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Apples to Apples: Comparing 10,000 In One Megachurch to 10,000 In 100 Small Churches
Comparing a church of 100 to a church of 10,000 makes no sense. But comparing 10,000 people in one church to 10,000 people in 100 Small Churches just might.
Know Your Audience: 8 Principles for Speaking Effectively in Almost Any Situation
“You knew your audience.” That was one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received in ministry. It happened after speaking at a Prayer Breakfast at a US Army base in Germany. One of the military chaplains pulled me aside. “Thank you for that talk,” he said. “You knew your audience. It’s unusual for a civilian
3 Sundays, 3 Stories – Here’s What One Healthy Small Church Looks Like
Small Churches have down seasons and up seasons. And those seasons can switch very fast. Monday morning fast. The church I pastor has been experiencing an up season for a while now – several years, in fact. I wish I could say it’s because of my flawless leadership skills, but if you’ve read The Grasshopper Myth, you
Unhealthy Churches Should Not Act Like Healthy Churches – Until They Are
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
When Small Is Your Only Option (A Video and a Podcast)
There are a lot of reasons healthy Small Churches stay small that have nothing to do with lack of faith, wrong principles, laziness, settling for less or incompetence. I’ve written about some of those reasons here already. Here’s another reason. Sometimes churches stay small because small is their only option. Today, I’m presenting two posts
Congregations Are Fact-Checking Our Preaching – Here Are 4 Ways to Take Advantage of It
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
6 Benefits of Embracing the Fact that You’re a Small Church Pastor
Discovering and embracing the fact that I am a Small Church pastor was one of the most liberating moments of my life. It took me years to get there, but once I did… Wow! What relief!. As I’ve outlined in The Grasshopper Myth and in posts on this site, I didn’t want to admit I
9 No-Fault, No-Excuse Reasons Many Healthy Churches Stay Small
“What am I doing wrong?!” How many Small Church pastors constantly torture themselves with that question? And it doesn’t help that someone’s always writing another list to tell us about the mistakes and sins we must be committing that are keeping our church from the supposedly inevitable numerical growth we’d see if we got our act together. It’s not
6 Principles to Remember When Success Seems Elusive
I learned a few unexpected lessons on our recent trip to minister to Small Church pastors in Croatia. Most of them happened in the challenges we faced trying to get there. It started with a huge mistake that I made in Germany – filling our diesel car with gasoline (yeah, I know). Then, what should
