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The 4 Most Overlooked Truths About Leading a Turnaround Church
It’s one of the toughest tasks in pastoral ministry. Leading an existing church through a turnaround from unhealthy to healthy. But it’s even harder when we’re trying to do so without understanding some basic principles needed for a successful turnaround to take place. Here are four common, fundamental principles that are regularly ignored or unknown
3 Surprising Misunderstandings About Church Turnarounds
Why do you want your church to turn around? There are a lot of good reasons to do so. Among them, you might want to see your church move from: Unhealthy to healthy Inward-obsessed to outward-focused Stuck in the past to excited about the future Unloving to loving Uninviting to inviting Legalistic to joyous Shallow
How We Connect: The Decline of Denominations and the Rise of Size
We live in an increasingly post-denominational world. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, it’s just the way things are now. Years ago, virtually every friend I had in ministry was within my own denomination. Every program my church used came from our denominational headquarters. The idea of ministering in any significant way outside
Ministry Reality Check: We’re All Gonna Pastor a Small Church
Three facts sit atop my “things I wish someone had told me in bible college” list. Fact #1: 80-90% of pastoral ministry students will never pastor a church larger than 250 people. Fact #2: 99.9% of us will pastor a Small Church for at least some time in our ministry. Fact #3: You can pastor
Only In a Small Church: The Easter Sunday Blues
The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest event in history. But Easter has an unseen downside for many Small Churches. Right now, all around the world, churches are excitedly preparing for Easter Sunday. Lilies are being arranged, choirs are rehearsing, Passion Plays are being staged, Easter eggs being stuffed and hidden, extra services are being
How to Free Yourself and Your Church from Easter Insanity
Our church doesn’t participate in Easter Insanity any more. You know what I mean. Churches spend weeks of time and buckets of money for Easter Sunday services. Flyers go out to the neighborhood, ads runs in the “Easter ghetto” of the local newspaper (ask your parents). We hold extravagant musicals, add extra service times, perform
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
