t like small churches.”
Yes, people have said that – and things like it – to me.
I get that small churches aren’t for everyone. But saying “I prefer big churches” is the way most people state it.
To tell a small church pastor ...
I've heard thousands of sermons. Good ones and bad ones.
I've preached thousands of sermons. Good ones and bad ones.
When you hear and preach that many sermons, you stop being impressed by the flashy things that don't matter and you start noticing the fundamental things ...
I don't go to church to be entertained.
I also don't go to church to be bored.
- I go to worship.
- I go to read and hear from God's word.
- I go to be taught.
- I go to be challenged.
- I go to be discipled.
- I go to fellowship with other believers.
- I go to be inspired into action.
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