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Please Stop Writing “Here’s Why Your Church Isn’t Growing” Lists – They Don’t Help
When an already-discouraged pastor reads a list telling them their church isn’t growing because they’re visionless, self-serving and petty, it doesn’t lift them up, it beats them down.
Guilt doesn’t motivate, it discourages. Besides, those petty attitudes aren’t true for us. Pastors who don’t care, don’t read church leadership blogs!
Don’t slap our hands, put tools in them. Tools that will work for us now, while we’re small. Tools that promote health and growth. Tools that encourage and inspire us. Slapping the hands of your readers for not caring is like yelling at the people who did show up to church because you’re mad at the people who didn’t show up.
We need a moratorium on “Why Your Church Isn’t Growing” lists for one simple reason: they don’t work!
Don’t Try To Be Successful – Try To Do Good Work
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
Only In a Small Church: One-On-One With the Pastor
I had another one of those “only in a Small Church” moments last Sunday. The positive kind. As I was shaking hands at the door after the service, I chatted with a man who’s been attending for a few weeks. He told me he was thinking about making us his permanent church home, but he had
For Those Who Are Struggling With How the Church Is Changing
The church is changing. For many church leaders, that change isn’t happening fast enough. For others, the changes are happening too fast. For yet another group, the pace isn’t the problem – they believe the church is changing in all the wrong ways. Last Sunday I read a blog post by an author who would
Mean Christians and the Importance of Likability
The #1 factor that determines whether-or-not someone comes to faith in Jesus has nothing to do with the size of our church. It has nothing to do with our denominational preference. And it has less to do with our theology than I wish it did. It’s this. Do they like the Christians they know? After all,
Some Advantages and Challenges of Building Your Own Small Church Leadership Team
I am an unapologetic fan of pastors and churches finding, training and building leadership teams from within our churches, instead of hiring them from the outside. Yes, there are exceptions to that, especially in larger churches, when there may be a need for ministers with some very specific skillsets. But in a Small Church, building
How to Find, Train and Build a Great Small Church Leadership Team
The #1 calling of a pastor is not to do the work of the ministry. And it’s not to fill people’s heads with bible information. According to no less an authority than the Apostle Paul, it is “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
Great Small Church Leadership Teams Aren’t Hired, They’re Built
People often ask me how I was able to hire such a great leadership team in our Small Church. My answer? We didn’t hire our team. We built it from the inside out. And we’re still building it. Not one of our staff members was hired from outside the church – other than me. They were all attenders and members
Church Members Aren’t Attending as Often – Are They Trying to Tell Us Something?
Church attendance is down in the western world. Why? Because church members don’t attend as consistently as they used to. That’s not the only reason church attendance is down, of course. It’s not even the main reason. But it’s definitely a trend I have seen as a pastor. And it needs to be addressed. But how?
