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5 Reasons Annual Planning Is Harder In a Small Church
Most small church pastors want to be better planners. But where are the resources for how to plan better in a small church context?

How To Improve The Quality Of Your Annual Church Events
Taking a few minutes to collect initial thoughts right after an annual event creates space for consistent innovation with minimal effort.

Why You Don’t Need a Mission Statement (Video)
Big churches and small churches don’t just look at mission statements differently, but in opposite ways.

Need A Last-Minute Christmas Sermon? Try These 5 Principles
Finding something fresh to say from the 39 Bible verses on the birth of Jesus doesn’t have to be hard this year.

Christmas In The Small Church: Why Intimate Is Better Than Epic
When your congregation is smaller, embracing the benefits of your size can make you remarkable.

The Prophetic Voice of Deconstruction, with Scot McKnight (Ep 91)
“We believe deconstruction is a prophetic movement resisting a distorted gospel. It is not a problem; it is a voice. And we need to listen to what it is saying to the church.”

Need A Free Last-Minute Christmas Skit? Here’s A Fun, Simple Idea
This skit has a lot of laughs while honoring the biblical narrative.

The Bible Reading Coach Podcast for 2025
This time, you’ll finish.

Tweaking The Gaps In The Prevailing Model Of Church Planting
The slightly tweaked model will be slower, and likely result in fewer large churches, but I don’t know if that’s a bad thing.
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Author
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Karl Vaters produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast, The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context. He has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience.
You can follow Karl on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn, or Contact Karl to inquire about speaking, writing, and consultation.
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