It’s not always easy to fix long-term problems and implement needed changes in a church – especially when old, dysfunctional ways have taken root. Sometimes we make our job harder than it needs to be, not by doing the wrong things, but by doing the right things at the wrong time. Solomon said it best, in what […]
The 3 Best Seasons for Bringing Change to a Church Read More »
Wouldn’t it be great if every local church and every ministry within each church was vital, valuable and meeting real needs? Certainly a 100% success record is not possible. It’s not even desirable, since we learn as much through our failures as our successes. But increasing our batting average on successful ministries is always a
5 Principles to Consider Before Starting or Stopping a Ministry Read More »
Effective leaders always seek wise advice and counsel. In Small Churches, there’s a huge temptation for pastors to treat everyone’s advice as though it has equal value. We’re often told that getting everyone’s input is the only fair way to do things. Some Small Churches even require congregational votes on almost every decision. It’s hard for me to imagine a
Effective Church Leaders Do Not Treat Everyone Equally Read More »
This isn’t a one-sided issue. It’s a two-sided issue with a two-sided solution. I know, because I’ve also had conversations with Small Church pastors about how hard it is to get good staff and volunteers.
Usually, it’s hard to get anyone to help at all. But sometimes I get complaints from pastors that go like this.
“No matter what I do, I can’t get these young leaders to turn off lights or take stinky garbage out to the dumpster! And when I tell them to do it, they get such an attitude about it! Like they’re too good for that. Don’t they understand that this is what a lot of ministry is about? Especially in a Small Church?” Sound familiar?
How to Deal with Church Staff and Volunteer Problems Without Losing Good People Read More »
According to church leadership experts, most people will subconsciously decide whether-or-not to come back to a church within the first 7-10 minutes of driving into the parking lot.
If your church is doing everything great, keep it up. But that’s not the case for most of us. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit we do some things well, but there are other aspects of the Sunday morning service we struggle with. And some parts we’re just awful at.
What’s worse, many churches take the things we don’t do well and put them at the beginning of the service. That means our church guests have made a yes/no decision about being a part of our congregation when all they’ve seen are the things we’re not that good at.
Front-Load the Value: One Simple Step that Can Make Any Church More Appealing to Guests Read More »
Too many church leaders spend too much time on too many things that aren’t essential to an effective church.
But what are the essential elements of an effective church? Good news. I’ve found the definitive list and today I’m going to share it with you.
Finally, a Definitive List of Every Essential Element for an Effective Church Read More »
For years, we used to spend a lot of time and money to create an Easter invitation flyer. Then we’d spend way too much money to print it and run it in a neighborhood magazine or newspaper. But we received very little benefit from all that work and expense.
With social media, we changed our tactics. We started creating our own flyers and making them available for church members to post on their social media pages. Not only was it free but, since people are always putting stuff like that on social media anyway, it felt less like advertising and more like chatting with friends.
This year, we’re taking it a step further. In addition to creating an Easter flyer for the church, we’re helping everyone at the church create their own personalized invitation. In today’s post, I’ll show you how we’re doing it.
A Fun, Free Way For Church Members to Invite Friends for Easter (Or Any Time) Read More »
When we treat the bible like a collection of sermon texts, we lose the wonder and the beauty of it. When we read it to find material to preach from, we stop hearing God speak to us. And when that happens, we start dying spiritually. It’s all output and no inflow.
That’s a dangerous position for a pastor to be in. And it has killed many great ministries. Don’t let it kill yours.
Why I Don’t Go to the Bible to Find a Text to Preach On Read More »
People are not less committed than they used to be. They just commit differently. But too many churches haven’t caught up to that reality. So how do we get people to commit to the church we pastor? Especially when our church is small and struggling?
I don’t have all the answers, not by a long shot. But I’ve learned a handful of principles over three decades of ministry that have helped our church become a place people are excited to be committed to.
These steps won’t cost you any extra money and very little extra time – the extra time because of the learning curve. It’s not about adding to your already limited schedule and overtaxed budget. It’s not about doing things bigger. It’s about focusing on doing church better. Working smarter, not harder.
7 Steps to Start Becoming a Church People Want to Commit To Read More »
Way too many Small Churches think that, because they’re small, they can fly by the seat of their pants all the time. But when we do that, people learn that they can’t rely on anything that’s announced, so our church volunteers become as unreliable as the church calendar.
Constantly changing announced plans is one of the quickest ways to erode trust, get half-hearted commitment from volunteers or lose them entirely.
Do you want reliable church volunteers? Be a reliable leader. Keep a reliable calendar.
People can handle change if we do it right. Here are 9 principles you can use to assure that a last-minute change in your church plans goes smoothly.
A Small Church Moment: Keeping Little Changes From Becoming a Big Deal Read More »
