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They Just Don’t Get It: When Big Church Solutions Meet Small Church Realities
“They just don’t get it.” How many times have I said that while shaking my head after reading articles, blogposts and books about church leadership? I could write a book. Oh, right… I know I’m not alone in this. If you’re a Small Church pastor, you’ve had the same experience on many occasions. The articles
What If We Made Disciples and Left Church Growth to God?
We’re often told that one of the reasons so many churches remain small is lack of faith. But I wonder… could it be that the reverse is true? Might our obsession with bigger and bigger churches be rooted in a greater lack of faith?
Have we been afraid that God might not do his part (building his church) if we’d simply be faithful to do our part (making disciples)? Is it possible that the glut of church growth books, seminars and classes in the last few decades been our attempt to help God out?
Only In a Small Church: When Stories Beat Stats
When did all the preachers become statistics junkies? I can’t remember the last church leadership book or seminar that didn’t emphasize the value of setting goals for your church, then using some kind of metric to determine whether-or-not we are succeeding at reaching them. I understand the need to assess our progress. If we don’t
If Numbers Are Not Important, Then Why Are They So Important? (A Poignant Guest Post)
The evidence keeps piling up. Mondays can be very hard on Small Church pastors. This past Monday, I received one of the most truthful, passionately written expressions of pastoral pain that I’ve ever read. It was written by the wife of a Small Church pastor in the comment section following one of my most widely
One Reason Our Church Stays Small: The Slow Spiritual Simmer
There aren’t a lot of first-time conversions in our congregation. At least not among adults. What we have instead, are de-churched people becoming re-churched. And it usually takes a while. After all, people become de-churched for a reason. So they often need some time to let things simmer in their spirits in order for trust
A Sincere Heart Trumps a Spectacular Ministry
“Your responsibility is not to have a spectacular ministry, but to have a sincere heart.” No, that quote isn’t from The Grasshopper Myth. It’s not even from another Small Church writer or pastor. It’s the key quote from a great talk given by Jud Wilhite to over 3,500 ministers at the Catalyst conference in Irvine
Big? Or Healthy? If You HAD to Choose…
Church health and church growth are not mutually exclusive. There are plenty of large, healthy churches that do both – and way too many unhealthy small ones that do neither. But one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other. Not all healthy churches grow big. And not all big churches are healthy. In more than 30
Between Substance & Style: Innovation Happens in the Middle
Innovation may not be what we’ve been told. It isn’t about being the coolest kid in the room. That’s just style. And it doesn’t come from tearing down the things that matter. That’s our substance. Innovation happens in the space between style and substance. I’ve spent the last two days at Catalyst West Coast. It was
Small Churches Are a Big Deal (A Review of “The Grasshopper Myth”)
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.
