There are a lot of books and articles about how a healthy church should behave. That’s appropriate. We should always have a picture of our desired future in our hearts and minds. But what does a pastor do with an unhealthy church? I’m going to propose a radical idea that shouldn’t be considered radical at […]
Unhealthy Churches Should Not Act Like Healthy Churches – Until They Are Read More »
Have you noticed that fewer people are bringing their bibles to church, but are using a smartphone bible app instead? That’s not the only thing they’re reading in church. As it turns out, up to 38% of churchgoing Millennials will do an online search to verify what their pastor has said. And many of them
Congregations Are Fact-Checking Our Preaching – Here Are 4 Ways to Take Advantage of It Read More »
If I was only allowed to give one piece of advice to pastors about how to make their Sunday messages more appealing to a younger audience, it would be this. Stop making your sermon notes rhyme. For generations, rhymes and alliterations were expected from public speakers. It made them seem credible, authoritative and prepared. And
Why I Don’t Trust Sermon Notes that Rhyme – And What I Do Instead Read More »
“Delegate pastor, delegate.” I’ve heard that wise advice hundreds of times – literally. Ron Cook was the chair of the pulpit committee that brought me to the church I’ve pastored for over 20 years now. In the first few years here, whenever he’d catch me doing something myself instead of training someone else to do
How to Delegate When There’s No One Around: Six Lessons I Learned the Hard Way Read More »
In my last post, Grow It or Close It? Is There a Third Option for Struggling Small Churches?, we established that there are more options for a struggling Small Church than to grow it or close it. We can help it become a healthy Small Church. But there’s an inevitable question that follows, isn’t there? Namely, how?
The Essential First Step to Having a Healthy Small Church Read More »
No one in ministry can afford the sin of arrogance. We miss out on too much when we think our way is the only way to do ministry, or that we can’t learn from others who do ministry differently than we do. That’s certainly true for pastors of Small Churches. While Small Church ministry is
5 More Principles Small Churches Can Learn from Megachurches Read More »
Small Church members don’t start out wanting to be passive, anonymous, consumer Christians. We (pastors) help to make them that way. That’s the kick-in-the-butt takeaway I got from a comment that was written on this website last week in response to my post “What If We Made Disciples and Left Church Growth to God?” The
Dear Pastor, Please Put Us To Work. Love, Your Congregation Read More »
Last month, Dixie Phillips, from “SGN Scoops” magazine, interviewed Karl Vaters about the origins of The Grasshopper Myth and NewSmallChurch.com. That interview, and Phillips’ review of the book, were combined into an article entitled “Small Churches Are a Big Deal”, which was printed on pages 25-26 of the April 2013 edition of SGN Scoops. Today’s post is a reprint of that review/interview.
Small Churches Are a Big Deal (A Review of “The Grasshopper Myth”) Read More »
There are three participants in any healthy church. The pastor, the congregation and God. Knowing and coordinating the zone where their hearts intersect is the most important task a pastor can do. And it’s critical to understand and do well if you want a successful church turnaround. This is especially important in a Small Church.
Expanding the Sweet Spot for a Healthy Church Turnaround Read More »
Pastoring a Small Church isn’t for wimps. The hours are long. Everyone calls with urgent and not-so-urgent needs. And the to-do list never gets done. Or…not. The first six months I spent as a lead pastor of a Small Church were among the hardest in my ministry. Not because I was overwhelmed by the workload,
How to Stay Motivated as a Small Church Pastor Read More »
