Small Church Ministry

Small Church Ministry
Is Your Church Measuring Health Or Size? They’re Not The Same Thing
In the same way that a healthy elephant is bigger than a healthy rabbit, a church's size has nothing to do with its relative health – or relative value.

What weighs more, 100 pounds of bricks or 100 pounds of feathers?

It’s an old riddle. One that makes you facepalm yourself if you get it wrong.

The riddle works because it plays on our preconceptions and our tendencies to hear what we want to hear. Bricks weigh more than ...

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Small Church Ministry
Another Small Church Christmas Eve – Was Yours Not So Merry And Bright?
You’re not the only pastor who experienced a tough Christmas Eve yesterday, or feels the weight of it today.

Christmas Eve has come and gone.

As you scroll through social media, you’re seeing all the rave reports from fellow pastors about full churches, beautiful productions and salvations.

But, while you’re happy for them, you don’t respond. Because, in the small church ...

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Small Church Ministry
Only In a Small Church: Face Time With the Pastor
The disadvantages of a small church are regularly outweighed by the privilege we have of discipling people on a more personal level.

I had another one of those “only in a small church” moments last Sunday.

The positive kind.

As I was shaking hands at the door after the service, I chatted with a man who’s been attending for a few weeks. He told me he was thinking about making us his permanent ...

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Small Church Ministry
Signs Of Life: 7 Ways To Find A Great Small Church To Attend And Serve
Look for a church that does small church things well, instead of trying to do big church things on a smaller scale.

A lot of people would like to worship in a small church if they could find a good one.

That’s what I keep hearing, anyway.

So, with all the small churches around, why do so many people seem to have a hard time finding a good one? It’s not because they don’t exist. ...

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Small Church Ministry
Being A Small Church Pastor Isn’t A Penalty, It’s A Specialty
Pastoring a small church doesn't mean giving up or settling for less. If you embrace it, you can be great at it.

For years I bucked against the idea that I am a small church pastor.

Instead of seeing it as my calling, my heart and my passion, I treated it like it was my penalty for not having the skills to be a big church pastor.

So I consumed every church growth book and devoured all the ...

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Small Church Ministry
The Church Is Stronger When Small Congregations Are Encouraged, Resourced And Engaged
When their concerns are heard and addressed, small congregations get healthier, and the entire church is stronger.

The body of Christ can't afford to alienate small churches any longer.

Especially since we make up 90 percent of churches, where half of all Christians attend, worship and minister.

Imagine any other group in which that large a segment of its population regularly felt marginalized, ...

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Small Church Ministry
If Our Church Was Bigger, We Could…
There’s not a single command to the church that cannot be accomplished by two or three people who love Jesus, each other, and the community they’re called to reach. 

Pastoring a small church can be frustrating.

We look around at our big church counterparts and it’s easy to wonder what it would be like if our church had all those resources.

So, sometimes we play the “what if...” game.

We imagine ourselves in those churches, ...

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Small Church Ministry
6 Benefits of Embracing the Fact that You’re a Small Church Pastor
If you’re a small church pastor, don’t resist it, embrace it. Then be great at it.

Discovering and embracing the fact that I am a small church pastor was one of the most liberating moments of my life.

It took me years to get there, but once I did… wow! What a relief!

As I’ve outlined in The Grasshopper Myth, I went through a lot of years not willing ...

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Small Church Ministry
The World's Best Small Churches
What if every small church stopped worrying about getting bigger, and decided to be a great church starting right now?

No one will ever make a list of the best small churches in the world.

And they shouldn’t.

After all, a great urban small church looks very different from a great rural one. Same with a great Baptist and Methodist church. Or a great small church in Japan or Costa Rica.

Even ...

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Small Church Ministry
Coming In 2018, “Small Church Essentials” Is Just Around The Corner
An all-new book, featuring a nuts-and-bolts approach to pastoring a small church well.

It's coming!

Yesterday, I sent the manuscript for my next book into the publisher.

After decades of living it, years of teaching it, and months of writing it, “Small Church Essentials” is in the capable hands of the great editors at Moody Press.

Here are some details.

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