Jesus never wrote a book or erected a building for his followers to rally around.
His trial was a farce, but his torture was real. At his death he hung naked, and bleeding. His flesh hanging in strips from his barely-recognizable body. As he died, he didn’t just feel forsaken by God, he actually was forsaken by God.
Jesus’ ministry was a failure.
Until…
The Next Time Your Ministry Feels Like a Failure, Remember This Read More »
The point of salvation is not just to give us a get-out-of-hell-free card. It’s so that we can enter into a real, ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus.
And the point of ministry is not to have a job that pays the bills and gets us pats on the back. It’s to lead others into an ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus. And the best way to do that is by being a living example of how to have that relationship.
Relationships need regular communication. Prayer does that for our relationship with Jesus. But I’ve never met anyone who said they were completely happy with their prayer life. Including pastors.
Prayer may be the most overlooked aspect of Christian life and pastoral ministry. Even though we know it’s the most important.
We need to become better pray-ers. But how?
Why Doesn’t God Answer All My Prayers? Because Some of Them are Stupid Read More »
There are many churches who are following all the principles, but never break through the growth barriers.
There are no guaranteed steps to church growth or health. Because the church is people. And people never come with guarantees.
So, what’s a pastor to do? Here’s the only advice I know.
Stay faithful, no matter the results. Faithfulness doesn’t help us reach our goals. Faithfulness is the goal.
We Followed the Steps – Where’s the Church Growth? Read More »
The problem with churches and numbers isn’t when we celebrate growth. It’s when we make butts-in-the-seat growth our only factor for growth and health.
Just To Be Clear: Church Growth Is a GOOD Thing Read More »
We need to retire the 200 Barrier from our church leadership lexicon. It makes some dangerous assumptions, starting with the assumption that over 200 is better than under 200. But the Grasshopper Barrier is a toxic mindset that keeps churches and pastors from recognizing The Grasshopper Myth for the lie that it is. That’s the barrier we need to break.
Forget the 200 Barrier – Small Churches Need to Break Through the Grasshopper Barrier Read More »
Small Churches have down seasons and up seasons. And those seasons can switch very fast. Monday morning fast. The church I pastor has been experiencing an up season for a while now – several years, in fact. I wish I could say it’s because of my flawless leadership skills, but if you’ve read The Grasshopper Myth, you
3 Sundays, 3 Stories – Here’s What One Healthy Small Church Looks Like Read More »
“What am I doing wrong?!” How many Small Church pastors constantly torture themselves with that question? And it doesn’t help that someone’s always writing another list to tell us about the mistakes and sins we must be committing that are keeping our church from the supposedly inevitable numerical growth we’d see if we got our act together. It’s not
9 No-Fault, No-Excuse Reasons Many Healthy Churches Stay Small Read More »
I learned a few unexpected lessons on our recent trip to minister to Small Church pastors in Croatia. Most of them happened in the challenges we faced trying to get there. It started with a huge mistake that I made in Germany – filling our diesel car with gasoline (yeah, I know). Then, what should
6 Principles to Remember When Success Seems Elusive Read More »
They’re the same. So what do you think?
What’s Better? 5,000 In a Megachurch? Or 5,000 In 50 Small Churches? Read More »
A healthy church does not inevitably mean a growing church. I used to believe that it did. After all, I’ve read about the “truth” of inevitable church growth in every church leadership book written in the last 30 years. I even taught it myself.
I don’t believe it any more. It’s a myth. The reason I no longer believe that numerical growth is inevitable for a healthy church has to do with one problem that kept presenting itself…
The evidence stubbornly refuses to back it up.
The Myth of Inevitable Church Growth Read More »
