Have you ever preached or written something that you thought would really click with people, only to have it … not do that?
Me too.
The great thing about blogging, as opposed to preaching, is that it’s easier to give overlooked posts a chance at a second life than it is with an old sermon.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 10 days. Re-posting articles that didn’t get the readership I expected, but I still think are some of my #BestOf2014.
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve already seen each of these re-posted. But if you only subscribe to my emails, this may be the first you’re hearing about this list because I want to keep my promise of respecting your inbox. So here they are, all in one email and in one post for you to browse through at your convenience.
Check out the excerpts, then click the links to those you’d like to read again – or for the first time.
Are You Serious about Worldwide Church Growth? Support Small Churches
The reason I support healthy Small Churches isn’t because I’m settling for less and denying the value of numerical growth. I support Small Churches because that is where most of the global church growth is taking place.
More people are led to Jesus, discipled and sent back out into ministry through the ministry of Small Churches than by any other means. >> Read More
Why Successful Churches Aren’t Turning the World Upside-Down – But the Outcasts Might
Jesus was the most culture-challenging, paradigm-shifting, tradition-breaking, change agent who ever lived.
How did his followers become so boring? We’ve taken the life- and society-transforming message of Jesus and we’ve made it about … success. Trying to maintain that success has made us safe. Safe is boring. >> Read More
No More Angry Christians Please – We’re Full Up
We don’t need any more angry Christians. I think we’ve reached our quota with plenty to spare for at least the next 1,000, maybe 2,000 years.
Love is stronger than anger. It has a longer shelf life than anger. It’s more multi-purpose than anger. Love is just all-around better than anger. >> Read More
Want a Great Church? Emphasize What You’re For, Not What You’re Against
No one ever built a great church by emphasizing what they’re against. (Well, no one but Jesus ever built any church, but you get what I mean.) After all, the word “Gospel” means good news. What you’re against may be really bad. And opposing it may be very important. But what you’re against isn’t good news. >> Read More
We Can Whine About the New Generation Or We Can Minister to Them – But We Can’t Do Both
Why don’t people wear their Sunday Best for church any more? A lot of older churchgoers (that is, my generation) seem to be worried about that lately. I’d like to respond to that question with a couple of my own.
When did the members of my generation become such old fogeys? And why do they care so much about something that matters so little? >> Read More
How to Tell If Your Small Church Is Strategic Or Stuck
What if Small Churches aren’t a problem to be fixed, but are part of a strategy God wants to use?
If Small Churches are a part of God’s strategy, how can we tell the difference between a strategic Small Church and one that’s just stuck? >> Read More
Big Cities Need Great Small Churches, Too
To all the pastors itching to do something other than church-as-usual. To all the potential church planters asking God to show them where to plant. Take a serious look at planting a healthy, innovative, friendly, outward-reaching Small Church in a big city or suburb. Or leading an existing big city Small Church in a much-needed turnaround towards innovation and outreach. >> Read More
Wanted: New Church Methods for New Church People
There’s nothing wrong with traditional methods of doing church. As long as you want to minister to traditional church members. But if we truly want to change the world with the Gospel of Jesus, that is less likely to be done using traditional church methods with every passing year. >> Read More
Why Some Great Churches Grow Big, But Most Don’t
Too many good pastors of good churches have been living in guilt, frustration and self-condemnation because their church isn’t getting bigger. They’ve been told that a healthy church will always grow. But there’s an entirely separate list of skills, assets and exterior circumstances needed for the kind of consistent church growth that leads to bigness. >> Read More
My Church Is an Endangered Species – Unless…
There’s a cultural and financial storm underway. Unless we anticipate, acknowledge and respond well to it, small to mid-size churches with a mortgage and a pastoral salary in large metropolitan areas will soon be about as rare as printed newspapers, land-line phones and brick-and-mortar bookstores. >> Read More
So what do you think? Are any of these posts worth reading again and/or passing along?
We want to hear from you. Yes, you!
Enter your comment right below this post and get in on the conversation.
(10 photo from Yoppy • Flickr • Creative Commons license)
Author
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Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of four books on church leadership. His fifth book, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next, releases on April 2, 2024.
He also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.