October 2016
Small churches can be healthy churches.
But how can we know if they’re healthy without the numerical growth to prove it?
If you want to find answers, we need to ask the right questions.
A couple weeks ago I spoke to about 60 church leaders in six sessions at a 48 hour conference. ...
Many pastors wouldn’t attend their own church if they weren’t the pastor.
How do I know? I’ve talked with a lot of them.
Sometimes it’s because the church is unhealthy, dysfunctional, even toxic. But many times it’s because of something far less problematic. ...
The primary calling of the pastor is to equip God’s people to do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12).
But it’s hard to do that when you can’t find any volunteers.
It’s one of the questions I get asked a lot – especially when I’m teaching ...
God’s Word is not a collection of sermon notes.
It’s not a text book, a rule book, or a collection of inspirational quotes.
That’s why I never go to the Bible to find a passage to preach on for Sunday’s sermon.
Ninety percent of the churches on earth are under 200 people. Eighty percent are under 100. There may be no segment of the church that is more normative. But they may also be the most misunderstood.
Here are six truths about small churches that I wish every church leader knew ...
Small churches aren’t just for small towns.
There are thousands of small churches in big cities and sprawling suburbs, too.
But there aren’t enough of them.
Yes, you read that right. The problem with the church in big cities isn’t that we have too many small churches, ...
I’m going to say something stupid soon.
So will you.
When it happens, I hope people will give both of us the benefit of the doubt and assume the best of us, instead of the worst.
Since I hope to be the beneficiary of such grace, I try to live my life by giving the same grace ...
Millennials won't build the kinds of churches their parent and grandparents built.
Because Millennials are not a homogeneous demographic group, as we established in my last post, there is no secret key to unlock their heart and grab their attention.
In a world of unlimited ...
Millennials defy categorization. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to categorize them, anyway.
Especially for Baby Boomers like me. We love categorizing people. It makes ministry easier. Simpler. Safer.
You know, boring.
As I wrote in Why Church Leaders Will Never Understand ...
Oh, the worship wars.
Just when you think they’re gone for good, they pop up again.
The debate is no longer raging, but it's not over. Probably never will be.
- Old music v new
- Hymns v choruses
- Choirs v worship teams
- Organs and pianos v guitars and drums
The subject came up ...
Imagine how different the world would look, if
- over billion people
- transformed by the gospel of Jesus
- strategically placed by the hand of God
- in groups averaging 30 or so
- tucked into every corner of the world
decided to really say “yes” to God.
Small churches are a vital ...
How can one billion people be doing something without the world standing up to take notice?
More specifically, how can one billion people be doing something within a very narrowly defined niche, and the leaders in that niche not value it?
But that’s what has happened in ...