Encouragement

When We Treat Small Churches Like a Problem, We Get More Problem Churches

/ 4 minutes of reading

Church leaders are always wringing their hands about the problem of Small Churches.

I heard it again recently. A church leader complained that 90% of the churches in their group had less than 200 in attendance, then introduced a plan for getting those numbers up.

(Never mind that the “90% under 200” figure is shockingly consistent across all church groups – which should make us consider that maybe God is up to something with that.)

I watched as many of the pastors in the room tried to hide their “here we go again” faces. Then I left the room wondering again about what happens when we do what that church leader did.

As I was pondering the implications, this question hit me over the head like a hammer.

If Small Churches weren’t seen as a problem, would they stop being a problem?

Think about it. When we treat people like they’re problems, they become problems. When we treat them like they’re a blessing, they often become the blessing we see.

Churches are the same.

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#BestOf2014: Why Some Great Churches Grow Big, But Most Don’t

/ 4 minutes of reading

Too many good pastors of good churches have been living in guilt, frustration and self-condemnation because their church isn’t getting bigger. After all, they’ve been told that a healthy church will always grow and inevitably become a big church.

That’s just not true. There’s an entirely separate list of skills, assets and exterior circumstances needed for the kind of consistent church growth that leads to bigness. And, while it’s great when the list of elements needed for a healthy church combines with the list needed for a big church, they rarely do.

So, if you’re pastoring or attending a healthy church, possibly even a great church, but it’s not becoming the big church you were told was virtually inevitable, that’s OK. You’re not failing. You’re normal.

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#BestOf2014: No More Angry Christians, Please – We’re Full Up

/ 5 minutes of reading

Most of the church’s mistakes (aka, sins) were made by Christians looking for bad guys to fight instead of finding hurting people to bless. And most of the mistakes the church makes today happen for the same reasons.

No, I’m not talking about those vile, publicity-hungry, sign-waving people who boycott soldiers’ funerals. They don’t have anyone fooled. No one thinks they represent a real church, let alone real Christians.

I’m referring to the average pastor, church or media ministry that spends more time and emotion denouncing the sins of their society than reaching out to the hurting with love and compassion.

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Don’t Do Church Small, Do Small Church Really Well

/ 3 minutes of reading

If you’ve been slow to embrace the idea that Small Churches can be great churches, I get it.

If you haven’t read The Grasshopper Myth yet, or you’re new to the ministry of NewSmallChurch.com, let me take this short post to challenge any presuppositions you might have, too.

Ministry to Small Churches is not about doing church small. It never has been and never will be. It’s about doing small church well. Really well.

So what’s the difference between doing church small and doing Small Church really well?

Here are two starter lists to give you an idea. Many of these points are linked to previous posts that explain these ideas in more detail.

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6 Lessons, Blessings & Cautions from 2 Years of Blogging

/ 6 minutes of reading

Last month, the second anniversary of NewSmallChurch.com passed by without notice. No, I don’t feel sad that none one sent me a card. Hallmark is still working on a set of “Your blog is two years old today!” cards.

I just didn’t remember it myself. I’m not big on anniversaries.

But we have passed that two-year mark, so I decided to take a moment to reflect on what’s happened in the last two years, and what I’ve learned from it.

Truthfully, it’s almost hard to remember what my life and ministry was like before I started this. Writing, blogging, travelling and speaking has taken up such a chunk of my time that it’s completely changed my schedule. I’ve met so many great people that I would no know today without this.

But mostly, the last two years have re-affirmed the premise of this blog and The Grasshopper Myth – that playing the numbers game in ministry is a dangerous thing.

Yes, reaching more people is better than reaching fewer people. This blog and my book have reached ten times more people in these two years than I expected to reach in my lifetime, and I’m profoundly grateful for that. After all, we write, preach, teach and pastor to touch people’s lives. It’s appropriate that we want those efforts to have a positive impact on as many people as possible.

But readership and attendance numbers can only tell us so much. And some of what we think they’re telling us is false.

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Church Growth Is Not an Exact Science

/ 4 minutes of reading

It’s easy to spot an unhealthy church that won’t grow.

Lack of vision, inadequate systems, poor planning, unfriendly people and more will doom a church to irrelevance very quickly. Spotting such churches is obvious and easy, especially for anyone who has spent much time in pastoral ministry.

It’s much harder to spot a church that will grow. Or a healthy church that may not grow.

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The Grasshopper Myth Hits a Major Milestone!

/ 3 minutes of reading

Testimonies come in every day from church leaders who have read The Grasshopper Myth.

“A burden is lifted off my shoulders.” “I have a renewed vision for what my church can really be.” “Like a lot of cool water to a parched soul.” “God has given me new strength, joy and hope for my great small church!”

As I read words like these, it causes me to pray every day, “God, I don’t know what you’re doing with this, but whatever it is, please help me not to screw it up.”

Not exactly the poetry of The Serenity Prayer, but it’s just as sincere.

Here’s the latest sign of how many people are being touched by this little-book-that-could. While doing a quick inventory of books for our internal record-keeping, I realized that at some time in the past month or so…

We sold our 5,000th copy of The Grasshopper Myth!

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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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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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Why I Stopped Taking Attendance at My Church for a While

/ 4 minutes of reading

Numbers matter. Because people matter. If we keep track of them correctly, the right numbers can give us a lot of helpful information about a church and its ministries. For many years, I kept track of church attendance numbers very carefully. As the church grew, I calculated growth patterns, percentages, demographics, you name it. I found that counting

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