If you’re here, it’s because you’ve taken the survey for the Healthy Church Assessment Tool, and now you want to take the next steps by working to strengthen the areas where your church needs help. If you haven’t taken the assessment yet, click here [create hyperlink]. It’s free, it’s fast, and it’s not about attendance.
Following is a list of articles I’ve written that address each of those categories. This a great place to start looking at how to improve areas that need work. We will add resources regularly, so keep coming back.
(You can click on any category to be taken directly there, or keep scrolling through and see all the options.)
Theology
Bible
(The eternal truths of the Bible are taught well and applied to our lives in practical ways.)
- 5 Reasons To Preach ABOUT The Bible, Not Just FROM The Bible
- 8 Assumptions Pastors Can’t Make In A Post-Christian Culture
- What Will I Preach This Sunday?! 6 Tools for Overcoming Preacher’s Block
- Want To Go Deeper And Wider? Underline New Stuff
- 9 Things I Love to Hear In a Sermon
- Why I Don’t Go to the Bible to Find Sermon Material
- Grandma Didn’t Go To Church: 9 Ways First-Generation Christians Are Making Me A Better Pastor
Worship
(Worship through song, prayer and action is an essential focus of our congregation.)
- If We Can Worship Anywhere, Why Go To Church?
- Young and Old Can Still Worship Jesus Together
- 10 Questions More Important Than “What Was Your Sunday Attendance?”
- 6 Important Differences Between Performance Music And Worship Music
- Pastors And Worship Leaders: 3 Ways To Work Together And 2 Traps To Avoid
- 5 Positive Trends In Today’s Worship Music
- 4 Positive Trends That Could Make Today’s Worship Music Even Better
- Pastors, We Need To Stop Expecting Worship Leaders To Do Our Job For Us
Salvation
(People are coming to faith in Jesus through the ministry of our church.)
- Want To Reach Unchurched People? Don’t Create A Sense Of Urgency, Offer An Alternative To It
- A Better Way to Invite People to Church – And to Jesus
- Invite People To Your Church, But Point Them To Jesus
- A Friendly Reminder: “Come To Jesus” Is More Important Than “Come To Our Church”
- Why The Public Salvation Call Is Harder In A Small Church (And A Couple Alternatives)
- 11 Ways to Be the Church for Those Who Don’t Go to Church
Discipleship
(Church members are growing in their faith, volunteering for ministry, and discipling others.)
- What If We Made Disciples And Left Church Growth To God?
- Mentoring Is Better than Curriculum: Seven Steps to Better Discipleship
- The Mission Deserves Margin: Minister To The Church You Have, While Preparing For More
- 5 Preaching Styles In 25 Years (Here’s What I Changed And Why)
- Pulpit Discipleship: Organizing Your Annual Preaching Calendar For Maximum Effectiveness
- 10 Steps to Get an Internship Ministry Started In a Small Church
Leadership
Teamwork
(There are more teams than committees because church members care more about doing ministry than having a title.)
- Why “Get The Right People On The Bus” Doesn’t Always Work For A Small Church Staff
- Don’t Just Build A Ministry Platform, Build A Team That Can Support It
- Turn The Team You’re Stuck With Into The Team You Want (10 Steps For Church Leaders)
- 12 Principles for More Effective Ministry Team Meetings – In Any Size Church
- How To Start Training Your Church Leaders To Become Equippers, Not Just Doers
- No, A Church’s Budget Is Not Always A Reflection Of Their Priorities
Unity
(There is a strong sense of love, cooperation and friendship among church members.)
- Boomers, Let’s Be The Elders The Church Really Needs Now
- Four Reasons I Love the Church Unapologetically
- 7 Bad Reasons to Leave Your Church
- 5 Problems With Top-Down Vision-Casting – And a New Testament Alternative
- Young and Old Can Still Worship Jesus Together
- Pastor, Don’t Neglect Your Current Members To Reach New Ones
- When Church Members Keep Second-Guessing Your Pastoral Decisions
Alignment
(There is a high degree of communication, cooperation and respect among department and ministry leaders.)
- 5 Problems With Top-Down Vision-Casting – And a New Testament Alternative
- Engagement: A Small Church Advantage We Need To Cultivate
- Dismantling Ministry Silos in the Small Church
- How Often Should a Church’s Leadership Meetings Be Held?
- 4 Principles To Get (And Give) Better Feedback
- The Most Important Lesson Older and Younger Ministers Can Learn from Each Other
- Great Churches Emphasize What They’re For, Not What They’re Against
Context
(The language and methods we use to communicate the gospel can be easily grasped by an unchurched person.)
- Forget Being Culturally Relevant – The Church Needs to Be Contextually Real
- Culturally Relevant or Contextually Real, Part 2: More than Semantics?
- 4 Unexpected, Counterintuitive Truths About Uncool Churches
- Stop Complicating Ministry: The Smaller The Church, The Simpler We Need To Keep It
- How to Tell If a Small Church Is Strategic or Stuck
- 11 Types of Healthy Churches That Often Stay Small
- Grandma Went to Woodstock: 5 Principles for Pastoring a Vibrant Older Congregation
- Let’s Ask Better Questions About Church Size
Mission
First Impressions
(There is an effective process in place to help first-time guests feel welcome and get connected.)
- First Impressions: 7 Ways To Give Church Guests A Frustration-Free Experience
- Intentional Friendliness: Making A Great First Impression In A Smaller Church
- 4 Steps to a Friendlier Church (The G.I.F.T. Plan)
- Why an Unfriendly Small Church Is Worse than an Unfriendly Big Church
- Put People First: Why Many Small Church Pastors Can Spend Less Time On Sermon Prep
- Why Some Great Churches Never Impact Their Community
- Messier Than Retail: Why We Need More From Church Than Excellent Customer Service
Outreach
(Congregation members feel good about telling their friends about the church and inviting them to attend.)
- Want Real Church Growth? Don’t Fill Your Building, Empty It
- A Friendly Reminder: “Come To Jesus” Is More Important Than “Come To Our Church”
- Whatever Happened To Churches Meeting Felt Needs? – And What Should Replace It?
- Backyard BBQ Evangelism: A New, True Parable Of Outside-The-Church-Walls Ministry
- The Mission Deserves Margin: Minister To The Church You Have, While Preparing For More
- Why Some Great Churches Never Impact Their Community
- Understanding The New Apathy About Church Attendance
Demographics
(The demographic mix of our congregation (race, gender, age, etc.) is at least as diverse as our neighborhood.)
- Yes, Churches Are Raising Young Leaders – And Yours Can, Too
- 7 Contradictory Cultural Trends – And 7 Ways Christians Can Respond With Integrity
- Why Millennials Won’t Build the Kinds of Churches their Parents Built
- Ministering to Millennials by Leveraging the Relational Power of Healthy Churches
- Why Church Leaders Will Never Understand Millennials
- Have Coffee With a Radical: The Value of Listening to People We Disagree With
- Grandma Went to Woodstock: 5 Principles for Pastoring a Vibrant Older Congregation
- Why Current Church Trends Mean Very Little In Smaller Churches
Impact
(If our church closed tomorrow, people outside our congregation would miss us.)
- Locked Down In A Small Town: Rural Ministry During COVID-19
- 5 Ways Your Church’s Impact Can Become Bigger Than Its Footprint
- 8 Reasons Churches Should Partner with Secular Community Groups
- 5 Reasons Leaders Should Never Say “I Don’t Like That”
- Should the Church Be About Transformation? Or Stability?
- What Does Your Church Do That Your Phone Can’t Do?
- Why Current Church Trends Mean Very Little In Smaller Churches
Attitude
Creativity
(When church members have new ministry ideas, they feel comfortable expressing them because they are heard, respected and embraced.)
- Move The Can: The First Step Toward Change In A Stubborn Church
- Innovative Churches Do This – Imitators Miss It
- Ramps vs. Signs: Saying ‘Yes’ to Unexpected Ministry Opportunities
- Wanted: New Church Methods for New Church People
- Adapt Or Die: 6 Steps to Becoming an Innovative Church
- Free Apps And Websites Any Church Can Use
- 4 Ways to Discover and Capitalize On Your Church’s Unique Voice
- Getting Unstuck: Innovative Small Churches Find Alternatives, Not Excuses
- Bringing Innovative Strategies to an Established Small Church
Resilience
(Our church is a good place to ask hard questions because doubts aren’t deadly and failure isn’t fatal.)
- When A Sprint Becomes A Marathon: Pastoring In A Long-Term Pandemic
- How to Tell If a Small Church Is Strategic or Stuck
- Quit Trying To Fix Your Church’s Ministries – Until You Do This First
- For Every Minister Who Struggles With Your Prayer Life
- 9 Ways To Reverse A Downward Giving Trend In An Otherwise Healthy Church
- The Church Needs Better Critics (9 Ways to Win Hearts, not Just Arguments)
- 5+ Churchy Things I’m Thankful For – Even If I Don’t Like Them
- 27 Benefits of Putting an Expiration Date On New Ministries In Your Church
- Transition Without Relocation: 8 Steps to Stay Fresh In a Long-Term Pastorate
Enthusiasm
(It’s not unusual to see church members come early, stay late, sit up front and volunteer when needed.)
- Church Turnaround Is An Attitude, Not An Event
- People Won’t Commit to the Church Any More? Don’t You Believe It
- Engagement: A Small Church Advantage We Need To Cultivate
- We Can Whine About the New Generation or Worship with Them – But We Can’t Do Both
- 10 Principles To Get The Best From Volunteer Church Leaders
- How To Start Training Your Church Leaders To Become Equippers, Not Just Doers
- Want More Church Leaders? Look For A Servant’s Heart
- Is ‘Sit Back, Relax and Enjoy the Service’ Killing the Church?
Anticipation
(We are more excited about the future than the past.)
- How Can You Tell If A Church Is On Offense Or Defense?
- Is Your Church Resisting Necessary Change? Try This Helpful Strategy
- Start in the Shallow End: How to Make Changes Without Sinking Your Church
- The 3-2-1 System for Better Annual Small Church Planning
- Why I’m Not Worried About The Future Of The Church – Or The Church Of The Future
For more help, check out any of these books.
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