Karl Vaters

God Has Never Done a New Thing Using Old Songs

/ 9 minutes of reading

Every old song used to be a new song.

I wonder who the first worship director was who said “hey, I like that new song John Newton wrote,” before introducing Amazing Grace to the church.

Whoever it was, he probably had to deal with complaints from church members who didn’t think it was as good as the hymns they were used to singing. “In six verses the name of Jesus isn’t mentioned once, but it says ‘me’, ‘my’ and ‘I’ thirteen times! Today’s songs are so self-centered and shallow!”

In a recent post entitled, Six Reasons Some Churches Are Moving Back to One Worship Style, Thom Rainer tells us that, according to some of his recent surveys, the contemporary vs traditional worship wars may be drawing to a close.

I hope new music won.

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Jethro, Moses and the Hands-On Pastor

/ 4 minutes of reading

In a big church, Jethro’s 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 level leadership model can, and should be fully implemented. When it is, there are at least four levels between the members and the pastor, meaning only the most vital, big issues get to the pastor. And rightfully so in a church of 2,000 or more.

But in a church of 50, even if the pastor has done a superb job of training, discipling and delegating 10-level leaders, the pastor is still dealing with all the 50-level problems. That means the Small Church pastor deals with a lot more personal and family issues than a megachurch pastor will ever see. And those are the issues that require a lot of time, patience and emotional fortitude. You know, the hands-on stuff.

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23 Non-Numerical Signs of a Healthy Church

/ 3 minutes of reading

“If we don’t use numbers to determine if a church is healthy, what criteria should we use?”

I get that question a lot. Mostly from other pastors.

And no, they’re not being facetious when they ask it. They truly don’t know the answer.

Isn’t that… I don’t know… a little disturbing to anyone? Have we really become so obsessed with numbers that many, maybe most pastors really don’t know how to tell what a healthy church looks like, outside of crunching the numbers?

The truth is, I’m not opposed to taking church attendance or tracking our numbers. I’m in favor of them. Numbers can help us see things objectively that we might otherwise be blind to. But just like lack of numbers can blind us to some truths, an obsession with numbers can blind us to other truths.

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Blinded By Bigness: Appreciating Smallness In a Big Church World

/ 5 minutes of reading

If my life had gone according to my plans, I would not be pastoring a Small Church today.

I’d be pastoring a big church.

Because I like big churches. I wanted a big church.

As it turns out, a Small Church is better for me. It’s better for my ministry, my soul and my easily-inflated ego.

I’m glad my life doesn’t always go according to my plans.

No, Small Churches aren’t better for everyone. But they are for a lot of people. I happen to be one of those people.

My appreciation for big things – especially big new things – probably has more to do with the culture I live in than my actual personal desires. It’s not about the true longing of my soul as much as it is about what I’ve been told I should like.

Sometimes I’m blinded by bigness.

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The Growing Disconnect Between Spiritual Hunger and Church Attendance

/ 6 minutes of reading

Doing church together is an essential aspect of what it means to be a Christian. But church attendance rates keep dropping in most of the developed world.

Why? I often hear it’s because people aren’t as spiritually-minded as they used to be. After all, if it’s not their fault, then some of it might be our fault. And that can’t be.

But the evidence doesn’t support that. In fact, it suggests that people’s spiritual hunger may be growing, not shrinking. Spiritually-themed books, movies, TV shows and blogs are having a major resurgence. Alternative spirituality is booming.

Spiritual hunger isn’t a cultural thing. That God-shaped hole is hard-wired into every one of us. Church attendance isn’t down because people have stopped caring about spiritual things. It’s because we haven’t done such a great job at showing them how church attendance will help them answer that longing.

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Transition Without Relocation: 8 Ways to Stay Fresh In a Long-Term Pastorate

/ 7 minutes of reading

Behind every great church, large or small, is at least one pastor who has been there long enough to outlast the bad times and build on the good times.

It is the most common thread for great churches. Pastors who stick around.

But pastoral longevity has its dark side too. The tendency to become stale.

Every time I talk about the value of long-term pastorates, as I did in last week’s post, Small Church Ministry: A Stepping Stone Or a Place to Stand?, people remind me of horror stories about churches that withered into ineffectiveness because a pastor stayed too long.

That’s a reality which can’t be ignored, so today’s post is about that dark side – and how to overcome it.

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I Don’t Like the Way You Do Church

/ 2 minutes of reading

I don’t like the way you do church.

The music is too loud or too soft
The preaching is too emotional or too academic
The pastor is too unavailable or too nosy
The building is too ornate or too plain
The liturgy is too old or too new
The ethnic mix is too homogenous or too diverse
The congregation is too big or too small
The sermons are too long or… no that’s it – they’re too long
That’s OK.

You feel the same about my church. For the same reasons.

There’s no style of church that everyone likes.

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Small Church Ministry: A Stepping-Stone Or a Place to Stand?

/ 4 minutes of reading

You know that pastor you run in to at church conferences who’s always looking over your shoulder to see if there’s someone better to talk to?

A lot of us may be doing that to the church we’re pastoring.

In a recent comment on NewSmallChurch.com, a reader named Tom Burkholder wrote this: “As a bi-vocational pastor for over 23 years there are very few fellow ministers who do not see small churches as stepping stones instead of real long-term ministries.”

I responded to him this way:

“That’s a great point about stepping-stones, Tom. I think one of the big reasons many Small Churches stay unhealthy when they don’t need to, is that too many pastors aren’t putting their heart into the Small Church ministry they have.

“Instead, they’re looking for something bigger – or they put all their energy into making their Small Church bigger, instead of healthier. This makes the church they are supposed to be pastoring feel overlooked and neglected. That’s not a great recipe for a healthy ministry or a healthy church.”

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Please Stop Writing “Here’s Why Your Church Isn’t Growing” Lists – They Don’t Help

/ 5 minutes of reading

When an already-discouraged pastor reads a list telling them their church isn’t growing because they’re visionless, self-serving and petty, it doesn’t lift them up, it beats them down.

Guilt doesn’t motivate, it discourages. Besides, those petty attitudes aren’t true for us. Pastors who don’t care, don’t read church leadership blogs!

Don’t slap our hands, put tools in them. Tools that will work for us now, while we’re small. Tools that promote health and growth. Tools that encourage and inspire us. Slapping the hands of your readers for not caring is like yelling at the people who did show up to church because you’re mad at the people who didn’t show up.

We need a moratorium on “Why Your Church Isn’t Growing” lists for one simple reason: they don’t work!

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Don’t Try To Be Successful – Try To Do Good Work

/ 3 minutes of reading

I’ve always tried to live my life and do ministry by this rule: Don’t try to be successful. Try to do good work. Not people-pleasing work, God-honoring work Not self-promoting work, Christ-magnifying work Not numbers-driven work, Spirit-led work The one time in my ministry that I abandoned this principle and did things for the numbers, I

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