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My Church Isn’t Growing – Don’t Assume You Know Why
New Small Church is not about putting others down for having opinions that are different than mine. And I’m not a fan of stirring up controversy for the sake of controversy. But I’m going to walk close to that line in this post. Stick with me, though. By the end, I hope you’ll agree that I stay on
How to Stay Motivated as a Small Church Pastor
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,
Only In a Small Church: Sometimes You Gotta Kill Cockroaches
Small Churches aren’t just smaller versions of big churches. They have unique gifts, challenges and methods of operation. But not everyone realizes that fact. Including some Small Church pastors. This often leads to frustration when we go to ministerial conferences or read pastoral books. Most (usually all) of the speakers and authors are from large
The Day My Church Lost Hundreds of Converts – And I Learned to Be OK With It
People can behave in ugly ways when we try to take the credit that should be God’s alone. This is a story of one of those times. It’s a story that might upset some people, because it airs some of our dirty laundry. (If the title hasn’t ticked you off already, that is.) But it’s also
If the Apostles Didn’t Teach Church Growth, Why Do We?
Why does everyone want to be like the first century church? From what I can tell, it wasn’t that much different from today’s church. They had large and small churches. Healthy, sick and dead churches. Churches with strong leaders, weak leaders and sinful leaders. They worshiped God imperfectly and fought over theology. Some churches gave
Grasshopper Myth: People Aren’t as Committed as They Used to Be
Recruiting and keeping givers and volunteers is harder than it used to be. If I was ever tempted to tell Small Church pastors to quit whining about something, this would be it. It used to be fairly easy to get church members to commit to consistent giving and/or volunteering. Ask for a missions pledge, and
Coasting is Compromise: Becoming a Proactive Small Church
Just when you think you’re ahead of the curve, the curve moves. My parents gave me a Smith Corona typewriter when I went off to college in 1978. It was electric and portable. I was ahead of the curve. Then one day, I saw a crowd gathering outside a classroom. They were staring in amazement
Why Are There So Many Small Churches? (Some Assumptions & Realities)
Let’s revisit the stats. Ninety percent of the churches in the world have less than 200 people. Eighty percent have less than 100. Why? It’s been clearly established in both The Grasshopper Myth and on this site that the abundance of Small Churches in the world is not evidence of a problem to be fixed,
Redefining Success Without Lowering Your Standards
Why do so many pastors not practice what we preach? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a cynic. And I’m definitely not a pastor-basher. I have a great admiration for pastors and what they (we) do. Pastors may be the hardest-working, most undervalued members of our society. And that goes double for Small Church pastors.
