Innovative Ministry

Innovative Ministry
3 Surprising Misunderstandings About Church Turnarounds
What one person means by church turnaround might be completely different from what another person means.

Do you want your church to experience a turnaround? If so, why?

There are a lot of good reasons. Among them, you might want to see your church move from:

  • Unhealthy to healthy
  • Inward-obsessed to outward-focused
  • Stuck in the past to excited about the future
  • Unloving to loving
  • Uninviting to inviting
Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
The World Needs a Better Ironing Board (Yes, This Is About the Church)
We need to introduce people to Jesus. And we need to get rid of anything that makes that task harder than it ought to be.
The World Needs a Better Ironing Board (Yes, This Is About the Church)
Image: greg | Flickr

What models and methods are we clinging to that make the basic functions of the church harder than they should be?

Serving Jesus isn’t supposed to be easy. Christ told us we had to take up our cross daily. But Jesus made the gospel as accessible as possible. Too easy, according ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
4 Ways to Discover and Capitalize On Your Church’s Unique Voice
If you're copying another church, you’re not being the church God called you to be. And the kingdom of God is poorer for not having your voice in it.
4 Ways to Discover and Capitalize On Your Church’s Unique Voice
Image: Kevin Dooley | Flickr

What kind of culture does your church have?

For many years, the denominational tag told people everything they needed to know before they walked in the door. And not just theologically. Even the style of clothing and music were similar throughout each denomination.

In recent years, ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
Coasting is Compromise: The Importance of Being a Proactive Church
Adapting to new methods to tell the old, old story may be our greatest defense against unbiblical compromise.
Coasting is Compromise: The Importance of Being a Proactive Church
Image: Anthony Albright | Flickr

Just when you think you’re ahead of the curve, the curve moves. Especially if you’re a small church pastor.

My parents sent me to college with a Smith Corona typewriter in 1978. It was electric and portable. I was ahead of the curve.

Then one day, I saw a crowd gathering ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
The First Step to Sparking Innovation In a Stuck Church
Church leaders need to spark the creativity of innovative believers by figuring out how to say yes to their passion.
The First Step to Sparking Innovation In a Stuck Church
Image: Jorge AT | Flickr

Churches get stuck sometimes.

If you’re a pastor, you’ve known seasons when it’s hard to get church members to do great things for Jesus.

Good things.

Okay — anything.

During our church’s years of being stuck, I longed for the day when launching a new ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
10 Principles that Have Helped Me Overcome Writer's Block
Writing was always hard for me. Until it wasn't. None of these ideas originated with me. But they work for me. And they might work for you.
10 Principles that Have Helped Me Overcome Writer's Block
Image: kate hiscock | Flickr

It’s been four years since I've had writer's block.

No, that’s not right. I still get writer’s block.

It’s been four years since writer’s block has stopped me from writing.

Yes, that’s more like it.

Writer’s block has always been ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
9 Bad Habits that Limit a Church's Ministry Capacity
It’s not about church growth. Or working harder. It’s about doing smarter ministry with our church’s current resources.
9 Bad Habits that Limit a Church's Ministry Capacity
Image: hobvias sudoneighm | Flickr

The church I pastor has reached our capacity. Not our seating capacity. Our ministry capacity.

We can't do any more ministry than we are currently doing. Unless we change the way we do it.

Last Saturday I spent the day with our church's key leaders and we reached one simple ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
7 Steps to Help Your Church Change Before They Know They Need To
If we want a healthy church, leaders need to be see the big picture.
7 Steps to Help Your Church Change Before They Know They Need To
Image: Traci Lawson | Flickr

Our church turned a corner this year.

About 15 months ago ago, we felt it. Something wasn’t quite right.

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but my youth pastor verbalized it.

“Is it me, or is something off lately?” he wondered.

“It’s not just you,” ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
The Raw Beauty of Giving God Our Second Best
Sometimes ‘God deserves our best’ can serve as a cover for our pride. God also wants our second best. And our worst. And everything in between.
The Raw Beauty of Giving God Our Second Best
Image: Stew Dean | Flickr

Is it possible for a church to rely too heavily on technical excellence?

That was the crux of a recent conversation I had with an old friend.

“I left my small church because the worship, programs and preaching weren’t always great,” she told me. “But I ...

Continue Reading ...
Innovative Ministry
Innovative Churches Do This – Imitators Miss It
Don't copy the churches you admire. Learn from their principles. Then extend them into places that only your church can go.
Innovative Churches Do This – Imitators Miss It
Image: Courtney Carmody | Flickr

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 ...

Continue Reading ...

Read More from Karl

Follow Christianity Today

Free Newsletters